Out of Kigali into Uganda

 Post for the 27th of July

Did nothing till evening. Was planning to take a walk to the market, get some beer before lunch. But the prospect of walking a dusty road in the sun was not very exciting for the lethargy in the system.

Got a call from my daughter early evening to meet them at the Kimirook market. Got there to the wrong entrance. They wanted to shop curios and whatever. Had to walk thru the vegetable and general merchant market to reach the shops they wanted. The cleanliness was a delight to see. No muck on the floors.

The next hour was spent listening to an active session of salesmanship by the shop owners, and some robust defence and bargaining by my daughter and her friends ( who will hereafter be referred to as the wildlifers ). End of session purchases had been made to the satisfaction of all.

Headed out to a local beer bar called Chomad’s. First had a Meitzel beer on tap. Found it a bit like a pilsner. So, switched back to a standard Tusker.

Around 8pm the wildlifers had to go for the closing ceremony and dinner of the conference they had come to Kigali for. As they went to dance the night away, I got abandoned at the Raddison bar with their rucksacks.

Three beers later they were back. In the meanwhile I had kicked of a conversation with a local tea garden manager. Who also had gardens in Kenya. He was telling me about the animals he got in the Kenya tea gardens.

Got a taxi home. The next day was the drive to Uganda, set to start at 0800.

Post for the 28th of July

The group was a set of six. Five of whom were wildlife scientists. Plus me as the other.

Was wondering about the vehicle that was to pick us up as there was a load of luggage, starting with six big boxes, and with each having a camera plus laptop bag. A extra space range rover came to pick us up by 0745. We were loaded in by 0815. The driver, called Edmond, was extremely polite.

The drive out of Kigali was slow, even at that time of the day. Traffic is well disciplined. Not a vehicle overtakes unless the road ahead is free. Not one vehicle blows the horn unless there is an issue.

As we exited Kigali towards the Uganda border, we merged into a highway coming from our left. A similar coloured range rover having a white driver and three African passengers came parallel to us as the roads merged. The white driver made the V sign at our driver and sped away. I say sped away as I could not see the vehicle when we hit a straight about 100 meters ahead.

The drive thereafter was close to boring. We stayed behind slow moving vehicles till they let us pass. And, that too, only if the road ahead was visible and clear for a kilometre. I remember asking and getting a reply from Edmond that the speed limit was 60kmph. We were well below that. Edmond explained that Ugandan drivers were extremely careful driving in Rwanda because of police harassment. Just a few months back the situation had got so bad that the issue was taken up at the government level.

The terrain was low hills, with farmland all over. Banana seemed a favourite crop. The road word it’s way thru the hills. We had some music playing from one our phones.

About a kilometre before the Uganda border, our vehicle was stopped by an armed policeman.  The armed policeman was young, sported a Kalashnikov. He looked fidgety and that made him scary. Initially, the reason for us being stopped was not clear. But, as the conversation proceeded, it seemed that the police were accusing our vehicle of hitting a kid by the roadside.

About 15 minutes minutes after we were stopped, I saw the vehicle driven by the white man pull out from behind us and drive away. No clue when he fell behind us, because I have no recollection of us overtaking him.

The police looked hard at the number plate, took a picture of it, and then called someone with the number. All the while trying to get to the Edmond confess hitting a boy by the roadside. Multiple policemen asked him questions one after the other.

They then wanted Edmond to go back to the place where the accident was supposed to have happened. Edmond refused, saying going back 50 kilometers was almost all the way back to Kigali.

The police took his driving license and insurance document. Edmond kept the engine running.

Not once did any of the police even think of asking the six passengers what happened.

As far as Edmond was concerned, the passengers were his witnesses. His attitude was simple - he was innocent, he had six witnesses, he was not switching his vehicle off, he was not getting out of his vehicle.

After about half an hour, a police pick up drove up from the direction we had come. This was carrying three boys who were the witnesses of the supposed accident. The police pickup also had a officer and a sergeant.

The officer arrived angry. And got angrier as he questioned Edmond. The boys insisted that Edmond was involved and that they had seen him clearly. They insisted that the vehicle we were in was the accident vehicle.

Tempers flared on both sides.

Even then, not one police official wanted to talk to us. We kept trying to say our piece, but no one was listening. It was as though their minds were made up. The set up was done.

Phone calls were made between Edmond and the owner of his company. Between the police and multiple people. And, it just went on.

Then the angry officer who had stomped away, came back saying the kid had died. The equation suddenly changed. Where, there was possibility of a conversation or a compromise, everything now changed.

Two hours after we were stopped, it was decided that we would be dropped off at the Ugandan border. Edmond would be taken back to Kigali, to prison. His case would come up for hearing on the Monday after the weekend.

Yet, not one police official spoke to us.

I went up to the police officer, just before we drove away from that spot. And, with as much humility I could muster asked his permission to speak. On receiving permission, I detailed our drive, stating specifically that the vehicle we were in  had not been involved in any accident that morning. He was dismissive, stating that he had witnesses who had seen the accident. And that, accidents do happen.

To me, his attitude towards my statement clarified any doubt I had on what was happening. If there had in reality been an accident, Edmond was the fall guy. The only other vehicle on the road that looked like ours was that driven by the white man. He had driven past fast, yet pulled in behind us. It would have been so easy for him to set up Edmond. I told the police of my suspicions. My statements were backed up by all in our group. And, we were dismissed.

We were offloaded on the Rwandan side of the border. We had to walk half a kilometre with our luggage to the Ugandan side.

In the meanwhile. Vehicles had been sent by the tour operator to pick us up at the Ugandan side.

We went thru two queues at the Ugandan Immigration - the first was the Rwandan outbound Immigration and the second was the Ugandan inbound immigration.

Once this was done, we loaded up into two vehicles to head out to the Bwindi Impenetrable Gorilla park. By the time we left the border, it was past 2PM.

Around 3pm, we stopped for lunch. Had some delicious pork curry and rice, washed down with Tusker beer.

Continued on the drive for not too long before we turned off onto a mud road leading into the surrounding mountains. The drive was dusty , and bumpy, as one would expect of a road leading to a reserve forest.

By the time we reached Ruhija, the village where we were to stay for our Gorilla encounter, it was early evening.

We were in time for the briefing for the next day, a hot shower and dinner.