9 Days Rwanda Gorilla Experience & Safari

Traveler Reviews

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  Michelle5.0•June 2021
  Where to even begin with this overwhelmingly amazing life-changing experience? Firstly, just DO it. Book it. It was...
  Where to even begin with this overwhelmingly amazing life-changing experience? Firstly, just DO it. Book it. It was worth it. This 9 day tour really opened our eyes to both the beauty and the historic tragedies of Rwanda. We were taken to literally every corner of Rwanda's gorgeous countryside after a tour through Kigali on Day 1. Admittedly, traveling during COVID-19 protocols with face masks made it a little miserable at times, and it's VERY strict right now in Rwanda, so if wearing masks is an issue for you, wait until that mandate is lifted. I personally have skin sensitivity issues and definitely a bit of claustrophobia when it comes to wearing a mask over my face and nose. I never really had to do it in our country consistently during the lockdown because I worked from home...so I didn't know how much this would bother me. Especially on the airplane going and leaving...but this is not part of our review of the tour itself. It is, however, a consideration for you travelers who may not have worn a surgical mask a whole lot. You will indeed have to do it the ENTIRE trip, even in a car...even outdoors. In terms of COVID tests- even the PCR, is very rapid in Rwanda, and you'll have your results very soon after you arrive. The tour company and our guide went out of their way to reorganize the trip around our final PCR test to see gorillas so that we could also use that one to leave on the international flight. But...the stress we felt entering a country full of unknowns, with a really big risk of testing positive (even falsely) for COVID, almost tipped the scale too far into the stress zone, and too far away from the fun zone. Still, we were committed to traveling and enjoying a vacation across the world after a year of lockdown. We were very excited to see something totally new and different. And that's what we got! Pre-trip: The tour company New Horizons is wonderful at communication through the TourRadar website. We really had no issues with them at all, and their responses to my questions were quick and thorough. They adjusted things a bit for the explosion of Nyiragongo, but we got to choose our level of activity and even got a private tour when it could have been a much larger group. I honestly think it turned out better in this way, because of the COVID thing...less travelers. We would have had a hard time if we got stuck on a tour with out of shape, or worse- obnoxious or rude people. In the grand scheme, we could never have done this trip without their expertise and guidance. The tour: I will begin my detailed and honest review of the tour itself by saying that we LOVED our driver Emmanuel. He is highly educated, articulate, and very proud of his country's heritage. He puts a great, smiling face to the tour company (when we rarely got a glimpse of it, because he was following mask protocol VERY strictly). He's soft spoken and was flexible when we wanted to modify a few things here and there. I have some critiques in my review below that will help you, the potential traveler, and also help him and the tour operator to do a bit better next time though. So beginning with Day 1: Emmanuel, as always, was right on time and congenial. He loves to help you learn a few words in Kinyarwanda like "good morning" and "thank you"...I loved learning about the history and the monuments, and really everything he said was riveting. The biggest letdown of the tour though: the car that we had to ride in all week. It was a really elderly, poorly aligned Toyota Land Cruiser that squealed around right turns when taken above about 20mph. I was never completely confident about its braking either. I know now that this is what they are using for a two-person tour, but it has issues. We were expecting something like one of the newer Toyota Prados with nice leather seats, at least a decent cup holder or two, and maybe AC! We were quite afraid we were going to be stranded on the side of a road in the middle of nowhere with a really big unknown of how to get help out there when the engine quit or the belt slipped off. There is also some sort of exhaust leak in the engine, because I felt sick quite often from the stinky fumes throughout the tour unless we were moving at a pretty high speed and the air from outside could come in. Despite the car's obvious alignment and fume issues, the interior seats were relatively comfy. I sat in the front as I am prone to motion sickness in cars, and I was glad I did with the windy roads. My husband sat in the back where the seats didn't recline at all, and there wasn't a great amount of leg room. It would have driven me crazy if I had to sit in this car in the back seat for the whole 9 days- there is a LOT of driving on this tour. Luckily, my husband didn't mind. This vehicle had that feel of a very, very old car to me. The seatbelts continually tighten on your lap to the point of discomfort because the shoulder reels are worn out after years of ground in dust and dirt and use. So yeah...the low point of the tour was being given this vehicle, after reading the only prior review that said it was going to be a "very nice Jeep". We were quite envious of the many other people we saw on tour who got to ride in amazing looking Land Rovers with actual air conditioning and windows that rolled up all the way. That would have seriously made our tour much better. That said, the weather was nice pretty much every day if not a little chilly except for that day in Kigali. That first day, driving around that city with the disgusting black soot coming out of every car and motorcycle, and diesel smoke just choking us, we really wished to have a car where the windows rolled up and AC would have worked. I totally understand those tours where you ride in nicer cars were likely way more expensive, but we did spend over $9,000 for a two person tour, and subtracting the $1500 for gorilla permits, this was about $667 per day. The meals in Rwanda are relatively cheap, as are hotels (I looked up prices on Expedia). I realize that tour companies must make money and we respect our driver's need for a paycheck too. I don't think this tour was overpriced at all, for what it was. Especially considering that we'd have had zero clue what to do on our own. I just think that you really need to let people know ahead of time what the vehicle is like to set expectations. I would have gladly paid extra for a better vehicle, in which we could have been safer and felt more comfortable. In terms of the daily plan, and the communication with Emmanuel, at times it could have been better; we were clueless a lot of the time about meals, specifically- I ended up paying out of pocket for a few dinners on the tour, which I thought were supposed to all be included. Nothing huge, and no big deal though as we always worked it out in the end. There were reasons for one of those times- we just could not stomach the food at the Ken Barham guest house and I wanted wine, so he took us to a hotel to eat down the street. I felt very bad that night when I realized he'd had to stay with us much longer than he planned because of our need to eat elsewhere, and honestly the food wasn't any better there. But I did get some amazing wine! And I really appreciate that extra effort he put in that evening without any complaint. I suspect Ken Barham's food and drinks are why we suffered terrible gastrointestinal issues for almost the entire trip after that. But more on that place in a moment...I can't confirm it but that's where we started feeling VERY ill for several days. So that's it with the negative part of our review. It seems like it would be an easy fix with the car issue. Just ask the tour company prior to booking which vehicle you'll be traveling in and perhaps consider requesting some sort of upgrade if these types of things bother you too. If you must stay at the Ken Barham guest house, do NOT drink the tea. Only bottled water there. The overwhelming positives of the tour far outweighed the issues with the vehicle and that one lodge. Day 1, as I said, was the Kigali tour. It was hot and the city just chokes you with exhaust. This was especially exhausting after a VERY long flight from the western U.S. over the two days prior. Our first two days, we stayed in the Heaven Boutique hotel as a transit hotel (required per COVID protocol). They totally ripped us off by refusing to include meals after our test results came in, even after charging us almost $200 for the room service as part of the transit hotel deal, when Expedia was literally half that much for the same thing. But that wasn't part of the tour, so I guess that's just a word of caution if you use them. We REALLY liked the resort and the food was top notch, so it wasn't worth arguing over. We just let it go. New Horizons was nice enough to refund us the first night of their lodging costs so we could stay at the Heaven Boutique hotel and not have to repack for two days. Starting the tour, we were still jet lagged, and began that first tour day very tired. The first stop was at the monument to the Belgian peacekeeping soldiers, which was interesting. Ironic though, in my mind. The Belgians were the cause of the mass murders with this Hutu/Tutsi creation! But we do get the fact that they were trying to keep the peace, and these men died because of their service with the U.N. The next stop was the Genocide Memorial. A sad and awful part of the tour, but we saw it as necessary for context. The Belgian designation of the Hutu and Tutsi tribes was all an ill-fated product of failed imperialism. I think you should go see it, because it really highlights the amazing progress this country has made in the past two decades. After we did that tour, we went to a local restaurant for lunch and it was our first, confusing meal event on the tour. I wasn't sure if I was supposed to pay or what, and it was awkward at the checkout, but Emmanuel did pay eventually. I don't know if it's just an American thing, but I really like to be directed clearly, especially if it's the first day and we are all new to each other. It would've helped us a few times if Emmanuel just said something clear and direct like, "I have the bill for lunch at each stop, so after you get your food, just go on up and eat". Dinners are usually included, but not if you change the plans and want to eat elsewhere. This is not so much the tour's fault, or Emmanuel's, but really just the way I personally understand things best. Directive. I was in the U.S. military and that style seems to suit me...we had to guess what was going on about 30% of the time. The final stop for us that day was a strange, eclectic little art museum perched high on a hillside in the city. This stop would have been pleasant had it not been for the very high pressure of the artists themselves lurking in every room, sweating us like crazy to buy the ridiculously high priced work! I mean...$8,500 on an abstract painting may be someone else's cup of tea, but not mine! To make matters worse, we were probably literally the only visitors to that place in a long while, and you could just feel the desperation as they followed us around asking us what we liked about the art. Dan and I are very uncomfortable in these situations. I would have enjoyed strolling through the art and looking at the works...maybe asking an artist a question or two if I were actually interested, knowing the prices included shipping to the U.S. if I wanted anything...but that is not the way they do business. I say if you take visitors to that place again, talk to the owner about less pressure to buy. One comment from the owner at the door about shipping and prices would have sufficed, as there was absolutely no way we were going to buy anything in there. I was so worried I'd say something insulting in front of the artists! I really do appreciate all sorts of artistry, but this wasn't a museum, this was like an ambush. We could not have gotten out of there fast enough. Honestly, I felt the same way about the market we visited in the morning, before the art place. Quite the cultural experience though!!! I never need to go into another African market. I felt overstimulated and borderline threatened by all the people pressuring me to buy everything and the unnecessary porters trying to charge tips for carrying your stuff. It was impossible to say "no" to them. Maybe my own issue...I can't stand big city markets and being the only white people getting stared at and followed around made it much worse. At that point, we just called it a day because we were totally exhausted from the air in the city and the very emotionally taxing memorials, and the high pressure at the market and art store. We went back to the Heaven resort and relaxed, had a massage, and ate dinner on our dime, since we bailed out of the tour early that day. Day 2 was mostly travel across the country to the rainforest. We were floored that it was going to be a straight 6+ hour drive, but it went really fast! There were so many interesting and colorful things to look at on the roads. The farms and the people are beautiful in Rwanda. We heard the story of the Kamegeri Rock, and it was interesting...but a little weird! A good introduction to the storytelling of Rwandan culture. We stopped and had an EXCELLENT tour at the King's Palace and the Kandt House. I think we did that the 2nd day...it's all sort of running together with the museums. We really enjoyed it all though. Eventually, we arrived at the canopy walk in the rain, just as they were closing and again a mis-communication. Emmanual mentioned something about "10 minutes," and we thought we were literally going to go out to an overlook and come back. I think what he meant was that there were 10 minutes left until the final departure on the tour. So we got out of the car kind of unprepared to walk for the better part of 2 hours in the cold rain in the forest! Still, because we took all of our gear (except my husband was wearing shorts and he would have changed), it turned out great. It was really cold! We thoroughly enjoyed the walk to the canopy though, after the long day in the car. When we got done, we tipped our two guides and headed out to the Ken Barham guest house. What a BEAUTIFUL spot in a tea plantation! And such nice, smiling faces. Such a friendly, awesome staff. Language was a big barrier, but we could communicate at least. They brought us a modem after much confusion over the internet, which was nice of them. We really wanted to like this guest house. However, there are some complaints. The food. Terrible...and we don't have high standards. Just food we can eat. The service at the restaurant was exceedingly weird. They didn't ask if you wanted anything to drink, and when we asked, they made it clear they had nothing to drink... so we walked back to the room to get a bottle of water...it took at least an hour to get anything to eat, and even if we pre-ordered for a certain time, the service was just weirdly slow. We got used to this in Rwanda. You cannot be in a huge hurry to eat. There didn't appear to be too many places (at least hotels) where food was quick. All well and good. We learned to exercise patience, which is not a common virtue in America. The beds were nice and comfy, but we struggled staying warm. It was freaking FREEZING that night, and there was barely one naked light bulb in that room. Nothing on the walls, and it was just a weird, weird place. Let's just be nice here and call that room "rustic". It was a bit like camping outdoors, but with a decent bed. There was obviously no heat or AC...all fine usually, but we were wet and muddy and tired. The shower took about 20 minutes to get hot, but at least it got hot. It was very, very rustic! The toilet didn't flush twice in a row unless you waited about 20 minutes, so our gastro problems were a real nightmare there. We became much closer as a couple...LOL. Anyhow, that place was where we stayed two nights in a row, and we really did enjoy the ambiance, but we were wicked sick the entire time. They also had zero cleaning service for the room. So our really dirty towels never got changed, and we had to ask for new ones, which they took hours to bring...and by that time, we had just reused the wet dirty ones. Day 3 was a BRUTAL one. We LOVED it! If only we hadn't been so ill, it would have been much better...we would have felt much stronger. Truthfully, it could have been caused at Heaven, where they were refilling water bottles with "reverse osmosis" water that tasted a little off. That could have been where it started. Or the African coffee we drank with way too much ginger at the King's Palace. So we did two separate hikes this day- we started with chimps, and got so lucky! It was magical. A quick 20 minute trek and we were surrounded by chimps everywhere! A family group of about 25 joined us, and they were joined by many other amazing species of animals and plants. We were totally blasted tired from being ill, and being cold and rained on made it a lot harder, but this is why we came! To truly experience the RAIN forest. We certainly got what we came for! We had just enough time for a really, really slow lunch at the Ken Barham guest house. We went to the room to freshen up and rest a bit, and they took our hiking shoes! That was weird to do without asking us. I half thought someone had stolen them, and began to freak out! I think they were trying to solicit tips, and that's fine- I am totally OK with that, but the shoes were gone FOREVER and ever. It takes about 2 minutes to scrub mud off shoes, not an hour. We had to tiptoe around the building barefoot finally and find someone to get them back to go to lunch. They were our only shoes. This also happened at the last place we stayed! I think we were meant to walk in their rubber flip flops provided, but it was absolutely freezing and raining and we had to get lunch and meet Emmanuel for the second hike of the day. This second hike was to the Isumo Waterfalls, and it was BRUTAL but AMAZING. This time we were joined on the tour by one very rich guest from One & Only, which is the exclusive resort near the hike. He was fun to hang with though. Some sort of Belgian aristocrat. We all had a really brisk hike...the guides were very broken with their English and really just dragged it out too long. We ran out of water, and we were really REALLY tired from jet lag, being sick, and the super early morning departure (0450), so we were kind of anxious to return from the falls quickly. So when he wanted to stop every 10 yards to give us a rundown on every plant and animal in extremely broken English, we were too polite to say "can we just walk please?" but our Belgian friend politely told them to hurry it up, because he had a COVID test to take. We were grateful. Back to Ken Barham and this was the night I cried Uncle on that food and had Emmanuel take us to a hotel. I mentioned this before. Poor Dan nearly fell asleep on the table, we waited so long for food. And there were only two other guests there in the huge restaurant! But the wine was great! Silver linings... Day 4 was our favorite day of the tour I think. This is hard to say, because chimp and gorillas and the helicopter tour at the end (which we added) were all super amazing too. But this was the day we got to Lake Kivu, took a cool tour through the Environmental Museum (very nice!) where we learned about the world's first industrial sized methane plant on Lake Kivu. Then, we took a quick bike ride with our adorable guide Bona, and then lunch at a very spectacular resort followed by a boat ride with the same awesome guide. We really enjoyed Bona, and hiking on Napoleon's island. It's full of bats!! We were SO amazed at those creatures, and the monkey island stop was fun, too. We really had quite the magical experience, and to top it all off, the Moriah Hill Resort was AMAZING. Dinner there was a welcome relief. We were basically back at a full 4 star resort, and the people were also fun to talk to. The room was great...all the more appreciated after the very rustic Ken Barham guest house. A hot shower and a flushing toilet were awesome, but the views! The views!!! Day 5 was our least favorite day of the tour. I really can't describe how weird it was to be walked through the slums, constantly followed and stared at. Why did we do this?? The hike across town through a market wasn't as high pressure as the Kigali city market, but it was just weird to be stared at like that. The workers building a trench had dug up the path we were supposed to use, so we had to balance very carefully on a big pile of loose dirt over a 10' precipice on one side full of workers digging. They stared at us too. The whole thing was a little bizarre. We walked through fields of bamboo and heard the church choir singing...that was kind of cool! We also could see over the entire town of Ribavu from the top, and the DRC town of Goma in the distance. I sincerely wish that was as close as we got to it...but the guide (a very nice kid!) took us directly through the beat up, washed out, volcano-earthquake-gutted downtown. This is where it got so weird, it was scary. We were very grateful to have our guide, but sweating this very much. My stomach was doing flip flops. So we went traipsing through the slums, and I truly felt unsafe for the first time on the tour. This part seemed to drag on for hours. We were VERY anxious to say the least, to see Emmanuel and the car. When we finally got through that city and he was there, I sighed with relief, but it wasn't over! He drove us to the middle of another weird place right at the border, so we could view the "last house in Rwanda". There were really menacing looking armed guards everywhere, the streets were just running with mud and dirty children and lots of people staring at us and following us and demanding money. This is all during an outbreak of COVID at the border, so we really did not understand why we were there, doing any of this on foot. Not only gutted by the earthquakes from the recent volcanic eruptions, it was also the poorest and most depressing place we saw while in Rwanda. After we finally got back in the car, we went to lunch at a sketchy little place, and we were a little more comfortable there, but then the guide took us back through the absolute WORST neighborhood imaginable after lunch, where hungry kids were wallowing in the mud. We gave out the leftovers from our lunch and that was a light moment among the darkness. The kids who received the food smiled and devoured it with their friends and family, and it was truly heartbreaking because we can't feed or save all of them. The houses on one strip of town near this poverty-stricken village were super exotic mansions and the juxtaposition of the muddy slums right next door was a chilling reality check for us as we walked through on FOOT. This is the place where the "haves" versus the "have-nots" is very much a sickening reality. Rubavu and especially Goma was a terrible, awful sight with a smoking, active volcano looming just above the cities. The whole border town had an unfriendly vibe to us white Westerners...kind of an other-worldly, poverty stricken, post apocalyptic, dystopian feel. Our tummies by this point were revolting completely because we were very ill, so the quick tour of the methane plant and the hot springs was even quicker, as we asked to go to the hotel. We had no interest in going to sit in a hot spring when we had just seen the sludge pouring into the lake from the very nearby Heineken factory. There weren't even fish around the area where we stayed, presumably because of this sludge! The Paradis Malahide resort was super fun, and very cute...but the fact that we saw the sludge and the lack of fish there kind of gave it a bitter aftertaste. Still, we had a great time. We had to switch rooms for bad plumbing, but the little huts were pretty, and right on the lake. The dinner was great and the service was even better there. We had so much fun hanging with some crazy Slovakians after dinner...that may have been the highlight of the trip. We loved breakfast in the morning too. All in all, a VERY stressful day ended well. We started feeling better after that night. Maybe the food and drink was just higher quality there, and for the rest of the tour. Day 6 was the transfer to Musanze, which was our driver's hometown. Definitely by far the nicest city we visited. The stopover at the pottery place was so cool! They danced and sang for us, and we got to watch them make pots out of clay from the earth. We didn't know until after that tour that these people were newly integrated indigenous people. That made it all the more intriguing to meet them and interact with them. We really fell in love with the restaurant we ate at for lunch, and had a good night of sleep in the Gorillas Volcanoes hotel. It was really weirdly empty for such a big place because of COVID, which was kind of depressing though. Part of the reason we travel internationally is to meet other guests from other countries and interact with people from everywhere. Anyhow, I can't seem to place this in the right day or the right part of the day when we traveled to Musanze, but the sorghum beer making experience was also super fun! How crazy, the way they do it by hand!! I couldn't taste it though- my tummy was completely in knots and I was afraid of getting even more ill, or worse- contracting a new strain of COVID by sharing a cup with strangers. But Emmanuel was nice enough to drive us to a store where I could buy a can of it made in a factory. Also, the huge hike to the overlook of the twin lakes during this day was really spectacular, and we had a lot of fun! We thought this for sure would be the hardest hike of the tour, but we were WAY wrong. It was a VERY busy and strenuous day...like all the others on our tour. We were certainly never ever bored! Day 7 was a very, very long and strenuous hike, which we totally loved. We really had the whole Rwandan farmer culture put into a startling context as we carried nothing but a light day pack to the top of this beautiful mountain, and we could barely make it. And I mean it...the climb was grueling, and my knees are not getting any younger, so the hike down was even harder. Even at age 50 and 42, we still consider ourselves great athletes by Western standards!! We do yoga and strenuous exercise daily, and spend the whole winter on skis, with mountain bike racing in the spring. I am an Ironman triathlete who's competed many times, including a full long-course tri! My husband has spent his whole life riding a bike every day. And this blew us away...this hike. I won't bore you with all the details, but we had fun with the kids along the way, and at the top it was very very cold, so if you go on this event, pack an extra jacket. We had a very slow meal there, but the ambiance was amazing, despite the teeth-chattering cold. They also tried to feed us like we were teenage boys. It was like a four course meal! I didn't know this going in, and ate extra soup which was warm and delicious. But that was only the appetizer. I thought that was going to be lunch. I felt rude but I could barely eat any of the beef and veggies and rice and certainly couldn't stuff in all the fruit salad for dessert. I couldn't believe people packed all of that stuff up to the top of that peak! It was truly awesome. Walking down hurt, and we were sore and tired after that. It was like an 8 hour day of hiking almost continuously, except for the aforementioned lunch. Needless to say, we slept well that night at the hotel! Day 8 was the biggest event of the trip: the gorilla trekking. Our guide for the day was amazing! I loved Edward. I also thought the whole thing was just a surreal, and amazing adventure. We left the starting point and the hike to the gorillas was so picturesque! I thought it couldn't get prettier in this country but it did! We actually encountered a big herd of wild buffalo in our path, so we were grateful to have not only guide and trackers, but four armed military men with us. They got the herd to move and we went on our way. The gorilla family we met was just...stunning. Too much joy to even express that hour of our lives, but we will never forget it. Just do it! The expense is a lot for most of us, but it really is a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and it goes towards conservation projects for the gorillas. In the afternoon, we transferred to the Rusiga Highland Resort where we enjoyed the views through the haze and mist. The dinner was slow but good. Day 9 was our departure from the Rusiga Highland Resort, to the airport. This was our final day and we decided to splurge and book a helicopter tour around the Akagera game reserve. So we were kind of anxious when our guide appeared to no-show on us. Later, we realized it had just been another communication breakdown. We had quite the language/culture barrier with the people who worked at the resort. Our guide told us to meet him at 11 a.m. but didn't mention anything about meals. He apparently ended up coordinating with the hotel staff to feed us lunch there before our departure...but nothing was ever said to us. We assumed we were eating somewhere enroute to Kigali. So in the morning, we got up and ate breakfast, got packed, and stood for an entire hour with our bags from 11-12 getting more and more worried about Emmanuel while the hotel staff just sat around looking at us. It was so weird! No one mentioned lunch or anything. Emmanuel showed up and asked us why we hadn't eaten, and we were like...ummm huh? But all was corrected swiftly. The restaurant he took us to was actually delicious and quick, and best of all, had great coffee! We had a power outage at the resort, and the coffee turned into sludge at breakfast. We are coffee people, so this stop was greatly appreciated. It was sad to say goodbye to Emmanuel after all the adventures we had together, but he got us to the helicopter ride on time, and we had a fabulous ride with Akagera Aviation, flying low over the beautiful wildlife in the reserve. I couldn't imagine a better way to tie up our trip. So I hope this review helps both the tour company and potential visitors!Show more
  Traveled in June 2021
  

  Reply from: New Horizon Africa Safaris

  Hi Michelle, Thank you very much for your trust in doing this tour with us , it was a pride for us to be with you. Thank you for this great review and notes to take for better experiences. We have indeed noted everything and for sure our aim is to provide more fantastic with truly authentic East African experiences. Thank you once again, wishing the best. Monica

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  Hetzeg5.0•October 2019
  I booked a trip in Rwanda with New Horizons. Being a 9 days Journey, I could not imagine on how it could be as it was...
  I booked a trip in Rwanda with New Horizons. Being a 9 days Journey, I could not imagine on how it could be as it was my first safari in Africa. Emmanuel turned awesome with incredible services and care. I was taken at all corners of the country in a fantastic jeep and enjoyed cultural, historical, community, hiking/trekking, boating, night life experiences. Have indeed enjoyed travelling with a local guide Emma, highly recommended for Rwanda trips.Show more
  Traveled in October 2019
  

  Reply from: New Horizon Africa Safaris

  Greetings, Thank you very much for visiting Rwanda with us, it was pleasure meeting and traveling with you. Warm greetings from Kigali.

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