oh, I forgot to mention the Tsetse fly

I got quite a few bites from Tsetse flies in the Serengeti National Park. Now each bite is bloated like a big lump in my leg and it's filled with liquid-like stuff that makes it look like a bunch of "bubbles", and they are growing bigger...

in Dubai

Arrived in Dubai just past 1AM this morning, and got picked up by a friend's friend's employee. Still having small fever and bad cough, and taking the malaria treating tablets.

malaria again

Yes, I just got malaria again, the 2nd time this month already. The symptons were clearly more severe than the 1st time, but still "bearable" to me. After our 4 day safari, I finally bought some medicine from a pharmacy in Arusha for about $8.

theft and fist fight

Well, that bus journey has proven to be very costly to me. My Sonim mobile phone, iPod, Swiss Army Knife, a souvenir pin from the Kigali Memorial Centre and some Rwandan coins were stolen from my rucksack. I highly suspect that they were stolen while my rucksack was stowed in the baggage compartments in the belly of that bus, and the only persons who had key/access to the space were the bus conductors/baggage handlers who travelled with the bus. While there was another possible time when my rucksack was out of my sight when I put it down in my room of the guest house in Arusha and I went out for about 1 hour. But I just think that the old man working at the hotel reception just seems way too innocent and honest to steal.

the last road trip in Africa, at least in this year

I took an over 11-hour dusty bus journey from Kahama to Arusha today, this was my last and also one of the bumpiest and dirtiest bus travels during this trip in Africa. My parents will arrive to Arusha from China on Friday, then I'll join them for a safari before I leave this continent and fly to Dubai, via Nairobi and Lagos.

my flip flops

A couple of months ago when I was still in Mali, I looked at my flip flops which had been worn thin, and I said to myself that maybe I would stop this trip whenever they broke apart. Well, yesterday the right one finally gave up its hold. But I still have exactly 3 weeks before I get to China. So I did a rough repair and sort of bandaged it together with tape.

[Update] just been to the local market here in Gisenyi. A dude stitched it up and fixed it for me for a mere US$0.70

Genocide memorial service in Kigali

Yesterday I attended the memorial service that was held at the Kigali's sport stadium. The genocide began exactly 16 years ago.

Throughout the service, people's (mostly women's) cries and screams pierced through the sobering silence at the stadium. Some wounds are so deep that they will remain open and continue to hurt, and there seems to be no curative to ease the pain. Everytime I heard the cries, it felt like my heart was being stabbed, and yesterday my heart was stabbed over and over again.

At the end of the service, president Paul Kagame gave a long speech. It was mostly serious and centered around the Genocide and politics. But for some parts, it was also somewhat casual and even a bit entertaining, it made the audience laugh quite a few times. I really like and admire this guy, under his leadership Rwanda has transformed and progressed incredibly!

now I'm negative

Just been to the hospital in Kigali yesterday, the blood test confirms that malaria is now out of my system. Hooray!

Nyiragongo and lava lake

While I was (maybe still am) having malaria, I climbed Nyiragongo (3470m) in DR Congo. It is an active volcano that has a huge lava lake inside its crater, some say it's the largest pool of lava in the world. The view from the top was absolutely breathtaking! I camped at the top for 1 night.

 

(bullet-riddled park sign)

I'm tested positive!

Oh crap! I've just been tested positive for malaria here in DR Congo.

I've been feeling slightly feverish and having dry throat for a couple of days. Taking no chances, I went to a hospital called Heal Africa in Goma yesterday. The result came back this morning and I'm indeed having malaria, though it's a less serious form. Now I have to take 3 anti-malarial tablets in the next 24 hours.

Tomorrow I will climb volcano Nyiragongo.

uh oh! I got caught

Yesterday morning when I tried to cross Lake Kivu from Bukavu to Goma, the immigration officials at the port found out that I didn't have a Congolese visa. My passport was confiscated and I was taken to the local office of
Ministère de l'Intérieur where I was made pay $183 for a full one-month tourist visa. $183 for a visa!! Bloody hell! They also put a 7-day transit visa on my passport, which supposedly made my yesterday's illegal entry legal, because they back dated it. They told me that they wanted to be lenient with me and didn't charge me for this transit visa which would normally be $50. Of course along the process, a few dollars of mine were thrown into a couple of officials' pockets so that they could "buy some credit for their mobile phones".

And I was back at the port in time to catch the ferry to Goma.