Author: Peter Meggyesy

Dreaming of DRC

DRC and Rwanda share a long border of which 89 km is Lake Kivu, the actual border being an imaginary line up the middle of the lake. The original trip had us hugging the shores of Lake Kivu but on the Congo side between Bukavu and Goma. The amazingly successful predatory advance of the Rwandan Backed M23 rebels have put paid to that. Nonetheless the lake is no less beautiful on this side and I gaze wistfully westwards and dream of DRC.

Roadside Rwandan life, bottom two tea plantations

Our night here is spent in Kigora a lakeside resort and our hotel room affords panoramic views of Lake Kivu. We are treated to a sunset cruise on the lake firstly landing on Napoleon Island named for its shape resembling Napoleon’s tricord hat. We have a short walk through a fascinating bat infested forest.

The cruise concludes with a close pass around monkey island where a vervet monkey very obligingly sits on a rock and seemingly poses for photos before bounding off into the bush.

Heart of darkness

Colobus

Shrieks and yells ring out as we are enjoying coffee and snacks at a cafe in Nyungwe National park in Rwanda. A cheeky Colobus monkey has snatched a sugar bowl from those of us snacking on the balcony and races up a tree to have a feed off sugar and then drops the bowl. He comes back for a bread roll from another punter.

We have just come back from the tree tops canopy walk and enjoying a quick lunch before the drive to see the colobus monkeys.

These arboreal primates have long been a mainstay at Melbourne zoo. The opportunity to see them in the wild does not disappoint. We are driven out to the edge of the rainforest and have a sometimes slippery walk to the trackers at the edge of the canopy. At first what action there is occurs high up and made for poor photography. Eventually they come lower and gain in confidence allowing for better photography and a much better experience.

Heart of darkness

Rwanda

The land borders between Rwanda and Burundi are closed, a product of the ongoing battle between Hutu and Tutsi that even predates the 1994 genocide. In 1994 Hutus killed 1 million Tutsis in 3 months. Since then Tutsis have remained in Rwanda while displaced Hutus fled to DRC and Burundi. Burundi is majority Hutu and there is no love lost between the two to this day.The trip between Bujumbura and Butare in Rwanda is less than 2 hours by road but we are forced into an international flight to Kigali and then a 3 hour drive back down to the park. We spend the first morning in the national museum and a laid on dance performance for us.

Heart of darkness

Gitega

Burundi’s second largest city resumed the role of political capitol in 2019. Bujumbura remains the economical capitol. Gitega is a smaller and much more pleasant city with asphalted tree lined roads and less scruffy buildings.

Our first morning has us in a private guided tour with th curator. While small and basic the guide brings it and the history of Burundi to life.

Our main reason for coming here is to see the Gishora dancers. Situated on the site where kings of Burundi reigned they have preserved the original royal dwelling which are thatched roof huts.

This has been a designated world heritage site since 2014. In my travels I have seen many “cultural shows” and generally I am not a fan. Typically they are lame and contrived. They appeal to the western tourist who feels warm and fuzzy about ticking the ‘’cultural sensitivity” box but in this case boy was I wrong! African drums beating persistently and menacingly, these guys delivered a high energy, spine tingling performance as my photos attest.

Finally a drive out to the impressive Karere Falls completes a long but highly satisfying day.

Heart of darkness

Buj

Burundi’s largest city of 3 million people graphically illustrates the parlous state of this impoverished nation one of Africa’s poorest. This is a country where the average wage is around $1 per day. It is a country where long queues form outside of fenced off petrol stations because the country chronically experiences severe petrol shortages. The dusty potholed roads of the city are choked, with people notwith cars. Queues sometimes 100 people long line up for seats on the few minibuses that still run. The downtown area is dirty, run down and impoverished It is easily the worst African city I have seen. It reminds me of bigger versions of the dusty most rundown backwater towns I travelled through in places like Tanzania in 1986 as a backpacker.

Motor bikes and cars form long queues in front of service stations which have no fuel

Sadly the actual topographical setting should be idyllic. Beautiful Vedant mountains lush with vegetation cascade down to the shores of Lake Tanganyika which is like an inland sea. Buj is like a blight on the landscape. Our first stop today is the Stanley – Livingstone meeting place monument. Dr David Livingstone the Scottish doctor and missionary has always been a hero for me. In 1869 when news from Livingstone to the outside world dried up they sent Henry Morton Stanley’s to find him. Against the odds he found him and uttered the iconic phrase “Dr Livingstone I presume”. That happened at Ujiji in Tanzania in 1871. Stanley returned home but not before exploring and mapping the mighty Congo River and a substantial portion of what is now DRC. Stanley became a great explorer in his own right.

This monument commemorates their second meeting when a severely ill Livingstone stood before Stanley. Stanley returned to the west and Livingstone died shortly after around Zambia.

A quick detour to the monument celebrating Burundi’s independence in 1962 completes the tourist sites here.

Children are patiently waiting for the gift of sweets from one one of my fellow travellers

Our bus, complete with aircon. All you had to do is force open the windows

Outside of Buj we drive 2 hours to our next destination. The road is a winding mountain road with green all around. Fields of bananas, tea plantations and redolent eucalypt forests are all around. The lushness of the vegetation is a revelation.

Heart of darkness Uncategorized

One night in Addis

It is 1 am local time in Dubai and God only knows what time back home. Sixteen hours of flying and even more transit time has me lining up for security like a discombobulated somnambulist. Throw in some wine and a sleeping tablet and I am heading to my first class lounge ready for bed rather than the free food and wine I had hoped for. It’s amazing what a hot shower does and refreshed I am ready to sample the culinary delights and an impressive array of high end Bordeaux wines.

One more flight gets me into Addis Abbaba early afternoon and after checking in I hit the ground running. I ask the taxi driver to take me to the museum. I want to renew my acquaintance with Lucy as the fossilised remains of prehistoric Australopithecus Africensis is known. Sadly, on arrival it is closed indefinitely for renovation. As a fall back I visit the church of St George and the Holy Trinity Cathedral. Neither disappointed.

Holy Trinity Cathedral, The tomb further above is that of the late Emperor Haile Sellassie

I rate Ethiopia as one of the best countries I have visited with a culture going back to biblical times In my short stopover the changes here from 20 years ago are striking. The centre of town is dazzling with newly built luxury item shops. All around, though the streets are being dug up and buildings destroyed to make way for new construction, not a pretty sight.

A final 2 hour flight brings me to the backwater of Burundi and a quiet night at our hotel on the shores of Lake Tanganyika with its mellifluous name of Bujumbura.

Heart of darkness Uncategorized

Heart of darkness

Central Africa has long fascinated me. My first adventure in Africa was a 2 month backpacking journey in East Africa in 1987. Armed only with a Lonely Planet guide and an onwards ticket to my next job in UK, I travelled extensively through Zimbabwe, Zambia, Tanzania and Kenya. It was the latter LP guide with histories of all of Africa’s countries that ignited my interest in countries such as Congo, Central African Republic, Rwanda and Burundi. At that time they were administered by crazy, corrupt, violent dictators leaving them as “no go” zones. The region is still a hotbed of corrupt leaders, perhaps a bit less violent, militias and Islamic insurgents still with DFAT recommendations “Do not travel”. The difference now is that some travel countries offer trips there and this is what I am about to embark on.

I became an avid reader of books about the 19th century era of African exploration. In particular the source of the Nile was a particularly British obsession. The story of the famous Scottish missionary and doctor, David Livingstone had me enthralled. Books about the Congo River such a Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad and Henry Morton Stanley’s classic “Through the dark continent” had me wanting to replicate his journey sailing down the full length of the Congo. Those ambitions are now beyond reach as decrepitude in the failed state that is Congo has absorbed any of the long haul boats down this mighty River.

My main reason for booking this trip was to go through eastern DRC, an almost mythical land of massive lakes, jungle, mountains and gorillas. Sadly an unpublished rebel campaign throughout January and February has transformed our holiday itinerary into a war zone.

We have been rerouted to the other side of the border travelling along western Rwanda. I am sure it will not disappoint.

Seven wonders

ANZAC

Constitutionally the Commonwealth of Australia came into being in 1901 in a process devoid of any conflict. More often nations and their identity are forged in the crucible of war and Australia is no exception with the onset of the Great War in 1915 and the now legendary exploits of men and women who’s sacrifice we all as a nation celebrate on April 25 each year and collectively know as the ANZACs.

A young Australia in 1915 would have been a very insular society. Predominantly British descendents but geographically close to nowhere else on the planet. I can imagine at the onset of war and with the “motherland” calling for volunteers some of finest young people lured into an expectation of adventure and travel. The thought of death at that age would be furthest from their minds.

First stop Egypt for basic military training and then the British Admiralty hatched up a plan to secure the sea route known as the Dardanelles through Turkey to enable onward navigation to war ally Russia. Their first attempt to sail through failed due to Turkish artillery bombarding the fleet sailing through the straits so the next plan was to take the Gallipoli peninsula with a poorly devised land invasion.

The iIl fated landing started disastrously as they landed in the wrong spot. All of the land force should have been on the beach by dawn. Three hours past dawn the last contingents landed, late. The chain of command lacked clear direction and worst of all the Turks were already present on the high ground firing at the landing party that took heavy losses right from the start. What followed was 8 months of bloody trench warfare a war of attrition where both sides sustained heavy losses but both also fought gallantly and with honour. The legend was born.

This has always been a “bucket list” destination for Suzanne and myself. The countryside could best be described as bucolic and outside the bigger towns nothing seems to have changed much in the last hundred years. Gentle rolling hills slope down to pretty little coves and sometimes sandy beaches. Across the Aegean sea the outline of the Greek Islands of Lemnos is visible. It is hard to imagine as we walk through much of the peninsula that we are walking over the graves and remains of hundreds and thousands of bodies, young men cut down in the prime of their lives.

As I look up from ANZAC beach I am taken by the distance to the nearby hills where the Turks had already positioned themselves. Similarly the height of these. Looking back from atop the hills at Lone Pine where the Australian memorial is and Chunuk Bair the site of the NZ memorial the allied forces dug in here and transiently took over these high points in August 1915. The amount of territory gained under extreme adversity is remarkable. This offensive was the last major advance by the ANZACs and by December 1915 remaining troops were evacuated back to Lemnos.

The futility of war is best summed by this true anecdote. During the trench warfare both sides would agree to temporary cease fires in order to bury their dead lying between the trenches. On one of these occasions a Turkish officer asked an ANZAC “Where are you from?” He replied “Australia”. The Turk came back with “Why have you come such a long distance to kill me?”

Both sides came to respect their enemy for their courage and resilience under extreme adversity. Unlike the ANZACs the Turks followed an inspirational leader who would subsequently become the first president of a newly independent Turkey. Mehmet Kamal later known as Ataturk was probably the difference between the two sides and the reason why Turkey prevailed in this campaign. Not just a master tactician his compassionate insight as reflected in these words at the Ari Burnu memorial always brings tears to my eyes.

Those heroes that shed their blood and lost their lives … You are now lying in the soil of a friendly country. Therefore rest in peace. There is no difference between the Johnnies and the Mehmets to us where they lie side by side here in this country of ours … You, the mothers who sent their sons from faraway countries, wipe away your tears; your sons are now lying in our bosom and are in peace. After having lost their lives on this land they have become our sons as well.

Seven wonders

Breakdown

I turn the key and nothing apart from a cascade of warning lights on the dashboard happens. Again and again a strange sound comes from the engine that resembles what I have heard before when one has a flat battery. Deceptively, though, the electric windows and radio still came on. In Turkey, rented car, unable to communicate through the language barrier, what could be worse? Try this on for size. We are about to disembark from the car ferry between Canakkale and Eceabat and my car is stuck on the deck as the crew unload the cars and start the reload of vehicles heading back. As you could imagine I am losing it big time. Ultimately out of nowhere a taxi pulls up and successfully jump starts us. Thank god, we are back on track! Breakdown of both car and driver fixed!

Up until then the day had proceeded well. It is a long drive from Ephesus to Gallipoli and we broke it up with a visit to Troy. For me it was atmospheric to walk around the ruins of the city besieged by the Greeks for 10 long years. To walk where Achilles and Hector walked. Where Paris of Troy took the beautiful Helen to be his spouse. I read all of the Greek classics while in university and Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey were among my favourites. The mock up Trojan horse is not only at Troy but also reconstructed at the waterfront of nearby Canakkale.

Our destination is the bucolic village of Kucukanafarta, yes that’s its name. A tiny farming community largely unchanged for centuries.

Seven wonders

Letter to the Ephesians

Just as Catholic epistles heavily featured letters to the Corinthians so were letters to the Ephesians. Here we are in Ephesus but St Paul does not feature here rather it is St John the Baptist. As he was dying on the cross he entrusted the welfare of Mary to St John the Baptist. As the Roman and Jewish persecution of the fledgling Christian faith gathered pace the apostles and disciples of Jesus moved further afield. St John ended up here and there is powerful evidence that he brought Mary with him and she spent her last time on earth here in Ephesus. Her house here is apparently still intact and is now a shrine and pilgrimage site for Catholics and Muslims alike as Mary is recognised in the Muslim faith. There is a serene spirituality to this site.

Five kilometres down the road the ancient city of Ephesus is an archaeological stunner. Built in the 10th century BC by the Greeks it was dedicated to the goddess of nature and fertility, Artemis. The nearby temple of Artemis completed around 550 BC was also a wonder of the ancient world. Not dissimilar to the only other seven wonder site in Turkey this is unloved and poorly maintained but the one reconstructed column here gives one an appreciation of what was the massive size of the temple. It is also number six of my visits to the seven ancient wonders of the world. The final wonder for me is the Pharos lighthouse in Alexandria. That was destroyed by earthquake and now lies underwater in Alexandria’s harbour.

The temple of Artemis number six of the seven ancient wonders of the world

Ephesus came under control of the Roman Republic in 129 BC and most of what is on display here dates from Roman times. Ultimately the city was destroyed by the Goths in 263 AD. Subsequently the Catholic Church adopted this site holding its Third Ecumenical Council in 431 and building basilicas to both Mary and over the tomb of St John the Baptist.