This weekend, after spending the week in Butare (in the South of Rwanda), Andi and I headed further south, to Burundi. From Butare, GoogleMaps promised the drive would be just over 2 hours. It took little less than an hour to reach the border – which was a relatively easy border to cross. Burundi charged us $40 for a 3-day visa, but the border officer enthusiastically insisted that if we wanted to stay longer, all we had to do was go to immigration in Bujumbura to take care of extending the visa.
After 2 hours more through hills remarkably similar to Rwanda’s, we reached Bujumbura, and drove straight to the beaches of Lake Tanganyika. We found a guesthouse to stay at for the night, and settled in for some sun and beach time. Sunday morning we awoke to hundreds of young people, mostly men, parading to the beach to play sports, exercise, or just socialize. Literally hundreds. They were there for a few hours, but the beaches were mostly clear, except for the tourists, by 11am.
We drove back Sunday afternoon, arriving in Butare slightly sunburnt and refreshed. On the way out we stopped into a small little store and found “Magic Obama” gum, photo below. I still get a kick out of all the Obama paraphernalia one comes across in Africa.
I have less than 2 weeks left in Rwanda, which is crazy. Next weekend we’re hoping to see a bit of the northern part of the country – a last hurrah before heading back to the US.
View of Lake Tanganyika from the Keza Plage
Lake Tanganyika
"Magic Obama" gum. Couldn't resist.
