Amahoro (Peace) Island

This past weekend I travelled to Amahoro (Peace) Island, just off the shores of Kibuye in Rwanda. It was our friend Justine's last weekend in Rwanda, so we wanted to spend it in style. Justine heard about Amahoro from her homestay family, so we agreed to check it out!

Kibuye is a 2 hour drive from Gitarama using the bus. Joyce and I caught the early bus (as in 7am early) on Saturday to Kibuye because of Umuganda (the whole country, including business/transport, stops between 8:00-11:00am to clean). We arrived in Kibuye by 9am and walked around trying to find the way to the "beach" and "people". Turns out there's actually no real beach in Kibuye, and the life of the town is not very lively, so we hopped on a boat and headed straight to the island.

Some pictures of Kibuye & Amahoro below (more can be found here): 

Lake Kivu - Kibuye, Rwanda

On the boat to Amahoro

Amahoro Island

Path Linking the 2 parts of Amahoro Island

Our Tents on Amahoro Island

Once on the island we ordered brochette and lounged around chatting with these very nice Chinese friends we met and a mixture of other muzungus from different countries. Joyce and I also played some beach volleyball with a girl from Poland and a Rwandan guy. I sadly injured my thumb at the end (just a bruise though, nothing serious) - goes to show how sportive I am! *blushes* lol!

EVIDENCE: Bruised Thumb #sadstory

We were finally joined by the rest of our friends (6 to be exact) later that evening. When they arrived we listed to their adventures in Gisenyi earlier that day and then set up our tents and were off to sleep!

The following day we woke up to gorgeous weather and the island monkey in our the tree behind our tent - definitely a treat to wake up to! We had met the island dog (Bobbie), cows and bird (crested crane), the day before, but had yet to spot the monkey. He was super cute and we had the pleasure of having him hang around us for most of the remainder of the day.

Bobbie

Cows (mean/scary cows, to be exact)

Monkey :-)

Crested Crane

We spent our day swimming in Lake Kivu and enjoying the sun. Around mid afternoon our group split up; with Justine, Joyce and I heading to see the Bats on Napolean's Hat (Island), and the others heading back to Kigali. Below is a very short video of the bats on Napolean's Island :-)

Hangin' Out in Lake Kivu

Lake Kivu

See Ya!! :-)

View photos from the weekend here.