View the full set of Lake Kivu photos
Lake Kivu is a common spot for people to unwind after the gorilla trek and for good reason. The green, hilly lake foreshore is so relaxed and pretty that doing anything strenuous seems pointless. We stayed in a presbyterian guesthouse which was ridiculously cheap with an even cheaper vegetarian dinner. We took the money we saved from this and splurged (relatively) on lunch at the expensive lakeside hotel which had umbrellas and chairs setup on the grass. It was fantastically serene and peaceful.
Lake Kivu is among the twenty most voluminous lakes in the world but this impressive claim is difficult to judge with the naked eye, lake depth being intangible to the shoreside observer. In the hazy distance towards the middle of the lake is a test methane gas extraction plant which they are hoping will power a large part of the town of Gisenyi in the future. At the moment Gisenyi is mainly wood powered which becomes suffocating during chill, windless nights when the smoke settles.
We went for a walk along the lake on our first afternoon there and ended up at the Congolese border which we didn’t realise was so close. It’s not hard to get to the edge of Rwanda, it’s so small. The lake foreshore is full of colourful tropical flowers and equally colourful small birds probing them. It is so far from the mental image of Rwandan genocide as to make it seem improbable, until you start visiting the genocide memorials near Kigali.
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