Ntungamo to Kigali – Thursday August 9th.

Today’s ride was going to be quite short at about 180 kilometres so, despite the border crossing, I wasn’t going to push too hard.

The African bed was quite comfortable but the bathroom was odd in that there was no wash basin. I just had to adapt and at least there was a sit on toilet.

Breakfast was healthy and tasty as usual and then I set about loading up Simba.

I left my little room and off again to hit the (initially rough) road towards the Rwandan border.

The ride was really pleasant as the road twisted and turned up into the mountains of southern Uganda and everywhere people were working hard in the fields.

Or perhaps I should qualify that by saying ‘women’ hard at work in the fields.

It wasn’t long before I could almost smell the border. As ever, it was a cesspit of humanity and this time I gave the nod to a pleasant young guy called Patrick to assist me.

Exiting Uganda was seamless enough until, when crossing to the Rwandan side of the barrier, I was for the first time ever stopped to have my temperature taken. There has been an outbreak of Ebola in the region and everyone passing through had to be checked.

The Rwandan clearance was also quite straightforward after some pushing and shoving, and then we moved back into “no man’s land” to get the required insurance. I queried Patrick as to why he doesn’t call it “no woman’s land” and I regretted this as soon as he started to lecture about how God created man first and then woman from some bone on the side of man’s body, his rib I presume. I couldn’t be bothered discussing it further and nodded blankly in abstract agreement. Time for me to get out of here.

I almost had a little mishap immediately after crossing the border when I hadn’t realised that they drove on the right side of the road here.

Thereafter it was pure motorbiking bliss the whole way to Kigali. The road surface was as good as you will find anywhere, there was very little traffic and the soft bends through the mountains were a joy to ride. The first thing you notice about Rwanda is how immaculate it is. Regularly you will see people, young and old, brushing down the dust on the side of the road.

Proper drain gullets were everywhere and the place just had a spotless feel to it.

Kigali is the “city of a thousand hills” and it wasn’t long before I pulled up at Hotel Rwanda.

This is the actual hotel that is depicted in the movie and what a tragedy that was. I would learn more about it over the coming days.

One last thing that I wanted to do before turning in for the evening was to get a haircut – wouldn’t be a Baldy Biker without one….