Golden Monkeys

 

As a birthday treat, I bought mum and Merrick tickets for the golden monkeys in Musanze. I'd never been to see them and thought it would make a fun day out.  

We drove up to Muzanze/Ruhengeri on Sunday afternoon and booked into a lovely Airbnb suggested by a friend. Accommodation in Musanze is usually super expensive, but we had a whole house for around $30 per night.  

Artistic shot of clouds on tiles.

We had dinner at Volcana Lounge and an early night as we needed to be at the park entrance for 7 a.m. I was glad to rest as I was feeling a bit achy and had a tight chest, but I put it down to all the driving I'd been doing along windy mountain roads.

The next morning we stumbled through the shower and pulled on our clothes. It's about a twenty-five minute drive to the park entrance at Kinigi, and it was bustling when we arrived. Lots of people trekking gorillas and monkeys. There was a nice free coffee stand run by Question Coffee, which was hugely appreciated by all.

Then it was off on an hour-and-a-half trek into Volcanoes National Park, in the shadow of Mount Sabyinyo (Tooth Mountain) to the edge of the bamboo forests where the monkeys live. It was really amazing to trek through the local farmland and see the crops being cultivated. Think mum and Merrick might have a few pictures to add to this. I was too busy walking to take many, but I'll do an update post later once they've uploaded their holiday snaps.

We soon found the monkeys and they were all around us, up in the bamboo and down on the ground, but they're really hard to photograph because they move so fast!

 

You get some much clearer shots if you Google Image golden monkeys Rwanda. 

Unfortunately, we'd only been there a few minutes when the heavens opened. It's the start of the rainy season, but it usually doesn't rain until the afternoon. Monday, however, it decided to bucket it down and we had to start trekking down the mountain earlier than expected. Everyone else was dressed rather sensibly in waterproofs and mountain gear. I, on the other hand, had left my waterproof poncho at home in Kigali and only had a shawl to wrap around myself.

We were all completely drenched by the time we got back to the car, but laughing about it. Where better to experience rain than in a rainforest? 

We dropped our guide off on the way home and set about warming ourselves up, peeling off our wet clothes and climbing into dry ones. 

Shortly after this, I started to feel particularly tired and went for a lie down. I was finding it really difficult to get warm, and my muscles were aching again. I'd felt a bit off the night before and been sipping soluble aspirin on the trek to reduce the muscle aches. I suspected I was coming down with something, but didn't realise what until I woke up from my nap with a raging temperature.

After checking it twice, I called for mum...

"Um. I think it's time to go to the clinic..."

Merrick had left his driving license in Kigali, but I was incapable of driving, so he bravely took the wheel and they bundled me into the car, duvet and all. We pulled up at Musanze Medical Clinic on the main road. The staff were really friendly and efficient. Within about fifteen minutes I'd been taken in to see a doctor, and within forty minutes my blood test was back - malaria.

I wasn't surprised. I'd had it once before in 2015 and recognised the symptoms. They made sure I had the correct medicine and then it was back home to bed. Doctor, medicine and all only cost around FRW 3,000 ($3/£2.60). Insanely grateful for the care I received.

The Face of Malaria

It was a bit of a hairy first night as the shivers hit hard. Mum had to come in and lay towels on me to keep me warm, and empty the sick bucket. The symptoms had come on more gently than the first time, but it felt like the actual punch was harder. I was shivering so hard I convulsed at one point. But after that it was a few days of intense sweating, puking and eventually just sleeping. I'll write a separate post about that.

Due to my parasitic invasion, I wasn't able to drive back to Kigali, and we didn't want to chance it with family, so I called up my friend Emmy and he asked Ernest, our car-hire guy, to come by bus from Kigali and drive us back. I was so grateful to him, and to our wonderful Airbnb hosts, for their kindness and patience. We stopped off on the way home to stock up on fresh fruit, which is a must-have for recovery. 

It was a real shame it broke in the last few days of my parents' visit, but better at the end than the beginning, and, if I do say so myself, that was fairly fucking hardcore trekking three hours through the forest, in the pouring rain, to see golden monkeys before the critters took me down! Take that scuzzy mosquitoes! Hah!

Ow....