Biking in Rwanda
I ended up being in Rwanda for 3 weeks on a biking trip with 6 other students and 4 adults. Biking is what made the difference for us. We would ride our bikes every other day for about 30 to 50 kilometers, but no matter where we were, the bike was always our communication tool - a way to open the door with the children we met. The kids would see us ride by on our bikes and it was something they had seen before and were familiar with, but here were 7 white kids from American riding through their village and they immediately wanted to find out more about us. Then either we would try to teach them how to ride, or they would show us that they already knew how.
Have you traveled in other countries and found a communication tool similar to our bicycles? Have you riden bikes in other countries? What have you used to ‘break the ice’ with people in other countries?
| September 3rd, 2008 at 10:19 am
I’ve been to Rwanda and plan to return in a month or so. This time, I’m seriously thinking of bringing my bike. The first time there (I was only there for two weeks), I stayed in a 5 star hotel and felt isolated (though, I did see a few political “stars”). I would love to bike around Rwanda. I’m sure that a Mzungu on a bike would be an ice-breaker
How did you transport them?
| September 4th, 2008 at 8:54 pm
Mark, i really hope you are able to return to Rwanda and bike there. We got lucky and got bikes donated to us. The people who donated them said that they would pay the shipping as well. So we took them to the airlines with us and shipped them in bike boxes ( they were completely packaged up). In Rwanda we hired vans that took our bike whenever we weren’t riding them. As we were splitting the cost 11 ways, this was prettty reasonable. Good luck! -Eliana
| September 5th, 2008 at 12:46 pm
Since I’m mostly going to be in Kigali, I’ll likely have find a road bike there or take my own. Now, to figure out shipping costs on International flights….
I’ve noticed they have had two “Tour of Rwanda” races and I saw what looked like a professional practicing on the roads there. Amazing.
Also, for a good combination of Bikes, Rwanda, and Coffee, check out bikesToRwanda.com.
| September 7th, 2008 at 12:45 pm
Mike, thanks for the web address, i look forward to looking at it. Also we had friends visit us from uganda. They came over to ride bikes with us and they rented mountain bikes from a store in Kigali. So it is not an impossible mission to rent one, and i bet its cheaper than shipping one over. But i guess it depends on how long you would be renting one. -Eliana