Sylvestre has taught me a lot during my visits to Rwanda. |
Sylvestre's Stories
Wednesday, June 29, 2011 | Nyamata, Rwanda
Categories:
Business Trips,
Current Affairs,
Rwanda
Gorilla Country: There Are No Creationists in Virunga
Monday, June 13, 2011 | Virunga National Park, Rwanda
I had to remind myself that they only look like humans in gorilla suits. |
In my previous three trips, I had never managed to visit Rwanda's most famous tourist attraction—the mountain gorillas. The price tag was a big reason. Visiting the gorillas requires getting to Rwanda in the first place (not a cheap proposition), then to Virunga National Park, on the country's northern border. But the expenses don't end there; the permit to join a small group and enter the lush highland forests, under mandatory escort by a team of trackers, guides, and armed scouts, costs US$500. For that price, one is allowed to trek up the volcanoes' steep slopes to find a gorilla family and observe them for a maximum of an hour. Of course, seeing them is not guaranteed, and online travel forums are full of horror stories of visitors paying the hefty fee only to climb through
Categories:
Business Trips,
Environment,
Mountains,
Rwanda,
Wildlife
Leaving Ireland on a High Note: Galway and the Aran Islands
Sunday, June 5, 2011 | Inis Mor, Co. Galway, Ireland
Family portrait above the cliffs at Dún Aengus fort, on the largest of the Aran Islands |
But even Galway can't hide the signs of the times; like everywhere else in Ireland, Galway's residents spent the last decade building. The B&B in which we stayed was just the latest of a long string of recently—and shoddily—constructed places we lodged in, adorned with cheap furnishings and tacky décor. While the various B&B owners were all exceptionally warm and inviting, they also all spoke of Ireland's economic boom and bust in gloomy terms. Ireland's housing bubble was a large part of the cause, but so was America's own economic slump; as our host in Galway explained, the economy in this part of Ireland rises and falls with the tides of American tourists, and this year we
Categories:
Beaches,
Cycling,
Historical Sites,
Ireland,
Islands,
Road Tripping,
Wildlife