Day 14: A Boat Ride, Travel, and Gisenyi
Day had a little of everything. Boat ride, fruit bats, a field station visit, and an afternoon at Gisenyi's local market. The kind of day that looks manageable on paper and ends up being packed.
Island Boat Ride and Fruit Bats
Morning started with a boat ride out to one of the small islands on the lake. Short trip across the water, then a hike around the island. Main attraction turned out to be fruit bats. A lot of them, hanging in the trees, and they were bigger than I expected. Wide wingspans, surprisingly expressive faces. If you've never seen a fruit bat up close, they're worth paying attention to.
The group entertainment highlight of the bat encounter was when one of them pooped on someone in our group. Won't name names. There was a long pause, then laughter, then a scramble to find something to clean up with. Welcome to the island.
Gishwati Field Station
After the island, we went to the Gishwati field station. Research site focused on conservation in the Gishwati forest, which has been heavily affected by deforestation and the displacement that followed the genocide. Interesting to hear about the work being done to study and restore it. A lot of Rwanda's conservation challenges are directly tied to the country's recent history — the genocide's impact didn't stop at the human toll. The landscape itself was caught in the aftermath.
Gisenyi's Local Market
The afternoon brought us to the local market in Gisenyi. Different from the markets we'd visited earlier. Large, crowded, not set up for tourists in any way — just the place where people in Gisenyi do their daily shopping. Narrow aisles, vendors selling everything from produce to fabric to household goods.
Some people in the group found the energy of it intense. We were very clearly the only non-Rwandans there. People stared. Kids pointed. A few vendors tried to get our attention. None of it was hostile, just genuinely real in a way that the more curated parts of the itinerary weren't. For me it was one of the more interesting moments of the whole trip — a place that was entirely for and about the people who actually live there, and we were just passing through it.
Full day. Good day. On to the next one.
