Today was probably my favorite day in Rwanda so far. This morning started off with a day of teaching the first year residents. It involved a morning report type meeting in a small anesthesia stock room and then a lecture by one of the first year residents, Gaston. He did an excellent job of discussing the Anesthesia Machine, which is not a very easy topic.
After leaving the hospital, our driver, Isaac, drove us to Nyungwe National Park on the western side of the country. From the visitor’s center, we went on a 1.5 mile hike to the canopy. I don’t think I quite understood what a canopy tour involved, but if you can imagine the bridge from Indiana Jones, it was like that. It was made of metal and suspended by cables. The bridge swayed with each of your steps and with five people on the bridge at one time it definitely moved a lot. I am not going to lie, I was pretty darn nervous until about halfway through when I realized I had to keep going. In the middle of the bridge, I stopped and just took in the scenery. It was quite beautiful. My pulse was racing by the end of the tour, but it was definitely worth it and something I will never forget. Towards the end of the hike, we also were able to see 3-4 mountain monkeys playing in the trees.
After the hike, we had to drive another 1.5 hours to our hotel. Needless to say, the hotel that we had chosen was not quite up to our standards and therefore we decided to try another one. We ended up at Nyungwe Topview Hill Hotel. This is arguably the most amazing hotel I have ever been at. It is located, as the name implies, at the top of a hill just outside the national park. I have a 360 degree view of the park and was able to sit on my porch and watch the sunset. The villa is perfect and even has a shower with hot water. They do an amazing job here and I would love to come back one day with Jessica. And the best part, they start a fire for you in your own fireplace as the sun is going down.
Like I said, this has definitely been my favorite day so far in Rwanda and I look forward to hiking in the national park tomorrow.
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