This post is just about how we got to Nyungwe National Park from Huye/Butare, and staying at the Gisakura Tea Estate. It’s probably not that interesting for anyone reading from casual interest; however, we were a bit worried about the journey worked and couldn’t find all that much information, so I thought a few details might ease the minds of anyone attempting the same journey.
We’d been staying in Butare, and the plan was to catch the Sotra bus from here to Nyungwe. We weren’t entirely sure this was possible; it was, but it’s worth knowing a few facts beforehand.
Firstly, we nearly didn’t secure a seat because we just turned up on the day. Of all the bus companies that operate from Butare, Sotra is the only one that runs to Nyungwe. The buses originate in Kigali so they can be full by the time they get to Butare. We were originally told that there was no space on any of the buses that day. Bizarrely, after we’d been around all the other bus companies and returned to Sotra to book tickets for the next day, we were told that it was now possible. Bear in mind that they don’t over-fill their buses here (this isn’t Uganda) so it’s very possible that all tickets can disappear in advance.
The bus from the centre of Butare headed, worryingly, back in the direction of Kigali. Luckily, it turned out that this was just to drop us at the petrol station at the edge of town, where we could pick up a bus on the main Kigali-Cyangugu route. So far, so good.
The drive to Gisakura, on the western edge of Nyungwe, is truly, truly beautiful, but at the back of our minds there was the worry that no-one had seemed to totally understand that we wanted to get off at the park, and not continue right through to Cyangugu. But there was no need to have worried – I think they understand that white people typically want to see the park, and not some slightly manky town on the DRC border. So they stopped first at Uwinka, which is the main campsite and point of arrival for visitors here, expecting us to get off. We shouted Gisakura and the bus rumbled on (or rather slid on… they call it a rainforest for good reason).
Because it is the cheapest place to stay in the area, we wanted to stay at Gisakura Tea Estate Guesthouse. Note: This is not the same as Gisakura Guesthouse, which is where we stayed for the next few days and we’ll come back to in a later post. The Tea Estate is seriously no frills, and is marked by a sign saying ‘Gisakura Usine a The’ on the left-hand side of the road, about five to ten minutes’ drive from the exit to the park. Our bus driver thought it pretty bizarre that we wanted to stay here, but stopped happily enough.
From the road it’s about a 15-minute walk (with bags, anyway) to the guesthouse, which is tucked away just past the roundabout. I don’t have any pictures of the guesthouse itself, but here’s the road leading up to it:
The Tea Estate Guesthouse is just past the roof you can see in the distance
The Tea Estate Guesthouse is basic. It cost 10,000RwF (£11) a night for a double room, with attached toilet/shower. Basically, if you have a car and you’re really on a budget (a strange combination, but possible, I suppose), then it’s probably fine. But if, like us, you’re reliant on public transport, then it’s pretty inconvenient, because it’s so hard to get anything to eat. According to our guidebook it’s possible to get food from the tea estate canteen, but it was (very) closed up when we got there. There aren’t any shops in the vicinity – they’re about 25 minutes’ walk away – and the only other place to get food is the Gisakura Guesthouse, which I suspect wouldn’t feed you if you weren’t staying there. So the rooms are cheap (a little bit cockroachy, but at this price that kinda goes with the turf), but you’re totally stranded, and if you’re walking/hitching back here after 6.30pm, you’ll need to do so in the pitch, pitch dark.
Great views of the tea, though.
[...] 24 03 2010 After deciding that the Gisakura Tea Estate wasn’t for us, our next stop was the better-known Gisakura Guesthouse (sometimes called the ORTPN Guesthouse, [...]