Kigali, Rwanda

What a surprise Rwanda is! Many countries in Africa easily express a sort of visual chaos but Rwanda is clean, organized, friendly, and quite hilly. The capital, Kigala, is located at 5,500 feet in elevation. Here are a few pictures.

View of Kigali city center

This is the real Hotel Rwanda called the Hotel des Mille Collines

Inside the lobby - the film was made at a hotel in South Africa

The last Saturday of each month is called Umaganda - a national day cleaning the country. It is a patriotic service where all citizens, young and old, stop whatever they are doing and clean up wherever they are. All business in the country comes to a halt. It lasts from 7 AM to noon. We were in the country on this day in February to view this incredible service to their country.

On a darker note, we visited the Genocide Memorial

It was built here specifically because of the many mass graves that were located here. Here is an open grave outside the memorial.

It is a new building and very modern. Each visitor gets a handset that has programed narration at each of the stops. Languages are Rwandan, English, French, Spanish and others.

Some of the displays are haunting. The memorial is meant to provide future generations with a remembrance of what happened. Exhibits are also on display about genocide elsewhere - Jewish (1940's), Armenian (1910's), Bosnian (1990's), and Cambodian (1970's).

A large room holds thousands of family photo's of the victims

One million Rwandans were killed in the genocide. But the irony of it all is that today this country is peaceful, clean and vibrant.

This is one example - we were taken to a basket weaving co-op where women who were brutalized in the genocide are now making colorful baskets that are being exported worldwide. They are sold at Macy's!

A creative endeavor

Where smiles are everywhere

And beautiful baskets too

Final Thought's on Egypt and Flying To Rwanda

We were only in Egypt two days and this is nowhere near enough time to truly feel the pulse of a place. We would have to spend weeks here and talk to hundreds of people to get a true sense of what Egypt might become. But TCS and Starquest Expeditions hire very knowledgeable and well educated local guides who have the pulse of a country in mind when they show us around. Although these trips are fast paced, the amount of material imparted to us is phenomenal. The secret is to pay attention, even if the wake up calls come early and the nightly entertainment ends late.

Manal Khalil speaking to our group in the Mohammed Ali Mosque in Cairo. Note how empty the mosque is - on previous trips to Cairo I have seen this place bustling with people everywhere

While in Egypt, I toured with local guide and Egyptologist Manal Khalil. She was excellent in all respects and has guided tours for Smithsonian Journey's throughout the Middle East and North Africa. I asked her some detailed questions about what Egypt might look like in the future. She of course did not know but what struck her was how quickly the country returned to "normal" within a month after Mubarak's removal. There were no radical claims on the presidency by any group and the people (all 85 million of them - an Egyptian is born every 23 seconds) went back to their normal routine very soon after the president's removal. It seems that Mubarak's only crime was one of stupidity (or greed) in that he could not see that 31 years of self rule was enough. The Egyptian people simply wanted his corruption gone - and he was unable to see that his people were tired of it. (Take note President Bashar al-Assad in Syria).

The ones really hurt in all of this change are those who work in the tourism industry, a 13 billion dollar annual enterprise and just as important to the economy here as the receipts on Suez Canal passages. After the overthrow, unemployment in Egypt went from 7% to 12%, and most of the job loss was from the tourism sector. And yet from what I saw, Egypt is as safe and unchanged today as it was 3 or 5 or 10 years ago. The removal of Mubarak did see some violence but it is amazing how quickly everything has seemed to return to normal.

When viewing Egypt today through the lens of its ancient past, it appears that Mubarak had a Pharaohic complex. He tried to make himself 'King of Egypt' but the people said no. If you've ever wanted to see this country and its antiquities, there may be no better time than right now. Travelers will come back here as reports such as this filter back.

We took off from Cairo International Airport about 9 AM and flew due south towards Rwanda. Here are few pictures of our day.

Our 757 prepares for take-off from Cairo. We have 16 crew members, including 3 pilots, two engineers, 8 stewards, and two chefs! I am sitting in Row 1, Seat A, with a great view to the east today.

It was extremely hazy across the eastern Sahara today and I had to "clean up" the pictures quite a bit. Here is the upper end of the Nasser Reservoir behind Aswan Dam from 35,000 feet. Just across the water from here is famous Abu Simbal (I was on the other side of the jet). It looks a lot like Lake Powell country near Page, AZ

Northern Sudan and the desert

The Nile River in Sudan, downstream from Khartoum. Note the settlement pattern in Sudan, with agricultural fields trending perpendicular away from the river bank.

Linear dune field near the Nile River (upper part of the photo)

Note the settlement pattern here in northern Rwanda. The houses are all on the road frontage with the growing fields behind them on the hills. I love watching the various ways people settle the landscape - it's so different everywhere.

The Muhazi Reservoir east of Kigali, Rwanda

We haven't seen much of Rwanda yet but it is very clean and friendly so far

Egypt After Mubarak

This is my 5th trip to Egypt and it hasn't changed one bit. If one didn't know that something big happened here (politically) on January 25, 2011, they couldn't guess it. Virtually everything seems the same - the traffic is horrendous, there are 25 million people in this relatively small space and the Egyptians remain friendly and out going towards tourists. Well, at least the Egyptians who work in tourism because that industry here has plunged 95% since the Arab Spring. They are hurting and just love to see that our group is here.

The last time I visited the Sphinx it was literally wall to wall people! Today, we were the only group there! What a difference this makes.

This trip is completely action packed and there is not enough time to do this blog justice. Look at the pictures and know that I wish I could write more about what we are seeing. Hopefully more geology to come in Rwanda with active volcano's and gorilla's living on their slopes.

The Mohammed Ali Mosque, designed after the Blue Mosque in Istanbul Turkey. It is located on a prominent hill overlooking downtown Cairo and the size of it is astounding.

Our group hearing about the building of the mosque while inside

Decorative and religious shield inside the Mohammed Ali Mosque. Religions everywhere might be separate in their details but the overall beliefs are the same - death is coming so be good here and now. The stories we are hearing about Islam have at their core similarities to Christianity. We fight partly because they are so related in their gross outlines.

Shafts of sunlight filtering through the windows in the mosque

The Sultan Hassan Mosque in Cairo

Students taking a field trip to the mosque

Colorful mosaic tiles in the niche that shows the way to Mecca

The market in Cairo is colorful, vibrant, and old. Here are a set of hubbly-bubble pipes for sale.

And dresses for the party

A shoe shine operation on a Cairo street

The spices are fragrant and colorful

Time to talk about Egyptians thousands of years ago before Islam. Here is a wooden boat that remained buried until 1954 and next to Cheops Pyramid (a tomb). It is about 4,500 years old. The Pharaoh's wanted to have many material possessions for the afterlife and their tombs were filled with things that would make what was to come more comfortable. This boat is 143 feet long and would enable the "resurrected" king to sail on the Nile River in the afterlife. 

Here is another tomb - a pyramid. Humans have always feared death and have created great stories about what might happen after we die.

Self portrait at the Pyramids of Giza

Sunset at the Sphinx. Originally, this was a promontory of limestone rock (Eocene or about 50 million years old) that was carved and shaped to look like the body of a lion (strength) and the head of a human (wisdom).

Two birds perch on the top of the Sphinx

Tonight, TCS threw a wonderful party for us at the pyramids. After the general public went back to Cairo at the close of the pyramids, our group of 47 was treated to local music and a tented dinner catered by the Four Seasons Hotel.

 

We also got to ride camels across the desert at sunset. It was a marvelous day!

London to Cairo

Bang! The wake-up call felt as if it came out of nowhere in the middle of night. I bolted up immediately wondered, "WTF"? "Your 5:30 wake-up call Mr. Ranney!" I thought it was a joke. But jet lag is a real monster and it was almost comical seeing many Americans asleep during on the bus tour in Cairo later in the day.

The typical dismal gray English sky greeted us at Luton Airport near London and soon we began our first leg of the jet journey. The cloud began to break over Germany, just as I was beginning my lecture. There were a few problems with the audio system so I was able to get a few pictures of the Alps as we crossed into Austria. (The iPad platform for my images  worked astoundingly well though)! More cloud covered the route from the former Yugoslavia to the Mediterranean coast. Today was fly day with clouds except for the Alps and so there are not too many pictures today.

Somewhere over the Tyrolian Alps, Austria, very close to the place where Ötzi the "ice man" was found. They have had a lot of snow in Europe this winter and it is obvious on this glorious day. Wish I could have photographed it more but I had to work!

View southwest over the Alps with the Adriatic Sea reflecting light in the upper left. Somewhere out there is Venice on the coast.

Near the front edge and slightly ahead of the jet engine, you can make out Salzburg, Austria

It was cloudy all the way to Cairo but we began to get good views of the little towns along the river

Populations are clustered tightly in Egypt. Here you can see a city near Cairo with the fields all around. American tend to spread out upon the landscape, here they cluster tightly.

Downtown Cairo

Ditto

There are 85 million people in Egypt. 80% of them live within a few miles of the Nile River.

Soldiers doing drills as we approach the airport

The Egyptian Museum does not allow camera's inside the building but it was a fabulous display of the King Tut artifacts. Looters in the Arab Spring uprising stole 29 artefacts from King Tuts Tomb but some have been recovered.

Egyptian statue made of diorite rock from the Nubian Desert

This is the National Party (Mubarak) headquarters that was destroyed during the February, 2011 uprising. It sits adjacent to Tahrir Square and the Egyptian Museum. Tomorrow's posting will relate the changes that have occurred sine the uprising. Right now things seem calm here.

As I went to wide angle, you could see the National Party Headquarters building framing our canape reception outside the Egyptian Museum

The scene was dripping with irony