A few months ago I took a vacation to Uganda, boarding the north of Rwanda. I went with a friend and we squeezed a week trip into 3 days. First stop was Sabinyo volcano. It has a jagged top with 3 peaks. The third peak is at the border of Congo, Uganda and Rwanda. To get to each peak you have to climb up and down ricked wooden ladders because of how steep each peak is. In Kinyarwanda Sabinyo means bad or old teeth which is a very fitting name because from a distance the top of the volcano looks just like that. We spent the night in a hostel right at the bottom of the volcano. Then bright and early at 7am we woke up to begin the daunting climb. Funny story here, we did not know there was a time change as we are merely 1hour from Rwanda directly north, but yes indeed there is a one hour time change and therefore we had not set our alarms for 7 but 8 instead so we had a very sudden awakening by the staff who knew we were intending to climb the volcano that morning. We made it to the base by 7:30 only 30 minutes late and began climbing. We were accompanied the entire way by an armed guard in case of elephant attacks mostly is what we were told. We did see elephant tracks and elephant dung but no actual elephants sadly. We reached the first peak at 1:00ish and then it was onto the second peak going down first and then further up the summit peak two. Unfortunately during our climb it was foggy and rainy and we had absolutely no view. As we climb onward to the third peak all I am thinking the entire time is please let the fog clear so we can get a few. At 2:30 we summated the third and highest peak of Sabinyo and got to stand in 3 countries at once, Rwanda, Uganda and Congo. The third summit is 3669 meters high. The climb in total is 14 kilometers and took about 8 hour’s total. To say the least by the end of the climb we were absolutely exhausted, sore and completely wet by the end of this climb but there was no time to rest as next we had to go white water rafting and bungee jumping. We took a bus, rested at our hostel on Saturday and on Sunday morning, took a 44 meter leap of faith off a ledge over the Nile River with a bungee attached of course, then took on the white waters of the Nile River. It is said to be one of the world most spectacular rafting destinations in the world. And I must agree. In the morning we took on four class 4 and 5 rapids one being a 15 foot waterfall that yes we went down it and survived and did not even flip the boat which most of the other boats that did hit ended up flipping. (By the way the highest level rapid is a class 6 but those are deadly, the highest rapid that can be rafted through is class 5.) There is a way around the waterfall for wimps. Then it was lunch time, which was amazing by the way chicken and ham and fresh vegetables wrapped in chapatti with hot sauce. This may not sound amazing to those living outside Africa but let me tell you the vegetables are limited in Rwanda and it is amazing when there is a buffet full of them. After lunch we hit 4 more rapids flipped in one of them. Flipping is really the adrenaline rush with rafting. You get sucked under the water for a few seconds by the rapid and it is scary but really fun to do. We tried to flip more times but just didn’t hit the rapids quit right to cause a flip. Yes that’s right flipping is a skill you have to try for its not as easy as it seems to flip. So then it was time to return that night to our beloved home of Rwanda. In three days we were able to trek a volcano, bungee jump and whitewater raft and it was an amazing weekend.
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