The Congo Nile Trail runs from Gisenyi (Rubavu) to Cyangugu (Rusizi) along the shores and hills of Lake Kivu. Depending on who you consult, it is about 141 miles/227 kilometres long. We say ‘about’ because the actual route is shrouded in mystery. It is impossible to buy a map in the UK with anything like the detail required for a walk of around 10 days. Apparently, it is also impossible to buy a map with anything like the detailed required in Rwanda.
Instead, in planning this trip, we have had to rely on a screenshot of some photos of the rudimentary guide book and ‘map’ uploaded by a kindly previous traveller. We hope to buy our own copy somewhere in Rwanda, maybe in Kigali before we head off to the start of the trail. Not that this is likely to do us much good. Below is a snapshot of the less than detailed instructions contained in the guide.
Week 1 
Week 2
As can be seen, each eight hour day receives a generously short paragraph describing the start and finish point, and almost nothing else. The guide does also contain a map, although with aged and failing eyesight, so far neither of us have actally been able to read the place names on it.
These days of course, the tinternet provides. However, in this case, the only clear accounts of the trail come from mountain bikers who do the whole thing in about four days, missing out important rest stops that we are likely to want to avail ourselves of. Hikers tend to only do the first half, and even then many are on guided walking packages and so tend to gush about the scenery but omit details of guest houses etc. It does certainly look pretty though.
Of course, those of you who have read the account of our previous wander are aware that we laugh in the face of cartography, scorn the collective efforts of the Ordinance Survey and regard maps as the last resort of fools. Our attitude to maps in Nepal was similar to that of most men and instruction leaflets. (Actually, in truth, we had meant to get a map but had an issue with the after effects of a bottle of duty free gin in Kathmandu that meant we, er, essentially forgot to buy one. We DID buy one when we got back to Kathmandu from the Indigenous People’s Trail in order to carefully map where we had been. It was interesting to see. We still have the map. Nicely crisp and unspoiled. Hardly read, two careful owners).
So, true to form, Wanderingman and Rose are heading off across continents with an idea of where to go that might at best be generously described as ‘vague’. The Rwandawander will be an exercise in striding off confidently, retracing steps, striding off confidently, retracing steps….. repeat, repeat, repeat. The quintessential wander.
We will, however, be aided by the good people at Garmin (other GPs manufacturers are available) and some ropey downloaded tracks from previous hikers and bikers. Whether they actually took the right path or not is hard to fathom, since despite all claiming to be of the trail, they do take somewhat different routes. There are dark mutterings online about the second half of the trail being tarmac, leading to a couple of GPS tracks heading off into the forest well away from the original route. This renders information on possible places to stay, away from the originally sparse into the totally absent.
There are signs, however. Kinda.
Apparently, the signs are maddeningly infrequent and occasionally point in the wrong direction. In one of the best online blogs – ‘exploring wild‘ – the author gives sage advice about asking locals. And there are likely to be very many locals indeed. This is not a wilderness wander. Rwanda is one of the most densely populated countries in Africa and the lush climate along Lake Kivu long ago encouraged a plentiful population to settle there.
So by all accounts, to find our way, we will throw ourselves at the mercy of the local people. A combination of good looks and charm (we have both recently done the relevant courses) will, we hope, get us through.
Maps, who needs ’em?