Africa, Finally

Our first glimpse of Africa

We’ve arrived on the African continent.

Our uneventful Singapore Airlines flights and layover saw us landing in Johannesburg 20 minutes early. With a layover of just over 10 hours, we were quietly hoping immigration and baggage collection might chew up a decent chunk of time.

No such luck.

Instead, we were gifted an exit so efficient we found ourselves defending ourselves in the wilds of O. R. Tambo International Airport within 15 minutes of leaving the aircraft. It would have been less if Malcolm hadn’t needed a toilet stop. There was a priority immigration lane for business class passengers, so we waltzed straight through. Our suitcases were numbers three and four off the carousel.

At 6am, there was not much happening. We couldn’t check in until three hours before our 4:50pm RwandAir flight (also booked with points via Qatar Airways, naturally). So we coughed up the dollars for a day room at City Lodge Hotel OR Tambo, conveniently linked to the terminal by a covered walkway. The shower and nap were well worth the AUD143.

Simple room at the City Lodge Hotel, same one we stayed overnight at in 2018!

How you know you're in South Africa, when this is the default tea offering

Relaxing at the Bidvest Lounge. One eye on the golf

The other has a view of the flight information board

Intriguing snacks! The one on the left was a touch too sweet for me but it did taste like tomato sauce!

The last flight that would take us to our destination

Very basic seat

Amenities better than Singapore Airlines'...

Welcome drink. The pineapple mint drink was yummy. This coming from a non-mint loving girl

The menu for those who likes details

Food was average but it did the job of fulfilling dinner 

Our RwandAir flight to Kigali was pleasant. In fact, everything was pleasant. Africans in general are such a warm people and everything felt so relaxed. Rwanda — often called the “Land of a Thousand Hills” — is one of Africa’s smallest countries, roughly the size of Tasmania, but with one of the continent’s highest population densities. It’s also known for being remarkably clean and orderly; plastic bags have been banned here since 2008.

Our arrival at Kigali International Airport was another speedy affair. Yet again, a priority immigration line for business class passengers. We could get used to this.

We were greeted by our guide, Jeff, and transferred to our hotel for the night: Hôtel des Mille Collines, made famous by the 2004 film Hotel Rwanda, set during the 1994 Rwandan genocide. The hotel sheltered over a thousand people during that time. You’ll have to Google the details as I haven’t actually seen the movie.

I'm exhausted so hopefully I can take better photos of the hotel tomorrow as we begin our first real day of adventure.

Kigali airport is tiny. Single building, no airbridge, this is the greeting area

Kigali is very green! And hilly!

Looks like this will be our range rover for most of our trip other than at Magashi Camp

Our room. We asked for a more "basic" hotel for the first night as it was literally only to sleep the night

View of Kigali from our room

Um...are we meant to take them home?

Festival of Fifty – Chapter 4: Africa

My, what long forearms you have Belinda...wait is that even Mal? Thanks chatGPT!

The BIG one.

It’s officially our birthday month. The Festival of Fifty has entered its Africa chapter and we’re ticking off one of the bucket list items for both of us: seeing the gorillas. We’re hoping the reality is every bit as awesome as we’ve imagined. We haven’t exactly held back on this trip, so we’re embracing the bougie without apology.

Naturally, as one does, we’re also swinging by Nepal on the way home. Mainly because Singapore Airlines services Kathmandu and so that was our way home sorted. Also, we are nothing if not opportunistic with airline routes. After successfully accomplishing the Olympic-level task of finding points flights between Kigali and Kathmandu (flying Qatar Airways just in case anyone was interested..) the rest fell into place surprisingly smoothly.

In Rwanda, we tracked down the local operator used by most international tour companies and basically said, “You’re the experts. Please design our adventure.” In Nepal, we found a zen wellness resort who calmly took over all Nepalese logistics (there were many!) while we nodded enthusiastically and pretended we are relaxed travellers.

All that’s left now is to cross our fingers that nothing derails us. No mystery illnesses. No post-election unrest. No unexpected plot twists. Just us, the gorillas, and a slightly smug sense of logistical accomplishment.

Minor detail: I thought I’d be hitting 75 countries by 50 DURING this trip. Turns out… I miscounted. I’ve already hit 75. So I don’t need to rely on counting that transit in Doha like a desperate overachiever. Rwanda will be 76. Nepal 77. Qatar 78. Let's not waste the opportunity!

We are, if nothing else, masters of flying the long way around. We are flying to Rwanda via Singapore via Johannesburg with long, character-building airport layovers in between,  mainly because we were too stingy to pay Qantas prices.

Milestone birthdays are for perspective.
And apparently, for routing possible chaos.

Let's go!

Cheers! Still looking fresh. Flight #1 to Singapore

Seafood vermicelli for breakfast. Not bad!