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?