Friendly Faces, Bujumbura, Burundi

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Beautiful beaches, friendly people, stunning scenery, delicious food… what more could you want from a vacation destination.  Of course, the recent civil war and genocide in the late 90s has kept tourists away. Burundi is super-safe now and we've found that although we are one of few tourists, we are one of many white-people in Bujumbura (the capital). There are a lot of expats working here - some left over from working for the UN, others working in the peace process and building a transitional government.

With Michel and Marie-Andree

Bujumbura town seems quite cosmopolitan with interesting art-deco architecture (perhaps in need of some TLC) and good quality restaurants. The food here is much more Western style.  Traveling through Africa, one gets tired of chicken and beans or rice or maize meal or even 'chipsy').  So it has been amazing to eat GOOD pizza, and cheese, and burgers, and cheese, and milkshakes, and did I mention, cheese!!!!  WOW, what a surprise!  Some of the restaurants, you wouldn't know you were in Africa (we've even had WiFi in some)! Even the local food is good quality and we've eaten delicious beef brochettes (skewers) and fried bananas. It's been a very welcome change!

The local people too, seem much more civilized (maybe the Belgian influence, or maybe because they're educated well, we don't know). Obviously there's a range of affluence here, but people are still respectful: if we say no to their requests of money, they generally leave us alone. The thing that has stood out most for us in Burundi is that we seemed to just meet really friendly people left, right and centre - local and ex-pat alike.  We've actually had a social life! Being invited out to dinner or for drinks has been really refreshing and kept us very busy! Bring

With Natacha (left), Ketsia (rear), and their families

it on! We met Michel in the Bureau de Change and before we knew it, he invited us for drinks, and spent a very pleasant evening with him and his wife, Marie-Andree, for hours talking of world travels, our thoughts on Africa, and memories of Canada (where they also used to live). We were impressed that Marie-Andree, originally from Quebec, had been in Burundi and Rwanda a long time working in refugee camps during the civil wars and genocide years. That's hard core! In Michel and Marie-Andree we definitely felt a genuine warmth and interest and appreciated their generosity.

The following day when Martin was in the bank, a bubbly woman, hearing his accent, ran up to him and invited us for dinner and drinks. Just recently returned from Montreal, Natacha, wanted to reminisce and talk about her old home. We were happy to oblige and it was a very fun evening meeting her family and friends that she herself had not

Inside Bujumbura Market

seen in a long time. We made plans to meet again and tour her birth country together in a few days time.

On our explorations through the city we got lost in the market. Most markets in Africa tend to be the same - open, bare-bones stalls with an assortment of random stuff, meat, fish, veggies etc generally with dirt/ mud under-foot in the aisles. But here in Buja, the market is a huge warehouse-style building and each 'stall' is actually a lockable 10ft tall wooden shed. All the sheds are set in row upon row as far as the eye can see.  It was tidy and clean (no mud or debris in sight) and organised in to sections. For instance, in flip-flop corner there were sheds with stacks and stacks of coloured flip-flops and crocs 10 ft tall.  We saw sections of people at their sewing machines, the bicycle-part section, the manicure section, carpentry, hardware, meat, fish, veggies, beans, rice. It was great.

Binoculars were the centre of attention

We spent about 6 days in total in Buja, but one day we caught a city bus along Lake Tanganyika to the closest National Park - Rusizi. A large wetland area, we hired bicycles and a guide to explore along the paths. It was pleasant to be out of the hubbub of town and have some peace and quiet watching nature - birds and hippos. Bosco our guide, was pretty cute and would get extremely excited just seeing a lapwing or a duck. The Park is still being developed for tourism and there were four watch towers in different stages of construction. I asked Bosco if we could get to the lake, and kind-of wished I hadn't. We had to wade through some very dubious-looking water through reeds and partially sunk canoes to get to the lake's edge. On the other side we were greeted by a group of villagers fishing and swimming in the murky brown lake - the outflow of Ruisizi River from recent rains. If you looked beyond the

Les Tambourinaires

murkiness, it was quite scenic: Lake Tanganyika's deep blue water on the horizon and the majestic backdrop of Congo's impressive mountains (Democratic Republic of Congo). The bike ride back to HQ was a little rough through sand and scrub, but highlighted with meeting local children shocked at seeing us; they really hadn't seen white people much before, if at all. We ended our day on Saga Beach once a pleasant and popular beach. Unfortunately, not so much now - it was littered and run down. We walked along to Club du Lac Tanganyika - a popular resort with more affluent visitors which also had a slight feeling of neglect. Obviously, Burundi has seen better days in terms of some of its tourist 'attractions'.

One thing that Burundi is famous for, is its Tambourinaires - traditional drummers and dancing. The Tambourinaires have played around the world and once opened for the New Orleans' Jazz Festival. The huge cylindrical drums, called ingomas, are one of Burundi's oldest traditions originally used by specialised families and warriors of the Royal Court to mark all sorts of happy and sombre occasions.

Denise and John at 'Our' Coke Shop

We found ourselves once again on Saga beach, this time for the Sunday afternoon drumming performance. Drummers dressed in red, green and white - the colours of the Burundian Flag - were parading with their drums dancing and singing. Apparently there are about 20 different traditional dances but only 3 are in popular use today. Our friend Marie-Andree was going around the country trying to capture these traditional dances in photo and hopefully exhibit them one day in the museum or even abroad. Her hope is to preserve this important tradition. Typical of many African countries that have been affected by colonialism and development, many cultural traditions sadly get lost with progress. For us, we were glad that we got a taster of the drumming and dance and were impressed by them playing them while balanced on their heads! * Mush

Things Michelle will remember
1. Michel's story about when he was a kid, his parents told him that white people would eat him - just to keep him away from cars on the road. This would explain a few reactions that we've seen! (What's 'funny', is that there are still tribes in Africa that practice Cannibalism.)

Drinking impeke

2. At the lake at Ruisizi Park, when the villagers weren't staring at us, for about 15 minutes they squabbled over Bosco's binoculars fascinated at how they worked!

3.  Friendly John, Denise and Esther at 'our' Coca Cola Shop.

4.  Drinking 'Impeke' with some locals at a small museum/park in town. It looked like hot chocolate and was served in a gourd sawn in half, sipped through a plant reed. It's a beer, apparently, made of sorghum, not at all chocolatey or sweet, but bitter, lumpy, and I thought, disgusting. Eeeeww!