burundi
whilst in rwanda, we asked dozens of people about the current situation in burundi, a country that has had little peace in its post-colonial history. the feedback was all positive, so we visited the burundian embassy just to make sure. even with the peaceful current situation, we thought it wise not to ride to the capital, bujumbura, just in case. we rode from butare, rwanda, down to the border, and across the bridge to the burundi immigration. after a little confusion about which line to queue in, we were disciplined by an angry policeman for ducking under a gate rather than walking around it. we apologised, ducked back under the gate, and walked along the designated route. luckily, this turned out to be our most negative experience in burundi. recently peaceful after many years, the people were warm and welcoming, happy to see tourists and share their smiles and french-language skills with us. feeling safe, we rode south from the capital along lake tanganyika. it was 122 kms of the flattest road of this trip so far, past farms, jungle, palms and surprised locals, with the mountains looming to our left and the green waters of the lake to our right. we spent the night in the southern town of nyanza lac, and were shown around by the local councillor, martin. naturally, the flat road disappeared the next day, as we climbed high into the mountains towards the tanzanian border, into no-mans-land, through some spectactular scenery, and across to tanzania. from here (kigoma), we will catch a ferry south along lake tanganyika, to zambia, then cycle to malawi.