Tides rule Twiga beach. At the moment high tide peaks at 3am or so and by 6am crystal clear blue water covers the reef. The water retreats rapidly and just after we’ve finished coffee the reef is exposed. For nearly a kilometer straight out and stretching south to Tanzania and north to Mombasa you can beach comb to infinity or until the tide comes in. There are countless sparkling tide pools. There are shells hidden in the rocks and any number of bizarre creatures to be 
examined. Seductive waves roll over the outer reef, looking fun and playful. Unable to resist, on our third day at the beach Jim and I went out to swim in those waves and how lucky we were to come back unscathed. The waves may look playful but they are breaking on to coral just a foot below the water and hanging on the coral are scores of sea urchins ready with their spines. There are no sharks but with carpets of urchins, sharks are the least of it. You might be thinking that a proliferation of urchins signals a poor reef 
environment. Yes, the reef has doubtlessly seen better days but on the surface (haha) it appears that the reef can cope, if given a chance. Let us hope so. Walking out on the reef, the air is cooler, the water refreshing, the finds endless – you just have to remember to come back and not walk all the way to Tanzania unless you happen to be carrying your passport.
Bird life consists of the usual shorebirds and herons plus a pair of 
woolley-necked storks that hang around at low tide. Vervet monkeys (with their turquoise-blue balls), Sykes monkeys and the fashionable black and white Colobus monkeys range through the trees, wreaking havoc on the unsuspecting. The camp dogs do a fair job of keeping the monkeys in check, not that the camp dogs are that much better than the monkeys. Covered with fleas and ticks and continually bloody sores, they are not best-in-show. They are, however, the friendliest little dogs ever. They will let every kid in camp manhandle them, chase them around, pull their ears and hug 
them. I cannot help but wonder if the parents have noticed how truly mangy the dogs are – but what the heck, we pet them. Gingerly. No hugs.
Our time in Kenya is winding to a close. We entered the country from rainy Uganda looking like drowned rats in a mud-covered truck. Now we are tanned and rested and instead of mud there is sand in everything. Kenya has endeared herself to us completely. The elections and all that hoopla were a bit off-putting at first with locals warning us of awful possibilities, 
none of which came to pass as yet. We have enjoyed every minute of this glorious country, from Eldoret to Turkana to Nairobi to Barefoot Beach and on down the stunning Swahili coast to Twiga. Kenyans have been overwhelming friendly and helpful and they do this in stride, being friendly and helpful comes easy for them. The many faces of Kenya, black, white, tribesman, Arab, Indian, muslim, hindu – so many people proudly call themselves Kenyan. Politics aside (if only that were 
possible) Kenya is the most organized and prosperous country we’ve seen in East Africa. Yes, there are difficulties. Spasms of ethnic violence have scarred towns and villages. The Land Rover Defender parked behind us has bullet holes in it, its driver killed in a bandit attack. Infiltrators and terrorists have demolished the tourist trade. Still, Kenya is lovely and hospitable and its people are poised to lead in Africa. Come here and see for yourselves. Tell everyone jambo for us.
Nyungwe Forest, near the southwest corner of Rwanda, is one of the oldest forests in Africa, if not the oldest. For hundreds of thousands of years, minute by minute, day after day, the process of photosynthesis from the Nyungwe has spewed oxygen into the earth’s atmosphere – we should all be thankful. 
Remarkably, Nyungwe is generally intact, still in pristine condition. There are threats of course, illegal logging, poaching, and the like, as explained by the brilliant modern interpretive center at the main campground. Still this forest has survived any number of climate changes and if Homo Sapiens can be kept at bay, there’s a good chance for continued success. We need the oxygen. At any rate, we came to experience the deep green scenery and the primates. Heavy black cloud unleash great buckets of rain on us as we arrange camping. There are beautifully built teak shelters and we can back the Beagle right up to the shelter for cooking and relaxing. The view is stunning, the horizon full of forest stretching on and on, green and thick and unlike anything we have seen so far in Africa. Rwanda is full of surprises.
To walk anywhere in Nyungwe you must have a guide. Trails are variously strenuous, all are steep and slick with rain. I know I’d have to watch my step on a guided hike – to look up or around is to ensure a fall. We elect to hang around and see what happens instead of hiking. Monkeys visit us every morning, calmly walking around the truck checking for edibles and the bright yellow bananas on the dashboard attract attention. Other than that, we must seem pretty boring to them. They are anything but boring to me. Their colorful fur and big eyes, their little fingers and long toes; I find them endlessly entertaining. L’Hoest monkeys, blue monkeys, black and white colobus, all are found here. Not one of them bares their teeth at me and tries to steal lunch as happened in Botswana – I heaved the box
of flatware at that one, I was hungry and not about to share. We don’t share anything with these fine primates either but they don’t care. There is plenty of food in the forest for them. Humans would starve in these woods – the trees keep all the nutrients for themselves and there is little forage for human taste. Could be that is why this place is still so fresh and vital. Chimpanzees live here too and a guide can take you to look for them. No guarantees though, you may or may not see these wonderful creatures. Chimps in the wild are shocking – if you’ve only seen them on TV, you’ll be aghast at how powerful they are as they move about their own environment. We spot two of them on the road as we leave the park; they quietly move off into the trees and I’m glad for that, I would not want a chimp to be hit by a truck.
Nyungwe is the last park we visit in Rwanda. As we leave, I think that Rwanda fits perfectly the pattern I’ve noticed in African countries. That is: nothing is what it seems. Rwanda is practically litter-free, has marvelous roads, beautiful parks, solemn memorials (all over the country), good hospitality service – all the things a tourist would compliment. On the other hand, it is run by a heavy-handed dictator, Paul Kagama, who has been in power for 23 years. Many praise his positive achievements but of course there is a dark side. Opposition leaders tend to disappear. Militias in Congo are armed with Rwandan weaponry and they facilitate the theft of Congo’s resources by Rwanda, who then sell it to the west. To be fair, Uganda (run by another brutal dictator) and other countries are also robbing Congo – there is plenty to go around there for now. Where will it
all end? Will Rwandans really recover from the genocide? Have free elections? We cannot know. It is time to enter Uganda and the Katuna border crossing is ahead of us. We’ll see what happens there.
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