I’ve been looking for this waterfall since I got here. I found it on google Earth a few weeks before we came but have never gotten the opportunity to properly find it because DRC is so insecure. But, lo and behold, when I planned to do it, and took steps during the week to make it happen (instead of just waiting around for Saturday morning and trying to throw it all together) then it did happen! I went with James, a Congolese guy who works for another NGO here in Bukavu. We decided, actually, to go try to see this waterfall from the Rwanda side, because it falls into a canyon that runs the border between the two countries, and the Rwanda side will put us directly across from it, with likely a better view. More importantly, Rwanda is generally safe to travel in the countryside and off the main roads, and DRC is generally not safe to do that. Anyway, we found this waterfall I had found on Google earth, except that it wasn’t a waterfall. It was a place where this very white rock is exposed and runs down the length of the gorge. I would bet that it actually is a waterfall when there’s rain, but yesterday it was a narrow, very tall, stretch of cliff.

 

 

 

 

Despite that fact, the trip was AWESOME. This canyon (gorge? Valley? Ravine?) was absolutely breathtaking. Probably around 1,500 feet deep, super-sharp, and GREEN GREEN GREEN everywhere, except when there was just exposed rock. The river at the bottom was full of gigantic rapids, and you could easily hear the water churning even up where we were. It was really fantastic. James and I hope to go back some time and try to hike all the way down to the bottom of the gorge. It will take 1-2 hours to get down probably, and it will be amazing. It’s exactly the kind of thing that I know is kind of all over DRC but no one can take advantage of because of the insecurity here. It’s such a shame, because this place was so beautiful. It felt like we’d come upon some hidden treasure, like the entrance to the Garden of Eden or something. 

My supposed waterfall.