The East African country of Rwanda is many things, but flat isn’t one of them. So it’s a good place for a new cycling holiday, then? It turns out, in the Land of a Thousand Hills, the answer is “yes”.
My guide is Oli Broom, the kind of Englishman made famous in song – along with mad dogs, he likes to go out in the midday sun. Several years ago, he cycled from London to Australia to watch a cricket match, for charity.
Cricket also brought him to Rwanda, where he spent two years heading up a foundation to build a national stadium for the game. Following the genocide in 1994 – an estimated one million people were murdered in 100 days – Rwandan refugees poured into neighbouring countries such as Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, then brought cricket back with them when they returned.
Broom eventually returned to Europe, and now runs cycling tours in Transylvania. These tours highlight travel at a slower pace, experiencing life at saddle-level, rather than whizzing by in a car, while stopping for fresh food in simple local restaurants and meeting local people along the way.
Next month, he’s launching similar week-long bicycle tours in Rwanda, a country that captured his heart, but is still known internationally for the bloody events of two decades ago.
He’s hoping to appeal to keen cyclists looking for a new challenge and those, like me, who are here more for the sense of adventure, and who might puff and pant en route, but will get there in the end. And it’s all off-tarmac, passing through local villages and away from busy roads.
"Is Rwanda safe now?" I was asked repeatedly before I went. Yes, absolutely, I can report back, unless you count the assault on your dignity as you sweatily cycle up another hill while laughing village children yell "mzungu, mzungu" ("white man") as they run past you.
I join Broom for a “recce” trip, cycling from the capital, Kigali, to the forested chain of volcanoes that stretch from the Democratic Republic of Congo to Uganda, sweeping serenely across the north-west of Rwanda, providing a home to the mountain gorillas that attract most tourists here.
We’re joined by a Scot, a New Zealander, an American, and the Rwandan cyclist and guide Segond Fidens Iragena, who’s a local celebrity having pedalled from Beijing to Bangkok while he was studying in China.
Kigali itself is a pleasant enough city in which to spend a first day in the country, although there’s not a long tick-list. Brioche is a quiet cafe if you want to sit and read your guidebook over a pain au chocolat and cappuccino, and there’s Mr Chips if you’d rather have a burger.
The Genocide Museum, however, is a must. Get the audio guide, which gives a much more comprehensive assessment of the situation leading up to the massacre than the information panels. It’s incredibly moving, and some of the displays, as you might expect, are disturbing.
We hugely enjoyed a visit to Club Rafiki, a project that aims to take marginalised children off the streets, and teaches them, among other things, hip-hop and dance, which they then use as a medium to relay social messages to other teenagers.
But it’s the rolling countryside we’re here to see, and all of us are keen to crack on. There’s a back-up bus that accompanies the group, and we hitch a lift out of town to bypass the worst of Kigali’s switchback hills.
Later, we're pedalling 42 kilometres along dirt-red roads, past coffee bushes and eucalyptuses, practising Kinyarwanda, the local language, with a chant that became a constant refrain over the next few days: "Amakuru?" ("How are you?"); "Ni mese" ("I'm fine").
The hills aren’t very steep, but they’re long and unforgiving. Surely the top is round the next bend? No, apparently not. Luckily, the views in the valley below are sufficiently breathtaking to necessitate frequent photo stops. Eventually, we arrive at the Sorwathe tea plantation in Kinihira, where we eat curry and spend the night.
The next morning, a thick blanket of fog carpets the valley, with volcano cones poking through, and the sound of villagers on their way to church and the market carries uphill. We pedal down along bumpy tracks and past field after field of virulently green tea plants, stopping in villages to say hello and have a drink, always attracting interested crowds.
The countryside is pristine: plastic bags are banned in Rwanda, and can be confiscated from tourists if they’re found at the airport. But another factor seems to be grinding poverty: many rural dwellers simply can’t afford a bag of crisps or a bottle of pop, so we see no litter.
This was another 40km day, also with some long, leg-buckling hills and plenty of children to giggle and point at exactly the moment I come to a grinding halt and – cough, cough – stop for photos.
The rewards, though, are many, in terms of scenery and encounters with Rwandans, who are always gently curious about the sweaty, mud-splattered strangers in their midst.
Our goal is Lake Ruhondo and the Ruhondo Beach Resort, although when we reach it, the latter is more a triumph of marketing than actual sand.
Still, there can be fewer finer places to watch the sun go down than here, gazing out at the tranquil waters, a few log-hewn canoes bobbing in the middle distance, and beyond them, volcanoes in three different countries providing the backdrop. Before bed, we dine al fresco on lake-caught tilapia fish.
The next day, we put our bikes on a small boat and putt-putt our way to the other side of the lake, before taking a short cut along a path so rutted we’re forced to get off and push. We duck under banana leaves and bamboo, walking past fields of beans, until we can remount and carry on the 30km or so towards the Rwanda National Cycling Centre, where we stay the night.
On future tours, guests will be able to ride with members of Team Africa Rising, who will be competing at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics, and are coached by the former Tour de France competitor Jock Boyer.
Instead, we just tuck into pizza in the nearby town of Musanze, before rising early the next morning for the trek uphill through thick forest to see mountain gorillas in the Volcanoes National Park.
As bucket-list experiences go, this is right up there. When you eventually come within metres of a silverback and his band in a misty clearing, after several hours of muddy slog, you can understand why the 80-daily trekking permits, which each cost about Dh3,000, get snapped up so quickly. It’s quite sobering, though, to think that amount is approximately half of Rwanda’s annual GDP per capita, based on World Bank estimates.
For an hour, we photograph, watch and are studiously ignored by the gorilla troupe, who yawn, scratch, doze, play, nitpick and urinate in front of us.
Then we set off, downhill, back to our bikes, hoping for some flat ground before the inescapable climbs again, and the equally inevitable giggles of "mzungu" that carry towards us on the equatorial breeze.
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The specs
Engine: 2-litre or 3-litre 4Motion all-wheel-drive Power: 250Nm (2-litre); 340 (3-litre) Torque: 450Nm Transmission: 8-speed automatic Starting price: From Dh212,000 On sale: Now
SPECS
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The Lowdown
Kesari
Rating: 2.5/5 stars
Produced by: Dharma Productions, Azure Entertainment
Directed by: Anubhav Singh
Cast: Akshay Kumar, Parineeti Chopra
India cancels school-leaving examinations
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The biog
Favourite hobby: I love to sing but I don’t get to sing as much nowadays sadly.
Favourite book: Anything by Sidney Sheldon.
Favourite movie: The Exorcist 2. It is a big thing in our family to sit around together and watch horror movies, I love watching them.
Favourite holiday destination: The favourite place I have been to is Florence, it is a beautiful city. My dream though has always been to visit Cyprus, I really want to go there.
Company%20profile
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Company%20Profile
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Company Profile:
Name: The Protein Bakeshop
Date of start: 2013
Founders: Rashi Chowdhary and Saad Umerani
Based: Dubai
Size, number of employees: 12
Funding/investors: $400,000 (2018)
Confirmed%20bouts%20(more%20to%20be%20added)
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Vikram%20Vedha
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TRAP
Starring: Josh Hartnett, Saleka Shyamalan, Ariel Donaghue
Director: M Night Shyamalan
Rating: 3/5
The%20specs
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Xpanceo
Started: 2018
Founders: Roman Axelrod, Valentyn Volkov
Based: Dubai, UAE
Industry: Smart contact lenses, augmented/virtual reality
Funding: $40 million
Investor: Opportunity Venture (Asia)
Israel Palestine on Swedish TV 1958-1989
Director: Goran Hugo Olsson
Rating: 5/5
Company Profile
Name: Thndr
Started: 2019
Co-founders: Ahmad Hammouda and Seif Amr
Sector: FinTech
Headquarters: Egypt
UAE base: Hub71, Abu Dhabi
Current number of staff: More than 150
Funds raised: $22 million
Book%20Details
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Blackpink World Tour [Born Pink] In Cinemas
Starring: Rose, Jisoo, Jennie, Lisa
Directors: Min Geun, Oh Yoon-Dong
Rating: 3/5
Libya's Gold
UN Panel of Experts found regime secretly sold a fifth of the country's gold reserves.
The panel’s 2017 report followed a trail to West Africa where large sums of cash and gold were hidden by Abdullah Al Senussi, Qaddafi’s former intelligence chief, in 2011.
Cases filled with cash that was said to amount to $560m in 100 dollar notes, that was kept by a group of Libyans in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
A second stash was said to have been held in Accra, Ghana, inside boxes at the local offices of an international human rights organisation based in France.
Banthology: Stories from Unwanted Nations
Edited by Sarah Cleave, Comma Press
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The%20specs
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How will Gen Alpha invest?
Mark Chahwan, co-founder and chief executive of robo-advisory firm Sarwa, forecasts that Generation Alpha (born between 2010 and 2024) will start investing in their teenage years and therefore benefit from compound interest.
“Technology and education should be the main drivers to make this happen, whether it’s investing in a few clicks or their schools/parents stepping up their personal finance education skills,” he adds.
Mr Chahwan says younger generations have a higher capacity to take on risk, but for some their appetite can be more cautious because they are investing for the first time. “Schools still do not teach personal finance and stock market investing, so a lot of the learning journey can feel daunting and intimidating,” he says.
He advises millennials to not always start with an aggressive portfolio even if they can afford to take risks. “We always advise to work your way up to your risk capacity, that way you experience volatility and get used to it. Given the higher risk capacity for the younger generations, stocks are a favourite,” says Mr Chahwan.
Highlighting the role technology has played in encouraging millennials and Gen Z to invest, he says: “They were often excluded, but with lower account minimums ... a customer with $1,000 [Dh3,672] in their account has their money working for them just as hard as the portfolio of a high get-worth individual.”
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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The five pillars of Islam
The low down on MPS
What is myofascial pain syndrome?
Myofascial pain syndrome refers to pain and inflammation in the body’s soft tissue. MPS is a chronic condition that affects the fascia (connective tissue that covers the muscles, which develops knots, also known as trigger points).
What are trigger points?
Trigger points are irritable knots in the soft tissue that covers muscle tissue. Through injury or overuse, muscle fibres contract as a reactive and protective measure, creating tension in the form of hard and, palpable nodules. Overuse and sustained posture are the main culprits in developing trigger points.
What is myofascial or trigger-point release?
Releasing these nodules requires a hands-on technique that involves applying gentle sustained pressure to release muscular shortness and tightness. This eliminates restrictions in connective tissue in orderto restore motion and alleviate pain. Therapy balls have proven effective at causing enough commotion in the tissue, prompting the release of these hard knots.
The%20specs
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'My Son'
Director: Christian Carion
Starring: James McAvoy, Claire Foy, Tom Cullen, Gary Lewis
Rating: 2/5
How to protect yourself when air quality drops
Install an air filter in your home.
Close your windows and turn on the AC.
Shower or bath after being outside.
Wear a face mask.
Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.
If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.
Zayed Sustainability Prize
US households add $601bn of debt in 2019
American households borrowed another $601 billion (Dh2.2bn) in 2019, the largest yearly gain since 2007, just before the global financial crisis, according to February data from the New York Federal Reserve Bank.
Fuelled by rising mortgage debt as homebuyers continued to take advantage of low interest rates, the increase last year brought total household debt to a record high, surpassing the previous peak reached in 2008 just before the market crash, according to the report.
Following the 22nd straight quarter of growth, American household debt swelled to $14.15 trillion by the end of 2019, the New York Fed said in its quarterly report.
In the final three months of the year, new home loans jumped to their highest volume since the fourth quarter of 2005, while credit cards and auto loans also added to the increase.
The bad debt load is taking its toll on some households, and the New York Fed warned that more and more credit card borrowers — particularly young people — were falling behind on their payments.
"Younger borrowers, who are disproportionately likely to have credit cards and student loans as their primary form of debt, struggle more than others with on-time repayment," New York Fed researchers said.
Sukuk explained
Sukuk are Sharia-compliant financial certificates issued by governments, corporates and other entities. While as an asset class they resemble conventional bonds, there are some significant differences. As interest is prohibited under Sharia, sukuk must contain an underlying transaction, for example a leaseback agreement, and the income that is paid to investors is generated by the underlying asset. Investors must also be prepared to share in both the profits and losses of an enterprise. Nevertheless, sukuk are similar to conventional bonds in that they provide regular payments, and are considered less risky than equities. Most investors would not buy sukuk directly due to high minimum subscriptions, but invest via funds.