riverman wrote:

Tomorrow, at 6 AM, I'm off on HewaBora Airways (makes Aeroflot look like
KLM) to the far NE of Congo, to Goma where the war is, where there's a
volcano waiting to be climbed, some jungle villages to be visited, and where
I get to spend a week seeing what is rumored to be the prettiest part of
Africa. Look for the TR, especially if I get to fish Lake Kivu.

Well, now you're talking. Only fish in Lake Kivu, though, are real
small (2-3") fretins that local folks catch with nets from pirogues.
Not worth fishing for with a rod. The lake bed gives off methane so the
lake can't support much life at all. Very very nice lake to swim in,
however (no crocs, no bilharzia), and the pineapples from Idjwi island
are the best in the world).

Fishing is good in Lake Tanganyika, but you'd have to go down to Uvira,
and the the Bukavu-Uvira road is not the safest even in the best of
times.

North of Goma, there is excellent fishing in Lake Edward (ex-Lake Idi
Amin) and you'd get to go through one of the last true undeveloped game
park experiences left in Africa (in Virunga NP). I think the prettiest
part of Kivu is that stretch between Rutshuru and Butembo (the first
place I lived in Zaire was a village on that road), but it would
definitely take reliable 4wd transport and maybe more time than you
have. If you need to stay right near Goma and are going to be exploring
the area around Nyiragongo, I've heard there are fish in the Mokoko
Lakes, but these too require good 4wd to get to.

Would be a great shame to make it all the way out to Kivu and not check
into the possibility of seeing the mountain gorillas, either in
Kahuzi-Biega (just off the Goma-Bukavu road), or (if you have a visa)
across the Rwandan border in Birunga, just north of Ruhengeri. An
experience you would never, never, never forget.

If you do happen to make it to Bukavu, look up my friend Mike Satin with
Food for the Hungry. Real good guy. Have fun.

JR