I rode with Tye and Gauhar, and we caravanned with Janean and Derrick (friends from the U.S. Embassy). I took pictures of the beautiful scenery and perfect roadtrip weather.
Many people in Rwanda carry brightly colored umbrellas on sunny days for shade.
It is hard to accurately capture the incredible shades of green in the Rwandan hillside.
There were busy markets along the way.
We stopped in the University town of Butare for lunch and shopped at a local craft store.
Here is the Nyungwe National Park entrance.
We stopped just inside the park to take photos.
Derrick and Janean
Derrick, Tye, Gauhar
We stayed at the Rwandan Office of Tourism's Resthouse situated on the edge of the forest. It has about 12 rooms that are pretty simple and share a number of bathrooms and sitting areas. The buildings are made from brick, wood and tiles and have very basic ammenities including a bed, chair, and closet. In the dining room, guests share meals (breakfast, lunch, and dinner) in traditional family-style. The food was yummy, we enjoyed soup, vegetables, beef, fish, spaghetti, etc. during our stay. The setting is pretty with fern trees, eucalytpus trees, orchids, and lillies surrounding the Resthouse. 
Throughout the park there are monkeys along paths and on the side of the road. This is a velvet monkey that was climbing around the roof and yard of the Resthouse.
Derrick tended to the fire as we played games Friday evening. 
We played bananagrams, the bean game, and Skipbo.
On Saturday morning, after breakfast at 7:30A, we met our tour guide Aime to hike the waterfall trail. This trail starts at the resthouse and takes 5 hours round trip. (approx. 10 kilometers)
The guide stopped occasionally to point out plants, animals, and birds.
He showed us "impatience" bulbs that explode impatiently when you touch them.
Here is the fruit on a Soursop tree.
The first part of the waterfall trail passes through the rolling tea plantations where much of Rwanda's gourmet tea exports are grown.
The trail then descends into the forest , following fern-tree-covered ravines and crossing several streams, before a sharp descent to the base of a waterfall.
We saw a lot of interesting birds near the canopy of the forest, but they were difficult to photograph. I learned Rwanda's tourism office has plans to build a canopy walk in the rainforest.
Here is a very large spider web,
and a bat cave.
We climbed alongside the river to get to the base of the waterfall.
At one point I jumped out onto a slippery rock to take a photo and nearly fell into the river head-first. Luckily our guide Aime saw this happening and grabbed my arm to pull me back to the side before I fell. In the process his radio and leg went into the river, but thankfully no harm done.
The waterfall from a distance,
and close-up.
We all got wet from the heavy mist, standing in front of the waterfall.
A view downstream.
As we left the waterfall, it began to storm, thundering, lightening, and there was a heavy downpour the whole return hike. We had to traverse carefully accross the slippery slopes and wooden bridges. I now understand the difference between water-resistant and waterproof. Next time I will be sure to invest in waterproof gortex gear! My boots were full of water and I was drenched by the time we returned. At one point I turned to the guide and asked if this was the worst hiking weather he had seen, he said "No, this is everyday in the rainforest!"
On the upside, the rain left very beautiful low-hanging fog throughout the tea fields. 
We passed this little herd of goats on the way back,
and greeted this tiny young goat herder who was wearing plastic to keep dry.
We saw this cute pair of monkeys as we left the forest on Sunday. They were grooming each other, as monkeys do.
On Easter morning the forest was covered in the most amazing fog that was slowly rising. We stopped many times to take pictures.
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