New appointment with our Pier Paolo Vallegra, the golfer who is always an understatement to define as a globetrotter. For several years Vallegra has been carrying out his dream: to play in all the nations of the world with at least one nine-hole golf course measuring a thousand meters long. This time he takes us to Africa. First stop Burundi.
“The last episode on Golfing my trip ended in Guyana (British Guyana). After that stage there were 19 nations missing. With the closure of the Ebla GC in Damascus, the countries are down to eighteen. In spring 2023, I covered ten more nations in Oceania (Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Fiji, Tonga, Cook Islands, Samoa and American Samoa), reducing the number to eight.
di Pier Paolo Vallegra
The trip to Oceania turned into a trip around the world, as, having arrived in Pago Pago in American Samoa, it was easier to continue eastwards than to go back (five thousand kilometers less). So I also played, in passing, in Hawaii and Death Valley, before returning via Newark. This is a long and complex tour, which cannot be compressible into a travel diary. So I’ll see what graphic design to give it, sooner or later…
With the start of 2024 here I am ready to set off again, always with my faithful caddy, for black Africa, towards the four destinations that I need to complete all 42 African nations with a golf course. There are twelve who do not have one (22% of the total, the highest continental ratio in the world).
In total there are 11 days, eight flights with four companies (three African: Ethiopian, Asky, Taag).
The use of taxis is not recommended in Burundi
The first destination is the Burundireachable from Malpensa via Addis Ababa (Ethiopian night flight 6 hours and 25 minutes), four-hour stopover, and flight to Bujumbura 2 hours and 45 minutes.
We arrive at 1.15pm right on time (all flights will be on time) and we find the chauffeur who, in fifteen minutes, takes us to the Roca Golf Hotel (free shuttle).
Our room has a large balcony that looks directly onto a green on the property course.
The restaurant is also open at 3.30pm, so we take the opportunity to have a quick snack, and then let the hotel car take us there. The choice is almost obligatory because it is not advisable to take a taxi. The reasons? Widespread petty crime and the risk of terrorism due to the participation of the Burundian armed forces in the AMISOM mission in Somalia. The hotel car takes us to the famous stone where it is said they met Livingstone And Stanley in 1871 (the well-known “I supposed…”).
It is comforting to be accompanied by the special forces of the Burundian army along the dirt road that leads out of Bujumbura.
Access to stone it’s regulated by a guy who opens and closes a creaky metal gate. We were issued a receipt, complete with a stamp from the Ministry of Transport and Tourism, for 20,000 Bif (Burundi francs), which corresponds to approximately 6.5 euros. Not having Bif with me, I propose $10. Proposal accepted immediately.
From the stone, it is said, the two explorers set off to look for the sources of the Nile along Lake Tanganyika, which can be seen on the horizon. Like the Roman legionaries of Nero’s time, they obviously did not find them.
The nine hole course in Burundi
The next morning, contrary to the forecast, it doesn’t rain. Thus we obtain the only voiturette present at the Bujumbura Golf Club, that of the Comité which, since it is not a competition day, after a negotiation between the caddy master and the hotel reception, we manage to get started thanks to the caddy who improvised as a mechanic and electrician.
The course is a nine-hole par 35 with double tees, with small differences, except the 14th. This is a par 3 of 134 meters (handicap 17) when played as hole 5. On the second hole it becomes a par 4 of 388 ( handicap 1).
The most notable thing is the imposing mango that stands out in the middle of the 4.
The journey is not unforgettable. The fairway is made of hard grass (gramigna type) and wet from daily rains, a perfect combination for hitting the ball badly…
Thus, even in par 4s shorter than 300 meters (like the 1st and 6th) or just 330 meters like the 9th, I still get a double bogey. All this is compensated by the four pars, the three par 3s (not very short) and the par 5 of the 4, (hcp 2) for a total of 43.
Rawagasore like Mandela or Luther King
In the afternoon we visit the Mausoleum of Louis Rawagasorefor me a character of the stature of Mandela or Martin Luther King.
Since 1680, Burundi was the seat of a kingdom, whose founder was Ntare Rushatsi, of the Baganwa dynasty. His succession continued with nine other kings, even after the various European occupations, until the proclamation of the Republic in 1966.
Louis Rawagasore was the eldest son and crown prince of the penultimate of these kings, Mwambutsa Bangiricenge. The prince, born in 1932, after studying in Rwanda and Belgium, returned to his homeland at the age of 26 and founded UPRONA together with personalities of all ethnic groups, regions and religions. The objective is to fight against the Belgian colonizers and claim the independence of Burundi.
The conflict with his father and with the Belgian governor worsened more and more, until the 1961 elections in which Rwagasore won by a landslide with 80% of the votes. On 29 September he becomes prime minister. He will remain so for 14 days, as on 13 October he was murdered by a hitman (with a big game rifle) while having dinner in a restaurant in Bujumbura. She was twenty-nine. After less than a year, Burundi gained independence.
The perpetrators and instigators (leaders of the Christian Democratic Party supported by Belgium) were identified and sentenced to death. Belgium’s responsibility, much more than moral, will be proven in the following years.
The body of the young prince was buried on Vugizo Hill in Bujumbura. The remains of his little girls will be buried next to him. Today his mausoleum is a national monument and a pilgrimage destination.
With his death the dream of an independent and united country, in which all burundi can coexist peacefully with theirs umwami (the king), guarantor of tradition.
Soon the ethnic problem will explode and there will be years of murders, plots, torture and actual genocides. The old king in exile and his son will be assassinated, like all of Rwagasore’s collaborators and the army will become a militia of Tutsi only.
The prince remains the father of independence and the hero of national unity, with his motto carved on the walls of the mausoleum: Imana, Umwami, Uburundi (God, King, Burundi).”
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