Safari #1!

We’re back in Kigali for a couple of days in between our two safaris with Ahya.  On Saturday morning our guide, Anaclet, picked us up in his safari vehicle and we drove from Kigali to the South entrance of Akagera National Park.  Along the way we stopped at a fruit stand and stocked up on bananas, pineapple, mangos, and passionfruit for the trip.

Once we got to the park, it didn’t take long to start seeing wildlife!  Our first sighting was a pumba (warthog) that Anaclet spotted – I missed that one, but we found a small troop of baboons a few minutes later.  (Sidenote: we had fun looking up names for groups of different safari animals… found some very entertaining ones.)  We continued our tour of the south end of the park and saw an obstinacy of Cape buffalo, a dazzle of zebras, and a few giraffes (not a full tower or kaleidoscope yet).  Also lots and lots of impalas and topi, another type of antelope.  We found a couple of white rhinos (not a full crash), and then stopped at a lakeshore and spotted a bloat of hippos. 

We then drove from the south end of the park up to the north, stopping for lunch at a pretty lakeside spot where Lexi practiced her gymnastics (she’s been doing a LOT of that, and has mastered her backbend!). 

We arrived at the Karenge Bush Camp around 5 pm and had a few minutes to unload our stuff into our tents (definitely a “glamping” set-up – Logan/Dylan, we decided the tents reminded us of Animal Crossing).  

Then we loaded back up into a different open-air safari vehicle for a night drive!  This was definitely a highlight of the trip.  We drove down the hill from the camp as the sun was setting and were greeted by our first elephant, an old bull who was right next to the road.  Such a treat to hang out with him for a while.

As it was starting to get dark, we also saw an owl and two hyenas (less than a cackle) headed out to hunt.  We continued our drive into the night – we had two guides and one drove while the other shined a spotlight back and forth, looking for eyes reflecting in the dark.  Quite an experience to explore the bush and savannah in the dark.  We saw many “prey” animals – tons of zebras and topi and impalas just doing their thing and trying to avoid being eaten.  We didn’t end up seeing any other big predators aside from the hyenas, but we did spot a few little genets, which basically look like housecats with slightly longer noses.  Another highlight was finding ourselves in an open savannah filled with fireflies – we turned off the lights and enjoyed that and the starlight for a while.

The next morning we were up at dawn again for a sunrise drive.  So many birds!  This lilac-breasted roller was definitely my favorite. 

As we were getting ready to turn back for breakfast, another vehicle tipped us off that they’d just seen a lion up the road 1-2 km.  We drove up the road and right when we thought we’d missed him and needed to turn around, we spotted the big guy lying in the tall grass!  Pretty magical. 

He got up and moved when we got a little closer in the car, and we saw that he had a limp.  Anaclet thought he may have gotten it by stepping in a hole as he was chasing prey – he seemed to think the injury wasn’t too serious and he would recover.  We hung out and watched him a while longer and then went back to Karenge for breakfast, then quickly packed up and spent several hours driving back down to the south end of the park to the Akagera Game Lodge.  Lovely and more of a classic resort feel, with a pool the kids enjoyed and great view over the park.

On Sunday morning we drove down to the lake for a boat cruise.  In safari-dom, the animals known as the Big Five are the rhino, elephant, buffalo, lion, and leopard.  Apparently this goes back to hunting/poaching days - these are the hardest animals to kill I guess?  We certainly weren't trying to kill anything, but seeing "the Big Five" is still a thing, and the only one we were missing was the leopard.  We looked for one on the way too and from the boat but no luck.  Oh well.

On the boat ride we many more bloats of hippos...

and lots and lots of cool birds.  This goliath heron was my favorite.  

We also spotted a crocodile but he slipped back into the water too quickly for a photo.

After the boat we made our way back to the hotel, packed up, and did one "Last Impression" tour - we were lucky and spotted a small crash of white rhinos, and lots and lots of baboons.  

Then we said goodbye to Akagera and drove from the park to a nearby community where a friend of Anaclet's has started a cultural village.  The goal is to teach local communities about pre-colonial culture and social structures in order to preserve some of this heritage and promote a renewed social unity: they repeated what we heard at the genocide museum, which was that Rwandans of different groups (cattle herders, agriculturalists, tradespeople) lived in harmony before colonization, and that the division and eventual genocide were the result of a loss of that unity.  In the village, they have different types of houses that people in these different groups would have lived in.  They also have cattle and a banana farm, and we got to participate in making banana juice, which would then be made into banana beer.  It was quite a process, peeling the bananas and then mashing them up by hand in a big trough. 

They also teach traditional dance to local schoolchildren, and we got to watch a short performance and try it out ourselves.  None of the kids were willing to try it but Ahya and I gave it a shot.  My young teacher was very engaging and patient with me!  

[I'll add these village pictures later - out of time right now!]

After the village, Anaclet brought us up to our final lodging spot (and possibly our favorite): the Akagera Rhino Lodge.  We stayed in three separate units, all very unique and comfortable with amazing views (despite the ubiquitous haze) of the countryside, park, and lake.  A very relaxing end to our trip.

On Monday we had a lazy morning and headed home!  And now we're packed up and about to head out on safari #2 to the west (rainforests and lakes).