Saturday morning we drove up to Akagera National Park to go on safari. Our driver, Youssef was very entertaining and informative on the ride up. Our guide for the first day was Francois, who was very good at finding animals, but had virtually no French or English. This led to many questions being directed to Youssef, who would sometimes translate, but more often attempt to answer from his own expertise. We began to notice a trend towards the end of the afternoon, as most questions about why the animal were acting in different ways (ie. Giraffe butting another, impalas chasing each other) led to the answer “Oh he is trying to make love to the girl”. Often the animals in question were both male or female. We think that we may have been misinformed along the way…. Our guide today, Emmanuel was truly excellent and found us hippos galore.

The animals were spectacular, especially the giraffes. Janice teased me since I didn’t even bring a camera to Rwanda, but stole hers and took about 30 giraffe pictures, I was so enamored with them. What a beautiful and graceful animal! Our guide found us a group of at least 15 together, and we were able to exit the jeep and get within about 20 metres of them. (Please note that for the buffalo, hippos, and crocodiles we stayed a safe distance and often never left the jeep). We also saw zebras, although mostly zebra behinds. They were very shy and ran away. We lost count of the types of antelope and birds we came across. We felt very fortunate to be witness to such a beautiful place.

We stayed at the lodge at the park, which had spectacular panoramic views of Ihema Lake and the surrounding countryside. It was wonderful to relax in the sun by the pool, especially after hearing from Patty that it was snowing in Halifax (sorry, small dig there…). They had made a valiant attempt at a Western style menu. Janice ordered a burger that was quite tasty, although a little overwhelming, weighing in at a full pound. I ordered the chicken sandwich: I’d been having a craving given our near vegan diet that we’d been following since arrival. I found it quite crunchy, but it improved once I removed the chicken knuckles inside. Mmmm… chicken knuckles…

On the drive back, we saw many banana plantations, as well as coffee and beans. We stopped for lunch at Jamba beach and got to see a bit more of the local culture. There was lots of dancing, and I must say, the Rwandans know how to shake it!
We’re back home in Kigali tonight, and it was great to walk in and feel like we’re home. We’re thinking of everyone back home, and Happy Birthday to Janice’s mom!

Anita and Janice