Akagera

The trip to Akagera was great, although it had its ups and downs. After not sleeping for more than an hour last night, it was a little hard to take the jolting 4-5 hours in the car to the park. Then we had about a two and half hour trip back to the hotel. The animals, (video - Akagera, Rwanda) the countryside, the sites we passed along the way were all awesome. I don’t even know the names of all the different creatures we saw. There were many small insects (including some wicked biting flies which plagued us for a few hours of the drive). It was really hot and extremely dry. So there was red dust in the air constantly as we were following the other car and they kicked up clouds.

Here are a few highlights from the park. After driving for about twenty minutes inside the park we saw some impala, big deer with long sharp horns. They were the exact color of the brush so I did not really see them until we were pretty close. We saw some tiny gazelles called reedy bucks (sp?). The dust was not so bad while we were in the brush. It struck me how very different the eastern part of the country is from the area where we saw the gorillas in the west. Even though Rwanda is small, the geography is extremely different from one side to the other. From gorillas and cool rain forest to the hot savanna with giraffes and elephants and hippos.

We saw two different kinds of eagles. One was quite like our bald eagle except its breast and shoulders were white. There was another kind of eagle we saw sort of posing on a log, tearing into some small animal it had caught which our guide kept calling WRONG CRESTED EAGLE. After probably too much consideration (remember I really didn’t sleep last night) I figured it was a LONG CRESTED EAGLE. Both were large beautiful birds.

Then we saw a bunch of zebras. We spotted them from very far away at first. Like the gorillas in Virunga, I thought we would not be able to get near them. We edged closer and closer in the cars until we were within forty feet. There were eight of them. So beautiful against the tawny colored grasses behind. We took lots of pictures. Shabani and Callixte (the drivers) really enjoyed this as well. Neither they nor Richard had ever been to this part of the country before.

There were many termite mounds the color of red brick and just as hard. Some were low and wide like giant fire ant mounds, Some were over five feet tall and almost cylindrical with rounded tops. Some were shaped exactly like tall cones.

We had some VERY close encounters with baboons. These were a little spooky. They are fearless, agile and, we were told, incredibly strong for their size. They approached the car and came quite close when we had gotten out.

We were also able to get very close to a male giraffe. We kept a reasonable distance and it was very willing to let us hang out with it for a while. We saw different kinds of antelopes, egrets and other water birds I couldn’t identify. There were some round birds that looked like guinea hens and many hippos in the water where we stopped in our quest to find elephants.

While it was a great adventure, the dust and dry heat made it a little uncomfortable. Because we were in the trailing car, the dust coated us. It was too hot to keep the windows closed and when they were open, we were driving in a red cloud. We spent about three and a half hours driving out to see elephants and they had already gone off into the bush.

This was a once in a lifetime trip, so I’m glad we went, although if/when I return to Rwanda, I might pass on this. The lodge in Akagera was very nice. There was no hot water in the room. When I asked Richard if he had hot water in his apartment he just laughed. “No one in Rwanda has hot water. The vast majority must carry their water in jugs unless they live in Kigali.” Another lesson in how much I take for granted.