We left Laure in Kigali to work and the rest of us went to Akagera in hopes of seeing what an African safari is all about. It was a long drive from the city, but we passed through many colorful villages along the way.
At one point our driver got out of the Land Cruiser and got us a big bunch of bananas at a market. They were so good - very sweet.
After several hours we arrived at the park. This park has many of the smaller animals, and a big population of hippos - we might even get to see a lion or elephants.
We immediately saw the warthogs or “Pumbas” as the kids called them
There were so many different kinds of deer I don’t remember them all. I think these are impalas
The highlight of Akagera is the tented camp. When we arrived the sun was going down and they cooked dinner for us over the fire pit. It was really good to sit and relax after a long day of riding. The park is on a lake with several floating islands where millions of birds live. There are also large herds of hippos in the lake. The green island you can see in the picture will float away by the next morning.
The weary crew at dinner. We didn’t do anything but sight see, however we were all tired.
Kathy and Drew at the lodge - we slept in tents - that were quite luxurious, but you could go to the bar or the restaurant at the lodge. The tents were raised up so the animals couldn’t get in them - which was good - we could hear them running around all night long - some of them sounded really big!
The entire camp was connected by a series of wooden walkways. There were dozens of monkeys lurking in the trees ready to steal any food they might be able to get from you. It was really a neat place.
Here’s one of the hippos we saw on land - normally you see them in the water. I’d only seen a hippo in a zoo one time.
The next morning we took a boat ride on the lake - this is one of the floating islands. They were literally covered in birds of all shapes and sizes. I think they called these snakebirds, because they would be in the water with only their heads showing.
We saw quite a few zebra in Akagera - the first thing I noticed was the fact that they are much more muscular than the ones you see in zoos back home. I guess that makes sense - these have to work to get food. The colors on them seemed to pop much more than any other zebras I’d seen.
We stopped for lunch in this pavilion up on a high hill with a panoramic view of the park. At this point we were a little disappointed - we hadn’t seen any buffalo or lions or elephants or giraffes. We never did see lions, and only saw elephants at a distance, but shortly after this we would see lots of buffalo and giraffe.
This is the african buffalo. I think they are water buffalo. They say these can be dangerous - apparently if they get mad they will charge the car.
The giant African crocodile, or Nile crocodile. This one is huge and they have a reputation as a man-eater. This guy was lurking in a swampy area, and we did not get out of the vehicle for a photo op…
I don’t remember what this is called - elan maybe? I liked their orange legs.
Finally we come to a giraffe - and pretty soon many of them. The picture doesn’t do it justice - the colors and patterns on its body pop in the sunlight. Very pretty.
We saw many giraffe and Buffalo, but missed the lions. Akagera was a good warm up for what would come the following week in Tanzania
