Last Africa Post - Akagera National Park, Kigali, and a Cautionary Tale.

 

Giraffe at Akagera National Park, Rwanda.

Saturday, 9/28, was another long driving day. Although it does seem weird to me that we could drive nearly all the way across the entire country of Rwanda to Akagera National Park in about five hours. While both countries are stunning, we did notice some differences between Uganda and Rwanda. The boda boda (motorcycle taxis) in Rwanda seemed to be used only for passengers and helmets were required. Conversely, there was a crazy amount of cumbersome goods being transported by bicycle. If you could see how hilly the terrain was, you would be in awe. They sweated, pushing the bikes uphill and then carefully coasted down the other side, only to dismount and push again. Whew!

A beautiful waterfall along our route.

Boda Bodas everywhere, but helmets required in Rwanda.

Bicycles are used to transport an insane amount of goods.

Rabbit hutches over the aquaculture ponds.
Feed the rabbits who then poop and feed the fish. Brilliant!

Akagera National Park was founded in 1934 by the colonial Belgian government to protect the lands and wildlife surrounding the Kagera River. It originally covered 965 square miles, almost 10% of the country! The park was decimated as a result of the civil war and the 1994 genocide. Battles raged across park land and after the genocide, the government allowed many returning refugees to settle in Akagera, along with 700,000 cattle. Rwanda is a densely populated country and there were few alternatives available. Soon settlements, grazing, and poaching led to the destruction of natural habitats and the severe reduction or extinction of many species within the park. In 1997, the size of the park was reduced by two-thirds and fenced to reduce human-wildlife conflicts. Many species of animals, including lions and rhinos, were reintroduced and the park has made a remarkable recovery, once again home to Africa's "Big 5" (leopard, lion, elephant, cape buffalo and rhinos). One of our Rwandan guides spoke eloquently of the three elements needed for the parks and wildlife to thrive - government funding and support; education, engagement and revenue sharing with local communities; and the influx of money from tourism. He was emphatic that each element was critical to the success of the parks. 

Progress!! In 2013 park staff removed 1997 snares,
compared to only 25 found in 2021.

We did a full day game drive on Sunday, starting out at 8am and returning to the lodge at 6pm. That’s eight plus hours on bumpy dirt roads, but we were thrilled to see rhinos up close and watch the antics of several juvenile giraffes (check out the video!). We saw a young male lion early in the morning lounging is some cool mud. When we went back late in the afternoon the same lion was in the same spot, he hadn’t moved all day! Joe wondered if he might be sick or injured, but he looked perfectly healthy and when we pulled up, he rolled over and opened one eye as if to ask what we were doing back. Maybe he was just waiting on his lady love to bring him dinner. Lol. 

This lazy lion - same spot all day! 
First picture taken at 10am and the second at 5pm. 

Tiny owl with attitude.

Curious antelopes.

Lunch break!
The tire chairs were surprisingly comfortable. 

Rian spotted this huge monitor lizard.

Warthogs checking us out.

Considering the history of the park, we were really happy with the diversity and number of animals we saw.  We had the best time watching some juvenile giraffes cavorting. They are so funny to watch run, gallumping along and generally instigating mayhem among the herd. We also spent considerable time with the rhinos. Again, the interactions within the family unit was priceless. The younger rhino was clearly trying to entice his more sedate parents to play. It reminded me of Raney trying to engage Riley, it was certainly our day for wildlife zoomies. Lol.

You don't often catch a giraffe lying down in the wild.

Video Clip (24 sec):  Giraffe Zoomies!

Rhino family and warthogs.

Video Clip (1 min):  Younger Rhino wants to play!

Each zebra has a unique pattern, full-body fingerprints!

Caught this awesome elephant coming and going. Lol. 

Love my hippos!

Video Clip (43 sec): Why did the hippo cross the road?

Our accommodations, the beautiful Ruzizi Tented Lodge, was actually inside the park. I was so intrigued with the tree that grew right through the walls and roof of the lodge. We were right next to Lake Ihemba and it was another lodge where the hippos come out of the water nearly on your doorstep. Rian was not amused. Lol. At least this time, we didn’t need to be escorted because all the tent-cabins and lodge are connected by raised wooden boardwalks with electric fencing underneath. And I do believe there were miles of boardwalk. Lol. I counted steps down the boardwalk to our tent/cabin, did a little math and came up with 175 yards! Of course, that didn’t deter the baboons and vervet monkeys who sashayed down the boardwalks or gave a heart-pounding wake-up call by leaping onto the canvas roof of our tent and running across the top to leap into a nearby tree.

Our secluded tent/cabin at Ruzizi.

Can you see our early morning visitor?

I swear there were MILES of boardwalk. Lol. 

Huge tree growing right through the main building.

I loved the hippos and had great fun listing to their grunting calls throughout the night. About 1:30am I heard a different sound and got up to investigate, there was a huge hippo right outside our tent-cabin munching away. Between the cows, goats, and hippos I don’t think anybody here owns a lawnmower! Lol. It was so dark, the pic of my early morning visitor turned out more like a pointillist impressionist painting, but still evidence! Here’s another one of his buddy who decided to do a little landscape maintenance next to the dining patio.

The grounds crew at work. Lol.

Photo or Pointillism. You decide. 

Speaking of the dining patio, it was at the end of pier overlooking the lake and we just loved it! There was an evening fire and unless it was raining all our meals were served there. The morning and evening skies and especially the moonrise were all spectacularly beautiful.

Breakfast on the patio pier...

...and relaxing fireside after dinner.

Blood moon rising.
(No filters, it was that wild!)

Rian, sunset and night skies.

On Monday, 9/30, Rog and I went on a short one-hour boat ride on Lake Ihemba. Rian opted to take the day off and try to catch up on her sleep. Note to self - next time we plan a trip like this build in some “off days”. Between the go-go-go schedule and unpleasant side effects of the malaria meds, we were all pretty worn out. That said, who knows if or when we’ll be back, so I wanted to wring every bit out of our last days in Africa.

Crowned Crane.

Mr. Nile Crocodile.

Tuesday was our final day in Africa! We left Ruzizi at 9am for the 2-hour drive to Kigali. Rwanda is probably the cleanest country you will ever visit. Everyone is required to participate in a mandatory 2-hour cleanup the last Saturday of every month and there is obvious pride in the beautiful landscaping. We had stopped briefly in Kigali, the capital city, on the way to Akagara, mostly just a chance to stretch our legs and wander through a pedestrian-only block of shops and kiosks. With a red-eye flight, we now had a whole day to spend there.

Kigali, capital of Rwanda.

KIGALI!

We stopped for more francs and then hit an incredible market. It was a veritable warren of tiny booths selling everything from foodstuffs, to building supplies, to baskets and kitschy souvenirs, to thousands of gorgeous fabrics. It was crazy and claustrophobic and we were escorted by a guide and Richard who had a clothing/fabric shop. Richard was very helpful navigating the maze and promised if we bought fabric, he could have whatever we wanted custom made and delivered that evening! I picked out a red and gold fabric and asked for four pillow covers, he threw in a dozen napkins and had it all to me that evening as promised. Wow!

Kigali market.

My custom made pillow covers.
Thank you Richard!

In the afternoon we visited the Kigali Genocide Memorial. That was a sobering experience. The memorial buildings are situated near a hillside that is the site of a mass grave for 250,000 residents murdered during the genocide. Memorial buildings house artifacts and multi-media displays that tell the story of the genocide in Rwanda through the experience and testimony of many of the survivors. No pictures may be taken inside, so these are from their website. The memorial provided some insight into differences we’d noticed between the Ugandan and Rwandan people. That kind of horrific generational trauma leaves a mark. The country is doing a remarkable job of trying to heal but the genocide has cast a long shadow, the emphasis is on being “Rwandan”, talk of ethnicity remains illegal.

Kigali Genocide Memorial.

Our flight out of Kigali wasn’t scheduled to depart until 2am.  Since we couldn’t enter the airport until three hours before our scheduled departure (11pm), we ended up booking a hotel room at the lovely Heaven Villa Boutique Hotel for the evening. We walked from the hotel to a nearby restaurant for dinner. Then we sorted and repacked our luggage and were happy to have a spot to nap, shower and relax until Joe picked us up to take us to the airport. Before entering the Kigali Airport property all of our luggage had to be unloaded and searched by dogs while we walked through a metal detector. Then we loaded it all back up and drove to the departing terminal where our reservation was checked before we were allowed to enter the building. Armed guards were everywhere, a bit different from Sea-Tac airport. Remind me not to complain about having to take off my shoes. Lol.

Kigali at night. View from the restaurant.

 Our return flight went smoothly. Although I was a bit nervous about making our connecting flight in Istanbul. Turkish Air had changed the flight times, reducing our layover to 1 hour 25 minutes. I think I mentioned that Istanbul Airport is the largest in the world and they have signs throughout estimating the walking time from one point to another. Lol. However, both of our flights were delayed so we had no trouble making the connection.

Boarding our connecting flight in Instanbul.

Our housesitter, Laurie, kindly picked us up at Sea-Tac on Monday afternoon, 10/2.  Laurie had also cleaned the house from top to bottom and stocked the fridge. Talk about a rock star! It had been a long flight and we were thrilled to be home. After a joyful reunion with the puppers, we started the requisite post-vacation mountain of laundry. What a reality check. Lol. Rian had a flight out the next day to Sacramento and then back to work for her. Ugh! Guess I better not complain too much.

Home again!!

So that is the end of our fantastic African adventure. Thank you all for joining us. Before I let you go, though, I thought you might enjoy this little cautionary tale. After traveling half-way around the world, trekking through rainforests, getting within touching distance of the most amazing and majestic wild animals with nary a problem…I managed to break my neck getting out of bed. Yes. Seriously! 😊 About 2:30am on Sunday, 10/8, I woke up with an awful leg cramp. I groggily sat up and saw Raney sleeping next to the bed. I figured I’d get up and walk it off and went to stand up. Then BAM! my head nearly exploded. I thought Raney had head-butted me. Rog asked me how I’d fallen, and I told him, “I didn’t fall, Raney hit me!” Then I realized I was on the floor. So, what actually happened was I stood up, passed out, and toppled over hitting my head on the oak dresser. I had a goose egg and my neck hurt like hell. We debated going to the ER, but I opted not. We had a soft neck brace, so I put that on and went back to sleep. By Friday there was no improvement, so I went to the doctor’s office. He ordered a CT scan which showed an acute type II fracture of my C2 vertebrae. So, learn from my mistake. Apparently getting out of bed is an extreme sport and should be actively avoided!! Lol.

It has been almost six weeks since my little face plant. I am feeling much better, thank you, but the orthopedic doctor says I need to wear this hard collar 24/7 for three months. That would take me into January. Not happy about that. I managed to negotiate a recheck the end of November, fingers crossed I get a lighter sentence. Lol.

My new fashion accessory. Not recommending it. Lol. 

We’ll be back in the RV for our next trip. We aren’t even close to finalizing our plans, but we want to view the April 2024 solar eclipse in Texas, visit Wyoming in June, and who knows what else. If you’ve got any don’t miss suggestions, we’re all ears!