One of the things I was the most excited for on our trip to Rwanda was going on a safari. Definitely one of my bucket list items. In fact even now as I write this, I can't believe I have actually been on a safari!! It was surreal (that word pretty much sums up our whole experience), that is for sure. We headed to Akagera which is on the Savannah. The trip to Akagera was an amazing as the experience itself. I was so tired and jet lagged, but I couldn't close my eyes. Everything was so beautiful and interesting to look at. I loved seeing the people in their villages. What hardworking, wonderful people.
I had no idea Rwanda had rice paddys. They were amazing to see.
The houses were so humble. This is pretty much what most of them looked like.
The drive to Akagera is a few hours from Kigali, but in that short space of time we experienced fog, rain, and sun. We weren't quite sure what they day was going to end up like. We were praying that it would be nice and sunny so we could see the animals (we were so grateful it was). Most of the streets all the way the Akagera were lined with people going somewhere or other.
Convicts working. We were interested that a lot of them wore pink. We should do that in this country too. All Convicts have to wear pink with lace. Crime would definitely decrease in my opinion.
I have never seen a banana tree before and took a million pictures of them!
The kids primary role is to get water. Thanks to lots of good people, most of the villages we saw had a water pump/well in the middle of them where most of the kids came with jugs just like this one. I couldn't believe how young this boy was, but he was heading out to get water just like the older kids.
The hanging things in these pictures are nests. You can't see them well, but there are tiny birds all over and they were so LOUD!
I couldn't get enough of the beautiful traditional clothing worn by a lot of the women.
The kids were all so friendly. They don't get many vehicles coming through town, so even before they saw us they would be running to the road to yell "mizungu" (which means rich, white person), and wave. I loved it.
Those are big rocks on their heads. There is a little thing they wear on their heads to cushion it a little, but overall it just looked so painful!
Right when we got in the park we saw these Baboons coming down the road. There were so many of them, but they were pretty shy. As soon as we got close, they would go into the bushes and then come back again when we had driven by.
We are with an elephant skull, which we are covering up...I was disappointed we didn't get to see an elephant. I'm not sure my parents were since the last time they were at Akagera, they were charged by one.
Impala
I love these dudes. Totally look like they have hair parted down the middle.
I am totally fascinated/terrified of crocodiles. Probably from watching this little video, but I was so excited to see them on our safari. At first we saw them in the water and only knew it was a crocodile because of the ridges on their back. I took many a picture of those ridges. I had no idea that we would actually get to see one out of the water! This one was HUGE and sunning itself.
We also saw this one. I love this picture of it opening it's mouth. It would sun itself, get in the water for a while and then come out again and sun itself again. We sat and watched it as we ate lunch.
After the big crocodile noticed us, it kept it's eye on us the rest of the time.
These hippos reminded me of the Disneyland jungle cruse ride. Their ears move back and forth just like that ride! They are apparently pretty dangerous though and even the crocodiles are afraid of them. Our guides told us that the crocs and the hippos usually live by each other. They don't fight because each has a healthy fear of the other. The guide had seen a dead hippo a few weeks back and a crocodile going by gave it a wide berth.
The first time we saw a giraffe going by was so amazing. It wasn't scared of us at all and just kept walking (followed by 2 more). It came so close to our truck!
I loved seeing all of the interesting birds. Our guide was a bird expert and told us so many interesting things. This is some sort of eagle.
There were zebras everywhere! It was so fun to see them all over!
This is the savannah. I expected to see it dry and dead like in so many movies, but it was green and beautiful this time of year. There were animals all over just eating and watching us.
This is at lunch with our guide Daniel. He was so nice and made the experience so much more interesting with all of the things he knew. The big crocodile is the top left brown line just below the water.
I really loved all of the beautiful trees.
The warthogs were so funny and the guide thought I was a nut. Every time we would see them I would laugh. They were just so much like Pumba from the Lion King. They would stare us down like they were so fierce, and then when the truck would get close they would head for the hills. Daniel kept saying "there is your favorite wart hogs." Apparently they are my favorite animal.
These thorn trees were everywhere and the thorns were so long and sharp looking. We stayed pretty clear of them.
These white dots are butterflies. There would be areas with thousands of butterflies along the road and when we drove by, they would all fly around looking like it was snowing butterflies.
We ended the day at a restaurant my parents love that is a lot like Cafe Rio in Utah. It was SO yummy, and the perfect place to end a wonderful day.
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