OUR FIRST SAFARI, LIONS AND ELEPHANTS AND ZEBRAS!!

The  beginning of our safari adventure really started the night before, with dinner at Sundowner, a popular restaurant in Kimihurura.  Our friend Richard had a hankering for pizza and already scoped the place out so we decided to give it a try. Once we settled in we realized this place was not about pizza, it was one of the local  places known for Nyama Choma…roasted goat!

Grilling the goat

I was conflicted- the prospect of trying grilled goat meat was on my list of absolute musts. On the other hand I was getting ready to spend the next 2 days in a Range Rover and I was seriously concerned about the response my gut would have to a new and potentially distressing food item. I could not imagine what people did with stomach upsets on safari and I didn’t want to find out.

Chopping the ribs-enough meat for 3

 I stuck with pizza but Paul went for the goat. He is SUCH A SPORT!!

 The meat was a little gamey and tough but had a good flavor. I'm definitely going to eat this again, but will stick with the roasted goat brochettes- much easier to eat than goat ribs.


Suffering no ill effects after our goat meal, the next morning we took off at 6am for Akagera National Park, near the Tanzanian border. 

Paul and our guide Kirenga

Adult Oribi

As soon as we entered the park we saw Baboons, Monkeys, Impala and Bushbuck wandering through the hills. Some of them stared at us and seemed like they were posing and most just ignored us, but the monkeys and baboons chattered at the car as we drove by, it was great!

Our guide Kirenga has been coming here for years and knew the place quite well. We drove from late morning through early evening only stopping for a quick lunch of hummus/veggie sandwiches and a bathroom break. The Rover was comfortable with large windows so we could see the beautiful countryside all around us. The animals were often in packs, not so close to the road, but relatively easy to spot with binoculars or careful watching. Paul was really happy with all the birds we were seeing and Kirenga is a professional bird guider so we really benefited  from his experience.

The roads were pretty bumpy hard packed dirt trails with major ruts, but all in all I did ok with my car sickness bands on at all times.

The scenery was so peaceful

After lunch we broke up the car trekking with a boat ride around the peninsula to some smaller islands in the middle of Lake Ihema. We saw crocodiles, hippos and water birds in the mangroves and trees. The Nile Crocodiles were huge, sunning on the banks and slinking into the water. They are really well camouflaged and we would have seen very little without the help of the boatmen.

A huge Nile Crocodile

We saw lots of animals and water birds and eagles most of which I was unfamiliar with. We headed back to the Rover.

 While I thought it was cool to see huge water buffalo and hippos up close I kept asking Kirenga if he thought we would see a lion on our trip. (there are 3 in the park) He was non-committal basically saying "it ain't over til it’s over" When we leave we’ll know what we saw. I kept thinking I was seeing a lion, and having him stop the Rover, but it always turned out to be a rock or some other animal. We had a few laughs for sure.

A family of Hippos in the lake

This guy was unbelievable-iridescent blue

African Fish Eagles

Somewhere mid-day Kirenga was pleased to

point out elephant tracks, asking if we couldn’t see the footprints and trunk brushings in the road? Yeah right, I was happy to recognize the poop much less the footprints. We “tracked” elephants all day by their footprints/poop and the trail kept growing hot then cold. FINALLY at the end of the day, heading for the tents, practically right in front of us, was a gigantic elephant with big tusks, munching away on leaves in the brush. I was pretty excited and would have gotten right out to say hello and get up close and personal, but it’s not allowed. Just as well.  I wouldn’t want to end up on the end of a tusk. 

Our Friend the elephant

Beautiful red breasted bird

We spent the night in Ruzizi Tented lodge overlooking Lake Ihema. I don’t know WHAT I was thinking. I insisted on paying an extra $200 for the experience of staying in the tents. They were big, and set up over a concrete flooring. Somehow there were

real bathrooms, only the roof and walls were actually tents.

Paul relaxing in our fancy tent

By then I was a little done being nature girl and I was not happy with the millions of tiny bugs all over the place. 

no complaints here

We tried to eat our dinner on the deck near the big fire pit but I felt like every bite contained insects of some sort. I also was aware that there is Malaria in Akagera and a bit anxious about the mosquitoes. We gave up and went into the covered dining room and finished dinner. Next time - the lodge.

Our patio overlooking the Lake

The tents were set in the trees and off the ground

 The monkeys were all around our tent, jumping through the trees making a racket, which was fun, and the hippos came up on shore later in the evening.
 We could hear them chomping on the grass outside. The cabins were set up on a walkway so we didn't have to worry too much about stray animals coming up to the tent. By then I was done with nature and happy to stay under the covers with my kindle. I was also a little chicken to go out since I assumed the noise we heard was a hippo but I wasn't taking any chances!

An escort of monkeys in the morning-so cute

More hippos just being lazy outside our patio

Next morning we had breakfast on the deck at 6 am and resumed our adventures.   

Breakfast looking out over the lake!

We headed deeper into the park and saw many zebra, giraffe, impala, wart hogs, beautiful birds, male vervet monkeys with electric blue genitalia (no kidding around) and finally, lounging around amid the giraffes was a female lion!

Water Buffalo

 I was thrilled, but in retrospect the giraffes, elephants, and zebras were more fun to watch. All in all we saw Antelope, Oribi, Topi, the elusive cape eland, bushbuck, elephant, lion, zebra, giraffe, monkeys, wart hogs, baboons, crocodiles and many birds. My two favorite birds were the beautiful blue Bee Eater and yellow and black weavers.(Couldn't get photos though.)

We got photos of everything we could and of course forgot many animal and bird names. We drove through the entire park and exited with a view of the Tanzanian hills. Hopefully you'll enjoy the pictures!

Beautiful

Male in charge of a whole herd

great camouflage

A group of giraffes seen from our Rover

Crowned lapwing

Vervet Monkey

Hippos are vegetarians and graze during the night...usually.

Kirenga searched and we were lucky to find some hippos grazing during the morning

2 young male Impala practicing

Black with tiny white dots and turquoise cheeks gorgeous wild chicken-- and tasty too, according to Kirenga!

These giraffes were so incredible, just calmly eating leaves

According to Kirenga the lion was playing with the giraffes can you see her between two giraffes?

A sinister croc

 Not sure I'll be ready for another Safari just yet, but this one already was unforgettable!

The zebra brothers pose for the camera