Akagera National Park



The whole Peace Corps safari group hanging out in the savannah.



Camping out the night before on the hippo infested lake in the park.

Dan hanging out one of the safari vehicles showing off!

Impalas roaming around the savannah.

A crocodille sunbathes out on the lake.

Zebras making sure we don't get too close.

A gorgeous group of giraffes stand guard.  We could see them from miles away.

You could get really close to the giraffes. 

Pat (Long Island), Dan (Pittsburgh), and I hanging out at the hippos and crocodille lake sharing a moment. 

              

     

             Rwanda has three national parks: Volcanoes National Park (gorillas and volcanoes), Akagera (savannahs, rhinos, elephants), and Nyungwe (monkeys and rainforests, see the blog posted on 12/10).  The Rwandan government is pushing tourism to the parks, especially towards Akagera and Nyungwe.  With the success of Volcanoes, Rwanda tourism is trying to parlay tourists into extending their visits to the other two parks.  With increasing infrastructure and knowledge of these areas, visits are expected to rise in the next ten years.

            Several of the Peace Corps volunteers made a trip to Akagera National Park in the far eastern part of the country.  It is difficult to get to the park.  In fact, most trips to the park are organized and start in Kigali.  There are so few tourists that you will have Akagera to yourself due to the remoteness of the park. 

            Akagera National Park was founded in 1934 by the Belgians in an attempt to preserve the game reserve.  The park was preserved even after Rwanda gained independence in 1962.  Prior to the genocide, the park was a self-sustaining ecological unit that was considered one of the best parks in Africa.  The 1994 genocide would substantially hurt the park with a lawlessness contributing to refugees and poaching throughout the park.  The park was hurt further with de-gazetting to make way for the repatriation of refugees and fields to farm.  However, Akagera is on the mend and there is a substantial amount of animals returning to this reserve.

            Nineteen of the volunteers spent the night in the park next to a lake with hippos and crocodiles.  We camped and made smores while catching up on our three months since training concluded (see the blog posted on 01/11).  We were woken up early the next morning to a torrential rain, then waited for the Land Cruisers to arrive.  We drove nearly the entire length of the park on a gorgeous day during the rainy season and saw impalas, antelopes, hippos, crocodiles, zebras, buffaloes, and giraffes. 

            The main goal in most African safaris (especially in the savannahs) is to see the Big Five: elephants, lions, leopards, buffaloes, and rhinos.  Unfortunately, we only saw the buffalo on this safari.  There are plenty of safaris to go, so there will be more opportunities to see these animals in the natural habitat.  Altogether, it was a great and exhausting day.