Muzngus for the day

Now there’s nothing that comes to mind faster than a safari when you hear Africa. Last time I was on this side of the ocean I visit Queen Victoria National Park in Uganda, but Saturday at Akagera was a whole different animal! We may not have seen lions or cheetas, but we did see some of the best African views you can imagine! Dennis and I wanted to fill-up the land cruiser with friends for the journey to and from the park, and for us it worked! 3 facilitators (all Rwandan and none-of-which had ever been to one of their parks) and 1 non-Spark friend later, we were at the house gate ready to head out at 6am from our Kigali hub, Hotel X. Our driver, Tumaini (pronounced ‘too many’), was on time and happy to make a pit stop for banana pancakes, chapatti, water and some biscuits (or coconut crackers). Luckily, Natasha (another intern) had gone with Tumaini in the past during her last stay in Rwanda and recommended him for the tour. He was super good natured and had long dreads and a good sense of humor! He drove well, and didn’t make us the least bit nervous (which is easy to do on these roads sometimes). This was also Dennis and I’s first time in the eastern provinces of Rwanda. We have now seen all 4 corners of the country! As for our facilitators, it seems most Rwandans don't actually ever go on these tours, but Ernest, Aime, and Aloys joined us, and in a way got to be muzngus for a day!

 

As we entered the park, we the terrain looked like a slightly shrubbier version of Arizona. There were trees (very similar to mesquite trees), some particularly thorny looking bushes and some very large herds of Ankole cows- not what I first expected to see. However, as we neared the check-in station, there were some impala roaming around in the distance. The views after paying our park admission got even better! Our first major sighting was of giraffes! One of my favorites, and a must see here in Rwanda- I can’t even begin to tell you how many giraffe statuettes I have seen in gift shops here. There were at least 6 of them sauntering around- they move so much like people on stilts at Disney World it forces you to remind yourself that they are naturally that graceful, awkwardly proportioned and gorgeously patterned.

Then, after seeing some monkeys and baboons, being bitten by some crazy flies, and then seeing my second ‘in the wild’ hippo, we entered the grasslands.  Now this area was home to all the zebra, impalas and water buffalo that you can imagine! You thought one second you had seen the largest herd, and then out of nowhere you would see and even larger one! There were often birds on the backs of the animals just like in the national geographic footage, but that is missing in a zoo setting. It truly was beautiful to see the animals. The zebras in particular were so curious about us. If we stopped they all stopped whatever they were doing and looked over at us. Just stared as they swished their tails and we snapped picture after picture! We continued on to the like, where we saw even more hippos playing around in the water and spent a bit of time taking silly group pictures. In this case, I know photos will be more fun to look at that read about so here are a few of my favorites:

The ride home from Akagera resulted in most of our group falling asleep in the car at one point or another. I stayed awake until it was just me and the driver, but at some point could not hold out any longer- all that excitement and adrenaline had gone, and so I was good as comatose. The nap was just what I needed, because I had dinner plans, and was not planning to break them! My plan was to meet Meddy for dinner, at a tbd place and time. After we got back from the park, I gave it a few minutes of sitting before making the plans, but was super excited to actually get to touch base with Meddy! We had met back in 2009 while I was studying abroad in Kampala. He went to school in Uganda and lived across the road from me in Kasanga while he did so. We had plenty of ice cream and good times back in Kansanga, but to see him home in Kigali – his town- was really great! We went to a place called Liz Lounge in the New Indoor Kigali Market. The place was great! A bit dim on the lighting, but it was really quite nice, and as it had the cheapest cheese budgers I’ve seen since I got to Africa, I couldn’t resist.  I certainly am glad I didn’t! It was delicious- just like one at a non-fast food joint in the States. Meddy’s girlfriend also just headed back to Canada for med school, so it was fun to get to hear a bit more about how things had been started with her. I met her my first week in Musanze, when the two of them came out for brochettes, but it is always fun to hear things when they aren’t in front of lots of strangers (which my Spark peers where to him). Catching-up was great, and then we made our way to a music festival, called Kigali Up, that was going on near the big football stadium (soccer stadium).

But all things come to an end, and by 11 I was pretty beat. So when the music stopped, the group of interns, Meddy and I headed for motos home. Had to get some rest before our next big day! Sunday was going to be anything but a day of rest- plans were to include travelling back to Musanze in the afternoon, but the morning was a moto driving lesson for 3 of us interns.

We got up a little later Sunday morning, but with the ever increasing disciples of music coming from the churches, you cannot sleep in too late on a Sunday. Church choirs are singing over loud speakers, preachers have call and response crowds that would have you thinking there were deadly riots in the streets (if you did not know it was Sunday or here an amen/hallelujiah).    

Sophia, Dennis and I took motos back toward the stadium to find this driving school people had been talking about. I wasn't sure quite what we would find when we got there, but I knew it was supposed to be out doors and have traffic cones and an instructor or two. Turns out, it was a dirt patch where I was the only one wearing a helmet (some safety training) and lots of random moto drivers charging you for lessons of random amounts of time. Not the most brilliant decision ever- trying to learn to drive a clutch moto with someone who mixes-up giving the directions up and down, and really only speaks Kinyarwanda. Nothing to make one feel more like a muzngu than having never driven stick, not knowing Kinyarwanda, and going to Bourbon Coffee to cool down after the stress of attempting to learn how to drive. I will be looking forward to going to the Bourbon in DC when I get back to the States! Having said that I did learn one very important lesson- if it's an emergency and the motos the only way out- find a fox hole!