Akagera Safari Party

Ah fall.  The season of harvest and bounty - a time to connect with nature by killing animals and cooking their remains over an open grill.  Although we don’t get the change of seasons here in Rwanda, many expatriates still feel the pull of the outdoors and a fire pit.  In this spirit, the weekend before Thanksgiving, twenty or so of us headed out to Akagera National Park for a weekend of drinking, grilling, dancing, and general revelry.  Akagera is Rwanda’s version of the famously grand Masaai Mara game park in Kenya.  The number of animals doesn’t compare; many were either pushed out by agriculture or killed in the years following the genocide and the park is working to increase the animal count each year.  However, the park is still stunningly beautiful and worth supporting.  

I know the title of this blog would lead you to believe that my time in Rwanda is not about safaris, and I know that driving into Akagera National might also lead you believe that we did something close to a safari, but I can assure you that you’d be wrong.  We left Kigali early Saturday afternoon, packed into an SUV filled beyond capacity with pots and pans, food, blankets, clothes, tents, cameras, and what seemed like an entire mini-kitchen’s worth of seasonings, knives, olive oil and the like.  Some people brought entire mattresses to sleep on; my roommate Sasha and I stole the couch cushions.  The drive is about an hour and a half to the east, where the hills are softer than in Burera and the landscape is more savannah than purple misty mountains.  At the park entrance, the ranger demanded to see our car, because she didn’t believe that all of us fit into one vehicle.  We were eight, and there were three other cars equally packed with people and gear.

 

Our campsite was on the top a hill that overlooked a lake separating Rwanda and Tanzania – the view was spectacular.  We had a great time that night.  From an illegal walk through the park at sunset (we were discovered and chastised by a park ranger for not being in a car – “There are snakes and wildebeests,” he said) to a dance party on the roof of a colleague’s car, to the massive amount of food grilled over a huge fire, to the run-in with the stubborn old baboon the next morning, it was a blast.  I’ll let the pictures say the rest.

(As always, you can click the picture to see it full-size.)

The campsite.  Igloo cooler courtesy of two Marines and the U.S. Government.

View from the campsite.  Note my boss in white in the lower right hand corner.

Artsy shot!

Out on our illegal walk.

Love this shot - the people are dwarfed by the majesty of Akagera!

Jake fighting with our army-issue 'tent' we rented from the park.

Just before the booze-fueled insanity started.

Someone brought their large grate and threw it over the fire - steaks, fish, veggies abounded.

Jake is not impressed by the baboon.

And for that matter, neither is Cher-Wen.

 My apologies for not having pictures of the car roof dancing, Jager shots, and general silliness.  The pact we all made with each other was that what happened at the Akagera Safari Party....well, you know.