Several days after we got to Rwanda, we woke up at 4 a.m. and loaded ourselves into a safari truck with our hosts.

We were encouraged to wear long sleeves and pants, socks and shoes, because of the potential for bug bites, specifically horse flies. Before we went on our trip, we visited a travel doctor in our area, the only person I could find who was willing to bill our insurance for the additional immunizations that were recommended for travel to Rwanda, specifically, Hep A, Typhoid, and Tdap. The doctor was quirky and anxious. We had a huge discussion about Yellow Fever, only to call the Rwandan Embassy from the doctor’s office to determine that Yellow Fever wasn’t currently considered a risk in Rwanda. I have never experienced a similar full arc anxiety flare led and orchestrated by a doctor IN their office during one visit. It was terrible and fascinating all at once. I might not believe it had happened, but the Chaplain was there, and he witnessed and participated in it, too.

All that said, Akagera was really the only place we went where we were concerned about disease-carrying mosquitos. We reapplied bug spray throughout the day, and while the horse flies were relentless, the mosquitos didn’t bother us much.A horsefly nailed me right through my pants, which goes to show linen is super comfortable but absolutely no protection when it comes to horse flies. Note to self: next time (if there is a next time), bring heavier, light-colored pants to keep bugs out and stay cool.A note about staying cool – Rwanda is a mountainous country, and almost every day we were there, the temperature was in the 70’s. There were two days that were hot and humid and in the 80’s. We went at the beginning of August, which was right at the end of the dry season. Wearing long sleeves and pants on the drive was not uncomfortable until the late afternoon, when the sun had been beating down all day. At that point, the bugs were less of an issues, and I took off my long sleeves and wore a sleeveless shirt until the sun went down and it cooled off again. My biggest decision after what protective clothing to wear was which lens I wanted on my camera. I’ve been messing around with a zoom lens for a while now, but I’m not very confident with it. When using the zoom, I have to keep it on manual focus because with the zoom, auto focus kills my battery so fast it’s shocking (a battery that usually lasts weeks is finished in minutes). It doesn’t often pick the right thing to focus on, or takes forever to do so, by which time my battery is dead. Manual focus means it’s on me to make sure my shots are sharp, which is a hit or miss enterprise. Did I want really clear shots of animals but at a distance, with an auto focus 50mm lens? Or close up shots, most of which I would probably need to delete later because they were blurry?

Ah, perfectionism strikes again. I brought both lenses with me, but I put the zoom lens on at the beginning of the day, and decided if I needed any other types of shots I would use my phone. Despite my amateur skill level, I’m so glad I went with the zoom lens – most of the animals we saw were far enough away that that lens both allowed me to actually watch what they were doing through the lens, and also get decent shots of them.

Bizarrely, many of the animals just stood there and WAITED for me while I fiddled with the focus on my lens. Some of them craned their necks or just gazed at me like they knew I was taking their portraits. I just kept taking pictures, and in almost every case, I got at least a few good ones. And really, a few decent shots are all you really need. When talking about safaris, you hear people going on about the Big Five. I didn’t even know which animals those were until we went on the safari. I had to look it up again for this post because I’d already forgotten. Apparently it’s rhinos, leopards, lions, elephants and the buffalo, and Akagera National Park is the only place in Rwanda where you can see all five. We didn’t see rhinos, leopards, or elephants on our hours-long drive through the park. I was surprised by the number of other big mammals we saw (there are so many incredible animals that fall shy of Big Five status).Even without some of the heavy hitters, we didn’t feel deprived.

Our driver told us what animals we were seeing or might come across as we rolled along the dirt roads through the park. Despite having watched almost every nature documentary, I probably would have earned a D- for my animal identification skills.  I made notes on the names of the mammals, and if you hover over the photos, at least on a desktop, you should be able to see the names. I had a harder time with the birds.

I used this post and this one to help me identify some of the birds we saw after I got home, but some of them, like the iridescent bird with the orange eyes, and the blue-eyed bird with the yellow beak, I wasn’t able to figure out. I tried a bunch of different search terms like where I saw it and its physical characteristics, but no luck. If there is a next time, I will definitely get myself a bird guide book ahead of time.We hit the far end of the park near sundown after a full day of incredible animals and birds. We had hoped to see elephants, but hadn’t. We also hadn’t seen any lions, and time was running out as the sun set and we got closer to the end of the road through the park.

(I never got my hopes up about rhinos. I figured there are so few of them anywhere on earth that seeing one was unlikely even if I was in a place where they lived). We were heading across an area of savannah which had recently undergone a controlled burn. The silhouettes of buffalo, giraffe, and warthog were spread out on the horizon. Someone called out that they’d seen a lion. It took me a while to see what they were talking about. Then, I saw them. A lioness crouched on the burnt stubble of the savannah. Another lioness and her two cubs making their way through the unburnt grass on the other side of the road. Another lion was crossing the tall savannah grass on the left. Going to the animals where they live, instead of going to a zoo – Seeing them where they belong was an incredible experience. I found myself geeking out over the birds – something I didn’t realize I cared so much about. I was also excited about the number of baby animals we got to see. We saw baby baboons, baby impalas, a baby hippo, baby giraffes, and so many baby zebras that I lost count. I never got tired of snapping shots of the brown and white striped zebra babies trailing along behind their mothers.The two hour ride to the park and back was also an amazing experience, watching the sun rise and set from the road, seeing people leaving for market in the morning or going to pick up water, then returning in the evening, goods balanced on their heads, tied to bicycles, or in the laps of riders on motorcycle taxis.On the drive there, I encountered the most amazing public bathroom. In Rwanda, the toilets are separated by gender, but the difference is that there are typically one to three single room stalls with doors for each gender. The doors go all the way to the ground and close firmly (no gaps) and open to the outdoors. At the end of the row of doors is an outdoor sink where you can wash your hands. This provides way more privacy than your average U.S. public bathroom (did I mention doors without cracks that go down to the floor?), and in this particular bathroom, they also provided free feminine products AND a bidet. It was super clean, with interesting and beautiful African-themed decor. I didn’t want to leave.  When we were planning the trip, even while we were there, we debated springing for a two-day safari, or doing a second safari day, which would have involved a boat trip one day and/or a second drive. That probably would have been amazing, but realistically, it was out of our budget. I have to say, if you get to travel and only have money or time for a one-day safari drive, sure, you’ll be missing something, but life is a series of decisions that by definition involve loss. I’m glad we didn’t end up digging into the emergency fund just to increase our chances of seeing a few more animals. Looking back on this day, I can’t even remember what we ate, which is kind of big deal because this trip was during the first couple of weeks of trying on my new diet requirements. What I do remember is the sun slanting into the safari truck, the iridescent birds, and the smiling baby hippo resting its head on its mother’s broad back. And the moment I realized I’d lost count of the baby zebras.