Akagera National Park

What has happened recently? Well, about two weeks ago a Burundian brother named Papi stayed in my house for a week. He works in the Kitchen of the Burundi Bethel and was taking a holiday here in Rwanda. He has been accepted to the SKE in Burundi in December, which in view of all the recent changes at Bethel means he may stay at Bethel, or may be assigned to the field, who knows (anymore).

Anyway, it was enjoyable having a visitor, and I got to use my French almost exclusively with him, even though he could speak some English.

Claude, Jean-Pierre, and Papi

Then, this past Saturday, in one of the few times I have actually gotten out of Kigali for purely recreational purposes, a group of seven of us took a day trip to Akagera National Park. This large park is in the Eastern Province of the country, on the border with Tanzania (see shaded area on map).

I went on this trip even having the flu—and still have, at this writing—because let's face it, when else would I be able to have such an experience? OK, it was a challenge due to the way I was feeling, and unfortunately, we did not see even one of the seven lions in the park (which would be a miracle in a 1200 km² area) but we did see plenty of antelope, zebras, hippos, giraffes, etc.

We set out at 6:30am in our Land Cruiser and within two hours came to an important junction.

Innocent, Aurore, me, Emile, Epimaque, Taichi, and Serge

By the way, the brother in the above picture named Taichi is from Japan. In 2009, he attended the International Convention in Nairobi, Kenya, and after corresponding with a Kenyan brother he met there, he decided to move to Kenya and learn Swahili. So he has been in the city of Mombasa for the past two years. This trip to Rwanda was basically for the purpose of leaving the country to renew his tourist visa, but after spending a few weeks in Rwanda, he plans to stay a month in either Uganda or Tanzania, then fly to Japan and do some secular work.

Taichi said he loves Africa and wants to stay because as he put it, "the preaching is better here." It would be hard to disagree with that.

So we took the right fork at the junction. After arriving at Akagera, we acquired a guide who got in our vehicle and accompanied us for the next six hours or so as we traversed the length of the park. She was very helpful in explaining what we were seeing.

On the way home, we stopped at a restaurant where most of the group (except me) ordered brochettes. That's where we spotted this bird approaching our table. The video shows Taichi chasing it, all in the effort to get a photo. (My research revealed it is called "crested crane.")

Too much excitement for one day! Until next time...