Akagera National Park

Hi folks,
I know the last few posts have been less about what I have been doing and more about what Rwanda and the world have been doing. Thats for a lot of reasons but partly because I havent been doing all that much. However, last weekend, after the realization that I better start living the adventure, I left town and went first to Akagera National Park for a game drive and Volcanoes National Park to track mountain gorillas (this will be the next post. Its a little too much to write and read all at once).

I went to Akagera with my roommates, Kate and Marta, and two of Kate's relatives who were kind enough to let us tag along on their vacation and pay for our rooms. We left Kigali in the evening and then drove for a little over two hours to get to the park where we stayed at the one hotel in the area, the Akagera Game Lodge. Marta, Kate, and I shared a room so we pushed the two twin beds together and made ourselves a lovely jumbo bed. I got up a little before 6 to take pictures of the sunrise, but the thing about living on the equator is that it gets light like a gunshot and dark like a gunshot. So I have about two sunrise pictures and then it was full on daylight. We left the lodge around 8 for the game drive, which lasted about four hours. Although Akagera doesnt have too many large animals left (most were poached during the genocide as a result of the breakdown of law and order) there are still quite a few giraffes and zebras and one legendarily ill tempered elephant, in addition to the requisite antelope, hippos, and warthogs. At one point, we got out of the car and were within about 100 meters of a herd of giraffes and a herd of zebras. Thats probably about four carlengths. And at some points, it was even closer than that. It was pretty phenomenal. It is a pretty surreal experience to be standing within arms length of animals that were in the storybooks that you used to read as children, animals that seemed so exotic and unknowable and now are right there in front of you.

Akagera is a fairly small park. After the genocide, when thousands of people were returning from refugee camps in Tanzania, Uganda, and Congo about half the park was opened for resettlement. Although it is a sad loss, in a country that is the most densely populated in Africa, so right up there with most densely populated in the world, sacrifices must be made and at least the government committed to keeping as much of the park as it did. The government continues to actively protect the park boundaries and fines any farmers who allow their animals to graze in the park.

Tourism is such a questionable activity. On the one hand it has the potential, and often is, environmentally destructive. Game drives impact soil quality, air quality, and affect the migration patterns of animals. The construction and use of lodges, particularly luxury lodges, can often result in pollution to surrounding areas. However on the other hand, tourism can significantly improve the economic aspects of local communities and have other positive effects. For example, many of the guides in parks are former poachers. As they are now able to benefit more from protecting the animals than from killing them, the most dangerous predator of the animal is removed. And the government of Rwanda attempts to ensure that other local people benefit from tourism. Five percent of profits generated from the tourism industry are directly given back to local communities. Although that might not seem like a lot, it amounts to hundreds of thousands of dollars each year. Additionally, much of the remaining 95% goes towards conservation efforts and park maintenance. By ensuring the continued safety and health of the animals and the preservation of habitats and natural resources, Rwanda is able to ensure future tourism and economic development. Its a symbiotic relationship, but a fragile one.

I am going to attempt to post my pictures at some point in the future, but unfortunately, right now the internet nationwide is terrible and uploading even one picture is pretty much impossible. But rest assured I will get them up eventually!