Rwanda Travelogue

Days 3 & 4 - July 12-13, 2022

Started with a leisurely breakfast - sitting outside for safety. We were collected by a guide from Primate Safaris at 8:30 am for our tour of Kigali. We continued to be impressed with how little litter there was and the quality of the roads. The driving style was interesting - people seemed to almost drive at each other, but then everyone swerved and no accident happened.

We visited the Genocide Memorial - remembering the period of around 3 months in 1994 when around 1,000,000 Rwandans identified as Tutsi were killed by the Hutu majority. The memorial was a very good remembrance of the time. We also popped into a craft shop and an art gallery and bought some small bits.

Back to the Serena for lunch and then the afternoon at leisure - except for chasing Primate to try to find out when we would be taken for the Lateral Flow test that would allow us to enter Akagera National Park. By email they agreed that they had forgotten, but arranged for us to be tested on our way to Akagera next morning.

Another room service dinner.

Collected at 7:30 am by Tito, our driver and guide from Primate. Stopped in Kigali for the Covid test - which was negative - and then headed to the North East of Rwanda for our stay in Magashi camp in Akagera. At the camp gate we transferred to a Magashi Landcruiser (with 4 people already on board) for the drive to the lodge.

Got there at around 1 pm and settled into the room. Beautifully appointed, with a huge bed, hot and cold running water, shower and flush toilet.

First trip to see the animals was on a boat on Lake Rwanyakazinga with our guide for our stay - Venuste. Saw our first (for this holiday) elephants and black rhino on the lakeshore, as well as lots of cormorants, African darters and hundreds and hundreds of Pied Kingfishers - I've never seen anything like the number we saw from the boat. Every tree and bush seemed to have quite a few of the birds perching on it. Sundowners on the shore before being driven back to the lodge for a lovely dinner and off to bed for a welcome rest.

Day 5