Having wrapped up the school term, Angie and I ventured over to the East to spend a day in Rwanda’s game park. What a delightful day that was. Rather than go to the park in a 4x4 vehicle as the park instructs me, somehow we joined a trip organised by the Region as a celebration and instead went in a convoy of eight taxi-buses.
As if this didn’t look bizarre enough, the convoy was headed up by the Head of the Region who was accompanied by the army, the police and the game wardens, each in their own 4x4. Inside the taxi buses was an eclectic mix of Rwanda’s finest – among them people from the Region’s administration, the Region’s volleyball team who’d just won the national championships and some students from a school that did well in last year’s national exams.
Maybe I’m the odd one but when I go on to a national park I tend to try to keep a low profile and keep quiet, hoping that I won’t frighten the animals off. Not in Rwanda. Just to top off the disruption of a huge convoy of slipping and sliding decrepit hooting taxi buses, we had lots of Rwandans singing and shouting loudly in their taxi buses. Maybe it’s just a crazy idea that the game wardens and I have but I thought it was advisable to stay in your vehicle and observe rather than try to interact with the animals.
Not in Rwanda. When we are lucky enough not to scare off the occasional animal, the convoy had to grind to a halt and everyone on the taxi bus had to get off and attempt to befriend the animals. Some Rwandans were even generous enough to offer the animals their chupa chups lollies and bubblegum which was a particularly touching moment. This was followed by everyone privileged enough to have a camera, getting snap happy and taking some wonderfully composed shots of Rwandans in the foreground and the arses of a few animals disappearing in the distance.
Inspired by the plentiful array of animals, I used my camera to take pictures of the Rwandans – I’ll use them if I ever study anthropology. We topped it off with a trip to the brand new Game Lodge which had been opened by the President the day before. Under the pretence of “we’re just going in quickly to check the prices”, 8 taxi buses of grubby, noisy and smelly Rwandans, most of whom will never be able to afford $120 a night, emptied themselves into a serene hotel and spent nearly 2 hours asking the incredibly tolerant reception staff for tours of the hotel and bedrooms and disturbing the guests who were sat around the pool.
As if this didn’t look bizarre enough, the convoy was headed up by the Head of the Region who was accompanied by the army, the police and the game wardens, each in their own 4x4. Inside the taxi buses was an eclectic mix of Rwanda’s finest – among them people from the Region’s administration, the Region’s volleyball team who’d just won the national championships and some students from a school that did well in last year’s national exams.
Maybe I’m the odd one but when I go on to a national park I tend to try to keep a low profile and keep quiet, hoping that I won’t frighten the animals off. Not in Rwanda. Just to top off the disruption of a huge convoy of slipping and sliding decrepit hooting taxi buses, we had lots of Rwandans singing and shouting loudly in their taxi buses. Maybe it’s just a crazy idea that the game wardens and I have but I thought it was advisable to stay in your vehicle and observe rather than try to interact with the animals.
Not in Rwanda. When we are lucky enough not to scare off the occasional animal, the convoy had to grind to a halt and everyone on the taxi bus had to get off and attempt to befriend the animals. Some Rwandans were even generous enough to offer the animals their chupa chups lollies and bubblegum which was a particularly touching moment. This was followed by everyone privileged enough to have a camera, getting snap happy and taking some wonderfully composed shots of Rwandans in the foreground and the arses of a few animals disappearing in the distance.
Inspired by the plentiful array of animals, I used my camera to take pictures of the Rwandans – I’ll use them if I ever study anthropology. We topped it off with a trip to the brand new Game Lodge which had been opened by the President the day before. Under the pretence of “we’re just going in quickly to check the prices”, 8 taxi buses of grubby, noisy and smelly Rwandans, most of whom will never be able to afford $120 a night, emptied themselves into a serene hotel and spent nearly 2 hours asking the incredibly tolerant reception staff for tours of the hotel and bedrooms and disturbing the guests who were sat around the pool.
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