We came back after our morning short drive of the south park and had lunch and sat
around the pool for a couple of hours. The guards had to come out to protect us and our
food from the baboons because they were right there ready to jump.
In fact.. at one point Chris had gone up to the lodge to call Sean and she screamed down
to Rachel and me at the pool.. "Look out there is a big one coming at you!" The guard came running.. but not in time...
The baboon took a huge leap over Rachel and over the diving board
that she was lying next to. Fortunately he didn't hurt her.
So.. it was from this point on that we decided the baboons had it in for Rachel..
( or they just liked her....) chuckle, chuckle.
Another hour passed before we left for our afternoon trek and this time Rachel was
up at the lodge... trying to reach Jerry. She came running down the sidewalk to Chris
and me by the pool and said "Did you see that monkey???.. I think he was trying to scare me."... He had been lapping out of a water dish by the lobby where she was sitting and never took his eyes off of her as if to threaten... So.. when we looked away she ran away back to the pool.
We look up as she is telling us this just in time to see the big baboon jump up and with his hind legs ram the chair she had been sitting on up on the porch..
Ok... it is now an established back.. Rachel has to be careful!
This guy didn't like being rejected! Ha!
Much to our sadness the evening boat ride trip was not running since the boat was
broken and parts are hard to come by here... but our sweet and knowledgeable guide told us she would love to take us on a car trip around the lakes, at least.
So off we went... having had the hot sun provide us with a lot darker and redder skin than we had come with!
This was our first friend to find and I don't know if
he is a hawk or an African Eagle or something else. His
yellow beak set him apart... but not in the East African bird book.
If anyone is seeing this and knows what
bird this is, please let me know!
Took this picture because I think it just reeks Africa.. I love it!!
The Acacia Tree is so stately, the tall grasses
and the hills rolling on as far as you can see.
We rode for quite awhile before we saw some animals and then...
Our guide said.. "get out and see the zebras" and so Chris
and Rachel seized the moment.
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| Cute picture, huh? |
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| Rachel doing what she loves. |
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| What did we do before zoom? |
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| I think they're related! |
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| Another little one! |
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| Then we came on to a herd of ??? Totally forgot their names. |
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| Ada took these pictures for me.. I was in the back of the car and decided not to get out. |
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| We continued to drive... and the scenery in the South Park is quite pretty. |
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| We've been hearing that an electric fence is going up around the park because some of the animals are going beyond the park boundaries and also because they are going to bring in lions. That will change this park and life will change for the antelope! |
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| More of these.. |
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| And then we came upon this beautiful creature. We learned from the guide that the darker the skin on the giraffe.... the older they are. |
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| He doesn't look too old, but he must be compared to the next guy! |
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| This is a young male. He was so graceful strutting around. |
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| We are getting closer to the lake now and here we found a huge Malibu Stork up in the tree. There were actually 2 of them. |
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| Then we pulled into an area where we were trying to find the warthogs and found this little fellows playing in the vegetation. |
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| He spotted us! |
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| This African Fish Eagle was looking for his evening meal! They look so much like American Bald eagles! |
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| And then we spotted this mom and baby. |
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| And the holes they dig to live in... This is dug in a huge termite hill.. Apparently lots of animals make their homes in these giant ant-like hills. |
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| Shy again and running away. |
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| Our guide took us to this serene spot.. A little before sundown.. Chris was off exploring. |
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| Rachel reflecting and watching for hippos. |
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| There's one now! Did you know that hippos don't swim? They walk or run on the bottom of the water. |
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| Everyone is looking for the hippos now! |
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| And a baboon reflecting... Oh. No. Are we headed for trouble? |
as we were driving away from the lake. Just teasing, Rachel.
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| Baby Impala |
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| Standing Malibu Stork |
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| Mr. Hartford! |
Then our guide took us to the newest lodge that just opened in Akagera....
It is really a nature lodge and is quite cool!
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| Entering the Ruzizi Tented Lodge in Akagera |
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| If a tree had fallen, they built around it.... This is the lodge part. |
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| This is one of the tented "rooms". The flaps all come down on the windows and doors and there is a bath in the back. Very unique. |
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| Ada resting after driving all day.. See the lake out in the front of the tent? Next to this tent and below the walkway.. 3 hippos had also stayed the night! Imagine that snoring?? |
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| This bunch of young trees was crawling with weaver bird's nests! |
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| Thus, Christina "Weaver" pictured with them here. |
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| This is the bonfire area for evening.. but also a place to have breakfast right on the lake. |
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| Check out those huge trees and the walkway to get between places. |
The manager of this place said that at sundown they sometimes see the leopard coming near on the road... Chris so wanted to see him, but we didn't.
We headed back to our lodge before it got dark.
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| Forgot to tell you about the pool we had been sitting around earlier! Yes, you are right.. they ran out of chlorine and it was not to arrive for a few more days! I wonder how long it takes to turn blue? We didn't do any swimming... just dodging baboons! |
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| This is generally a beautiful pool and view from the pool.. but the lime green just wasn't appealing! |
of the lodge where we stayed.
We had a fun day and we've only just begun to see some animals! Early to
bed tonight because tomorrow we leave very early!
love,
margie
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