Hey you, baboon, get back here with my backpack!

I have recently noticed the great disparity between rules in America and rules in Rwanda. In Rwanda there are a plethora of rules for what you cannot do in public, there is no eating in public, no crying in public, you cannot show your knees, you should not have your toe nails painted a bring color, you don’t want to whistle if you are a female, the list continues. However, on a recent camping trip I noticed there were no rules, in American you must sign your life away, promise not to sue, keep the fire contained, and whisper after 10pm.

After spending Christmas at my sight I thought it would be nice to join my friends and treat myself to a 2-night 3-day safari in Akagera Park. I traveled the country with almost everything I own in my outlandishly large backpack and made it to the destination. We arrived at the park, paid the entrance and camp fee, and were then promptly dropped at what mildly appeared to be a campsite. The car left and we stood there, in awe, no idea what to do, where it is approved to sleep, where it is approved to build a fire, what firewood we can use, and lastly, we were in a wild park, how were we supposed to keep the hyenas away? I saw The Lion King- I’m dinner for Mufassas’ posy!

With no guidance or instruction we set up camp. When a ranger finally came he was shocked that we were asking such outlandish questions. To him it was all common sense, if the buffalo come then clap as loud as you can to frighten them and they will leave. We were told to light a fire at dusk to scare away the animals and that the smell of the embers would keep them away through the night. While this was comforting we still did not get a full night sleep.

3 am-drip, drop, drip, drop….I heard the rain, I slightly felt it coming into my tent. 3:30 am- toss, turn, toss, turn, the rain came down harder, a small puddle was forming. 4am-downpour-the Dora The Explorer comparable tents weren’t holding up to well. We decided to make a run for it, shelter, the bats dwelling, they didn’t seem to mind us too much. Eventually the rain stopped, the skies cleared, and once again with no direction we went on an adventure.

Before leaving for our hike we noticed we had a visitor. Mr. Baboon! He was a cute handsome young fellow looking for a five-finger discount. We had been warned that the baboons would steal any and everything. We watched him invade our campsite from afar, and by afar, I mean about 5 feet away. He peered in our tents, picked up a thermos, gave it a good shake. He was only curious, and fearless. After about 10 minutes or so he was bored, were Peace Corps volunteers, we really don’t have anything that great.

We continued to go on a glorious walk for a few hours. We spotted all sorts of creatures I have only seen at the zoo, never in their natural habitat-zebras, impalas, monkeys, buffalo, warthogs- we saw a watering hole, and dung beetles rolling dung!

That evening there was a group that went on a night game drive- when they returned, just as we were about to go to bed, they told us they not only saw packs and packs of hyenas, there was a leopard only 100 yards away from the camp. Thankfully it didn’t eat any of us! We went in with 6 and came out with 6.

The next morning our car showed up to take us on a proper tour, it was an actual safari car, we got to sit on the roof and see even more animals!! All sorts of birds, some I even found beautiful, and giraffes, they were HUGE!! Fun fact- they do not have vocal cords, they communicate through sneezing!

In the afternoon we went on a boat tour where we saw an elephant near the far end of the lake bordering Tanzania, the elephant was swimming, taking a bath, it appeared he was cooling off with the mud. We sat and talked to him, yes the elephant, for quite some time because our guide spotted poachers and had to alert the park rangers to come. It was a very surreal experience. Our guide was a professional poacher spotter for 8 years before he came to work in the park. He told us a story of a time he needed to go undercover and pretend to want to purchase a baby gorilla.

We were then given freshly grilled tilapia that was just caught from the lake. After we devoured the fish, sucking every last bone dry, we continued on the land tour where we saw the former kings house and the hut he used to cast spells from.

I guess using my head and common sense worked out for me this time around, 2 nights and 3 days cohabitating with wild animals and really no rules and I survived! I even have some photos to share the experience.