Akagere National Park

There are a few national parks in Rwanda. Last year I was lucky enough to travel to the most popular one, volcano nat park in the north of Rwanda. This is were the mountain gorillas are. If you remember I went on two gorilla treks and got to see two different gorilla families, for by far the coolest thing I have done in my life.
This year I figured I needed to get out and see some more parts of Rwanda. An oppurtunity came up that I was able to go with some friends to Akagere.
In order to do this we had to hire a car/driver for the day to drive us from Kigali to the park, and then of course through the park.
Getting to the park took about 2.5 hrs. Part of the road I had been on before, but the other I had not seen, so it was great to see some more Rwandan countryside.
Upon entering into the park we had a park ranger/guide join us in our car.
Akagere is a park that is mostly savannah which in some areas is dotted with lakes(remember it is the great lakes region).
In just about 2 hours we were able to see baboons, giraffe, zebra, buffalo, impala, storks, and hippos. I would say a pretty good viewing, and in such a short amount of time.One interesting fact that our guide told us was that originally there were no giraffe and 6 were brought from kenya to populate the park(I believe he said they now number in the 50s).

Now last year I went on a week long safari with my parents in Tanzania. As much as it was nice to go to Akagere, it was kindof a step down from Tanzania, because I had seen so much..but even with that said I was very happy that I went and enjoyed myself.(though it was pretty hot in the car and I didn't enjoy that too much)

One neat thing that was greatly different from the safari I went on in Tanzania, was that as we came upon the animals we could off-road(trail)-it in order to be right next to them, that sure made taking pictures easier.. It was a litle nerve racking as we drove through/alongside a group of buffalo though..haha but surely our guide did not seem concerned, so I tried to not be also.

Now I have 2 parks down, we will see if I am able to visit more as the year goes on..it would be cool to see some chimps...