What a day. A group of interns (Jessica, Jesse, Kendra, Adam, Sarah, and Lukkason) from Christ Church Rwanda, Dave who is one of the main missionaries of the church, and myself all took a day trip to Akagera Safari Park yesterday. It was so fun. We were in the car from 6a.m. until 4p.m. in the afternoon. It was a long day in the car, but was completely worth it to see baboons, impalas, hippos, gariffes, zebras, water oxen, etc. There is just something special about seeing animals in the natural habitat instead of cage in at the zoo. They are definitely more beautiful in the wild. Just a little history on the park. During the genocide and after the wild life was completely desomated and destroyed. The RPF who liberated Rwanda from the genocide, for some reason, decided that when they went through the park, the best thing to do would be to kill all the animals. Why, who knows, other then maybe to make room, land, and food for refugees. Over the last thirteen years the tourist industry and the government of Rwanda has been trying to restock and bring wild life back into the park. It is already a small tourist spot, but it is still struggling with only a few visitors a week. It is not expensive to go and stay and I really think in the upcoming years as Rwanda invests more time and money into the park and begins to focus more on tourism as a source of income the park will once again flourish and be a place where people will be able to not just see a few herds and packs, but many.
No comments:
Post a Comment