Travel with B&B

 Akagera Boat Trip After waking up from beautiful Ruzizi, we drove down to the boat trip launch place, and climbed aboard! A very stern captain's introduction telling us to keep tight hold of all of our valubles (and hats) as the boat went quite fast - it was clear they were accepting no responsibility for lost items!  We set off on our speedy journey across the lake and the captain pointed out many birds! Weaver bird nests hung in the trees and reeds around the edges of the lake, and herons, sea eagles and cormorants were very common, but it was lovely to see them in such great numbers.  We saw a croc having a sunbathe - it was very hot on the morning we were there - and a fair few hippos having a relax or a graze on the banks that no cars could get to.  The captain tried hard to see if he could spot the elephants having a drink for us, but still, no elephants.  On our return to the dock, we got out, and as the french lady who we were sharing the trip with got out, her phone dropp

 Picking up our guide We picked up our guide, Felix, from reception at 6:30am - and he was keen to get going straight away. He hopped in the back seat and we set off into the park. Just to now be aware, that it gets a bit picture heavy from here on in... The map was huge (right) but we mainly made our way up and down the right hand side, dipping in and out of the loops by the lakes, and then to the plains, Mohana and Kilala. Animals, animals, everywhere... It's almost easier just to list what we saw and when (because I took a list) but I'll tell you about the best bits, and then put all the rest of the pictures at the end. One of the first animals we saw was an adult male water buffalo, who was injured, potentially by a lion. We reversed to see it closer but Felix was fairly insistent we put the car back into drive in case we needed a quick get away!  We then made our first turn towards the lake to see if anything was having an early morning drink and were met by five beautiful

  Drive to Akagera National Park This was it. The most exciting bit. We were going on Safari! I was just a little bit excited.  It was a long drive from Musanze, just over four hours, and the main road took us through Kigali where we stopped off for KFC. We still had to avoid the swarms of moto taxis as we drove through!  The road from the main road down to Akagera was 25km alone! We got to the gate and were met by some guards who sent us in to the reception - another 10 minute drive. It was quite surreal knowing that at any minute an animal could walk across our path.  We checked in and paid our park fees and drove up to the game reserve hotel - this is the main place to stay in the park and you can even book on booking.com. Most of the rooms overlook the pool and park in the distance.  We met our guide, Felix, for tomorrows game drive so we knew who to look out for in the morning. Mantis Akagera Game Lodge The room was lovely, with a balcony overlooking the pool. We hadn't had a

  Volcanoes National Park We got up at 5:30am to drive to the Volcanoes National Park visitors centre. Sadly I had hurt my leg on the walk in Nyungwe so I knew I would not be doing the trek to Dian Fossey's grave, but I wanted to go for the journey.  When we arrived we got a welcome drink of African Tea, and the guides were all fleeing around finding their groups of people. There were many rich Americans there who had paid the £1500 per person to see the Gorillas. With the Dian Fossey trail, you have a small chance of seeing them briefly, but the guides deliberately tell you that is not what you have paid for!  We then had to drive for around 30 minutes to the start of the trek. The majority of this was complete off roading - 4x4 only! The good old prado was great and just tackled the rocks no problem. These villages were obviously used to many tourists coming through too!  At the base of the trail was a small gravel car park where I was staying in the car. It was in the middle of