Yes, please!

On Monday morning, Ryan and I adventurously drove off towards Akagera National Park (the Rwandan safari park) knowing that our map is outdated, not to scale, and in French.  It’s only 3 hours out into the country, down a paved road, and you take a right, and then a left, and then go down a dirt road, and there may or may not be any signs on the way…  My dad is coming to visit in 10 days and we wanted to be sure we knew how to get him there.  I won’t go into too much detail of our trip yet because I know my dad is reading this and I want him to experience the same surprises and excitements that Ryan and I encountered when we showed up to the safari lodge.  The point is it was spectacular, and we didn’t even do the game drive (we’re waiting to do that with him).

The staff at the lodge was so warm and welcoming. It was clear that they had been extensively trained in formal hotel and dining service and were taught a few important phrases in the English language. When we spoke to our waiter, William, it quickly became evident that he didn’t understand us and his responses were recited phrases.  Our favorite response was  “yes, please!”  William would say it as a response of absolute pleasure and confirmation to whatever we ordered from the menu – or to anything we said, really – and he said it with a big smile.  If we ordered a bottle of water, he would say “yes, please!”  If we wanted the club sandwich… “yes please!”  If we asked where the restroom was…“yes, please!” If we thanked him… “yes, please!”  Ryan and I started saying it to each other ALL the time, especially when it didn’t make any sense.  It’s tough to say why that tickled us so much.

So, on our way to the lodge, about an hour away from the entrance, on a terrible dirt road in the absolute middle of no-where African countryside that leads only to the lodge, a pick-up truck blew past us in a hurry.  Tied down in the back of the bed was a 300+ lb pig.  Alive.  It was so crazy to see, especially since we haven’t seen any pigs at all since we’ve been here.  Ryan scrambled to get his camera out while he stepped on the gas and I grabbed the steering wheel.  We got one blurry picture – the truck was going way too fast. 

Anyway, that night we had excellent pork medallions for dinner.

We stayed there for 2 nights, played tennis on clay courts that were on the edge of the mountainside overlooking beautiful valleys, got sun burned, and relaxed.  (We really needed a vacation from our sabbatical...)

Akagera Game Lodge is now one of my favorite places on earth.  The scenery is breathtaking, it’s quiet and peaceful, and there are super-fun fuzzy animals all over the place.

Am I excited to share it with my dad in less than 2 weeks?  Yes, please!