dumbo the french ambassador

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the phone rang about 10 after 7 in the morning. i thought it was the wake up call. "hello." "please hold for your call." ooh, a call. "yello" "hello audrey? it's werabe" (my coworker). "hi." "the driver will come pick you immediately to go to akagera." "i thought we were leaving at 8." "no. you must leave now to get there. are you ready?" "no." "ok, he'll pick you at 7:30." "ok. no problem."

8:15 on the nose we left for akagera, rwanda's 3rd national park, and only big game park. akagera used to be a huge park, where, according to my guide, you could see an animal "every 1 meter." now it is 1/3 its original size because when the war ended in '94 they used 2/3 of the land to relocate refugees who returned from tanzania and uganda. most of the animals were
either killed for food during the war, or moved on to tanzania for safer pastures.

i remember rosa carr telling me she used to go to akagera and sit under a tree and watch the herds of zebra and antelope while having a picnic. while i did see some zebra, and waterbuck, hippo, velvet monkeys, baboons, and buffalo, it was kind of depressing to be there. it was midday so animals aren't exactly dancing around at that time, but still. it was very desolate.

it must have been impressive once. the lakes are beautiful, and the scenery is striking. but the herds are diminished or gone.

but, my trip did begin with some excitement. about 5 minutes after entering the park, we spotted an elephant. it was hidden behind some bushes, minding its own business, so we drove on.

a few seconds later, i hear some running. then "reeeer!"

next thing i know, another elephant starts chasing after the truck!

the guide tells the driver to step on it. that doesn't seem to deter it and it kept its pace behind us for a good 2-3 minutes before giving up.

"is that the aggressive one?" "no." no?? there are two??

you see, a story has been going around kigali about a very aggressive elephant living at akagera and the french ambassador.

the french ambassador came to the park and insisted that he and his companions did not need to be accompanied by a guide. they know the park inside and out and do not need anyone to guide them. yes, said the rangers, but you don't know the behavior of animals. no. no guide. ok, sir, please go.

well, at some point along they drive they came upon an elephant about 100 meters away. they got out of the vehicle to take pictures (they'd never seen an elephant before, you see). the elephant watched them at a distance for a while, then started approaching, slowly. at 50 meters, still walking. at 20 meters, still seemingly calm. at 10 meters, it charged.

they jumped into the car. just as they were about to start it, the elephant flipped it. then proceeded to eat their bananas through the window. damn those power windows.

another group of tourists happen to pass by and ran to get a soldier who had to fire warning shots to scare the elephant off. there was no serious damage done, except maybe to some egos.

so this aggressive elephant has now become legend. the US embassy has even warned expats about it in the newsletter. next they'll probably put it on the state department country travel advisory.

well, now maybe they'll have to put out a second advisory if the one we encountered starts acting up.

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