The African elephant “Mutware” 
(source http://www.rwandaembassy-japan.org)

One of the most popular animals in Akagera is a bull elephant named Mutware . It was raised from infancy as a pet in town by a Belgian man, but was released in Akagera when it became an adult. It was not accepted into any of the elephant herds, and during the civil war, when all the other elephants migrated to Tanzania, Mutware alone remained in Akagera. During mating season Mutware can be difficult to control, and sometimes destroys houses and cars, but he is recognized and looked after by park employees. He is also an intelligent elephant that enjoys matching wits with tourists by occasionally emerging from a thicket onto a road to surprise them, bringing their cars to a halt Mutware is the one animal you won’t want to miss on a visit to Akagere.

• Visitors must travel with a guide in national parks.
• All visitors are requested to complete the entrance procedures at the park office.
• Guides speak English and French. People joining tours individually are asked to note this.

Rwanda Image Dump I - Akagera Safari
(Source: http://timetogetmoving.blogspot.com/)

So I'm back, safe and sound with my luggage and all that jazz. I spent 15 of 17 hours on a plane, had super short layover (yet somehow my bags made it) and didn't sleep more than 10 minutes. At least Virgin has decent food and movies, and the second plane I took was more or less brand new and you had total control over like 100 movies and TV shows which was nice.

I plan on writing more about Rwanda (there is lots to say) as interesting things cross my mind, so you might have to deal with it. I will be racing the Tour of Ohio next week, and there should be a fair amount of downtime to blog. Be warned that I just might start writing about bike racing instead when I get there, so if you have anything specific (or want specific pictures) I will try and cover that before I go (to Ohio). Anyways, I have well over 500 pictures (and once I get the pictures from the rest of the group will have a few thousand) and here are some from the Akagera National Park (Safari). Akagera is in the east of the country(it's the border with Tanzania) and is a dry, hilly, Savannah. We went on two half day Safari's very early on in out trip (day 3/4). This covers most of the types of animals we saw, not including the birds.

Yup, thats an elephant, and yes, we were super close and thought we might die. (Not really on the dying part, but we were super close). His name is Mutware, and he is the chief of the elephant tribe that lives there.