Waza Wildlife Park

Monday and Tuesday our team drove to Waza, a wildlife/game park about a 2 hour drive from here. All 13 of us piled into the McKenzies' land cruiser, our bags tied to the roof. Let's just say, the quarters were close, and Ben had the best seat in the car.

After checking into our hotel rooms (read: half of a round hut with 2 almost double beds, AC and a working bathroom!) and signing up for dinner, we headed out to find some animals. Guinea fowl were the first to cross our path (literally), soon followed by many varieties of gazelle and some brilliantly colored birds. The find of the night: large herds of giraffes!

Dinner that night we ate in the company of the only other group there...about 20 American embassy workers from Chad! Due to recent rebel movement in the east and the threat of an attack on N'Djamena, all "non-essential" personnel had been evacuated...to Waza. We tried to pump them for news, but they didn't have much more information than we did.

Rob, Karen, Eleanor and I shared a hut. I think Eleanor is the only one who really got any sleep. Something about the foam mattresses that sunk beneath us to the wooden frames, the crazy wind and rainstorm outside, some sort of shrieking animal and the electricity going off, meaning no AC, but no air flow either as we couldn't open the windows and keep the mosquitos out at the same time...something about all that made for a rather restless night.

6am Tuesday morning, back in the saddle, I mean Land cruiser, again. The rain had made the trails very muddy (as rain will do to a dirt road), and Steve had his work cut out from him as he tried to find the firmest ground to drive on (we had already gotten stuck in the mud once the day before). He did a great job controlling the car though it was hydroplaning in the mud, but alas, our wheels found a soft spot and we got royally stuck. Just then a caravan of embassy staff happened upon us, and though they looked like they were about to pass us by, they were just looking for a solid piece of ground to stop on. Some of the adults hopped out of our car to lighten the load, and one of the embassy drivers kindly helped us get unstuck.

After that, we were off in search of more animals, specifically lions and elephants. We saw some more gazelle, a few ostriches, an iguana, and eventually some baboons, but...no lions or elephants. Maybe some other time. Meanwhile, here are a few pictures of our exploits.