Merrimack River Painters

A LONG-AWAITED VACATION

By MARY RUEDIG

I always take a sketchbook with me on vacations. I take a lot of pictures and then sketch when I am back in my room. It helps me to re-think the day.

Making art relaxes me after an exciting day.

It helps me remember not just the sites, but also the feelings of the day.

I try to capture the excitement of seeing extraordinary things, and  

this vacation was extra special for us.

 We had originally planned on going in November of 2020. As we all know, our trip was canceled, and we were able to FINALLY go this past November.

These pages are from my sketchbook of that trip to Rwanda.

We drove three hours through the countryside, seeing many people walking with bundles on their heads, or strapped to their bicycles.

There are very few automobiles, and all farming is done by hand.

The second drawing is of the mountain gorillas. 

We spent an hour watching a gorilla family, the male, or silverback, lazily sat and watched us watch him, while the young ran around on the ground and through the trees, often bumping against our legs.

In Tanzania we saw Cape Buffalo,

 giraffes,

 baboons

and lions.

In this sketch, I tried to show the wildebeest migration.

We saw thousands of these walking, eating, braying and romping on their way to their breeding grounds.

Zebras and elephants

were everywhere, and completely unfazed by our presence.

It was a real thrill to spy a jaguar lounging on a tree branch. She dragged her prey up into a tree, ate her fill and then rested while we snapped pictures and marveled at her beauty.

We stayed in a lovely lodge, and we were warned to lock our door because the monkeys could open unlocked doors and ransack the room.