Akagera national park is the only Savannah national park in the land of a thousand hills, it stands as Central Africa’s largest wetland, found in the eastern part of Rwanda along its border with Tanzania, it is the only place of Rwanda to find the big five of the wilderness (lions, Rhinos, African elephants, African buffaloes, leopards), Visiting the park will give you a perfect blend of the Savannah experience, the conservation area has had a bad history of encroachment at a certain time it was at the verge of being lost forever, thanks to the Rwandan government, the revival of the park is thrilling, it was founded in 1934 as a national conservation area covering an area space of 1200 square kilometers, most of the parking area is comprised of Lakes and rivers some of which are Lake Ihema, Lake Mihindi, Lake Shakani, Lake Rwanyakiziga, Lake Gishanju, feed by River Kagera from Which the park gets its name.

The presence of water bodies, plain savannah grassy and woodlands, marshy swampy areas, and rolling background hills, give the park an outstanding beauty and is home to a variety of species and birds. The park hosts several savannah animals including the Topi, African elephants, African buffaloes, rhinos, leopards, lions, impala, warthogs, elands, zebras, Klipspringer, sitatunga, and roan antelopes to mention a few, birds of the park have increased due to continued conservation policies and the amazing habitats, popular sites include the rare shoe bill stock and the papyrus gonolex.

Safaris to Akagera national park are special due to the uniqueness the park has, its composition is one in the whole of Rwanda, and park activities include Game drives, and there are well distributed and maintained game tracks for tourist activity in the park, Game drives can be done in the morning, afternoon and in the night driving through the park’s plain lands, hills, and around lakes, Night game drives are escorted with a park ranger, they give an opportunity to see the nightlife and also search for nocturnal species especially those of the Cat Family. Game drives are done in open roof pop 4X4 cars to enable visitors to have the best views. Night drives have an aided spotlight for good lighting.

Boat trips in Akagera national park are famous along Lake Ihema, while on the boat trip, it is possible to encounter wild animals like elephants, crocodiles, and hippos, the nearby swampy areas derive beautiful songbirds, identification for birders is a great moment, Boat rides are arranged beginning in the morning and afternoon time a number of 11 people is allowed to be on the boat ride.

Akagera national park is home to over 300 bird species, it has been identified as an important birding area, and popular bird sites include the critically endangered shoe bill stock, papyrus gonolex, African fish eagle, Double throated barbet, Long-tailed cisticola, African harrier hawk, African jacana, white browned coucal, bare-faced go way bird, Denham’s bustard, striped pipit, squacco heron, Amur falcon, red-winged francolin.

Guided nature walks in the conservation area, can be arranged through the park ranger, there are chances of viewing the park’s biodiversity with guidance from the ranger, identify several bird species, and encounter wildlife, Walking along the fence is adventurous, this electric fence was put in place to protect the park animals from poachers, the walk takes about 2 hours while offering great views of what is in the park.

Cultural visits on tour to Akagera national park will give you great encounters with the community at large, the tour is led by the community guide, and during the visit, clients will engage or have an experience in local community daily life activities like how they prepare local food, making beer, visitors can help in milking cows, they can join the dancing to traditional songs from the performers.

Akagera national park can be visited all year round but best during the dry season, December- February, June- September, Akagera is a close park to the Kigali international airport, it can be accessed by road for approximately 2 and half hours drive. The drive is commonly done in 4X4 wheel car drive. The climate of the park is constant most of the year.