Akagera National Park - Rwanda Wildlife safari Park - Africa Tours

The Akagera national park is located in Eastern Rwanda, Kibungo district on the Tanzanian Border. The park covers an area of 1200sq km, and is named after the Akagera River which flows alongside pouring into several lakes with Lake Ihema the largest around. It is at an altitude of 1250m – 1825m above see level, with a cool breeze of the surrounding lakes and the well terraced hills.

The Akagera national park was established in 1934 with a need to protect the animals and the vegetation around the area. The park has diverse vegetation ranging from the lowland, swamp to mountain vegetation, with papyrus swamps covering 1/3 of the park, the largest protected wetland in Central and East Africa.

Akagera national park has a variety of wildlife with life with the” big five” animals all present in the park. Animals include buffalos, elephants, zebras, giraffes, hippos and various antelope among others which are all in relatively big numbers.  The lakes along the park contain the highest concentrations of hippo you will not find anywhere in Africa, as well as numerous large crocodiles. Other animals like lion, leopard and black rhino are still in small numbers, and will be seen emerging from the woodland.

The park has a bigger concentration of bird species with over 500 species recorded. These include the bird water and woodland birds.  Birds include the gorgeous lilac-breasted roller, black-headed gonolek, little bee-eater,  Heuglin’s robin-chat and brown parrot, the comical grey hornbill which are less colorful but impressive and noisy bare-faced go-away bird.  The riparian woodland around the lakes hosts a number of specialized species, of which Ross’s turaco, a bright-purple, jay-sized bird with a distinctive yellow mask, is the most striking.

Following the civil war that prevailed in Rwanda for years, most of the parks animals were threaten through poaching and killings by human activity and some escaped to the neighboring Tanzania. However, the government of Rwanda after the regained stability, it put emphasis on improving the tourism industry, and the Akagera national park was protected by preserving the game and the vegetation of the park through compensating and sensitizing the people around the park. In 2009 the Rwanda Development Board (RDB) and the African Parks Network entered into a 20 year renewable agreement for the joint management of Akagera. The Akagera Management Company was formed in 2010 as the joint management body for Akagera National Park.

Activities on the park include; Boat cruise, where a boat ride on Lake Ihema will give you a clear view of the water game like the hippos, the crocodiles, as well as a variety of water birds.

Game drives where you get a chance to see a variety of the park game such as the lion, giraffe, elephants, buffalos and many others. The game drives takes goes up to Mutumba hills which gives a clear view of the Lakes and the neighboring Karagwe mountains in Tanzania.