Reviews of Akagera (From 6 Acclaimed Safari Experts)

Expert

Ariadne van Zandbergen –

ZA

Visited: Multiple times

Ariadne is a renowned African wildlife photographer whose work is featured in many well-known guidebooks and magazines.

Rwanda’s scenic savannah

Overall rating

4/5

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I’ve visited Akagera several times and it has improved an incredible amount over that time. Once there was no accommodation at all, but there are now several good lodges to choose from. Wildlife was once scarce and very skittish (in fact, I saw a lot more cattle than wild animals back then), but today wildlife numbers have increased a lot. And although they’re far from tame, animals are relaxing slowly as poaching is being brought under control. However, more impressive than the wildlife numbers is the sheer beauty of the place. A string of lakes and wetlands with a mountainous backdrop is the focal point of the park. My highlight was a boat trip on one of the lakes in search of the charismatic shoebill stork. We didn’t find any, but the general birdlife made the trip more than worthwhile. As Rwanda’s only savannah reserve, the park is a perfect companion to Volcanoes National Park for anybody wanting to extend their visit to Rwanda beyond the gorilla-tracking experience.

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Expert

Sue Watt –

UK

Visited: Multiple times

Sue is an award-winning writer who specializes in African travel and conservation. She writes for national newspapers, magazines, Rough Guides and Lonely Planet.

Rwanda’s safari secret

Overall rating

4/5

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Akagera should be on every traveler’s itinerary in Rwanda, yet it gets surprisingly few international visitors. Even without the wildlife, the beautiful landscapes alone merit a visit – it always reminds me of a cross between England’s Lake District and a mini Serengeti. While the wildlife hasn’t always been abundant, it has improved tremendously over recent years.

The park had a troubled recent history as thousands of returning refugees moved in following the genocide, causing the government to halve the park’s size, allowing the people to stay but protecting the wildlife in the remaining 1120km2. In 2010, the government partnered with conservation organisation African Parks to manage Akagera and the park has flourished. Lions and rhinos were translocated here in 2015 and 2017, making it a Big Five destination, and the Kilala Plains to the north can teem with game. Akagera’s amazingly diverse landscapes – with mountains, lakes, swamps and open savannah – attract around 500 bird species, including the rare shoebill and crested crane. In May, we took a boat trip to Nyirabiyoro Island on Lake Ihema and saw thousands of nesting cormorants, darters and egrets, along with various herons and kingfishers.

Make time in your itinerary to spend a morning or afternoon with the freelance community guides affiliated to the park – they’ll show you local life, from milking Ankola cows and making banana beer to contributing to a local nursery. And you’ll be helping to spread much needed income and benefits from tourism beyond the park gates.

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Philip Briggs –

ZA

Visited: Multiple times

Philip is an acclaimed travel writer and author of many guidebooks, including the Bradt guides to Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya and South Africa.

A resurgent gem

Overall rating

4/5

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In 2000, Akagera was barely functional, suffering badly from encroachment and poaching, and seemed destined to become one of those forgotten African parks that exist only on maps and in the statute books. The situation deteriorated over the next few years, but was reversed in 2010 when the non-profit African Parks took over the management and set about transforming it by building fences and roads to keep poachers and cattle out, and implementing a reintroduction program that included lion and rhino. Now a fully fledged Big Five reserve, Akagera ranks as one of East Africa’s most underrated safari destinations, offering the opportunity to see a wide variety of antelope at close quarters, along with the likes of lion, buffalo, elephant, giraffe and hippo. It is also a scenic park, set on rolling green hills that lead down to a labyrinth of lakes and papyrus-fringed channels fed by the Kagera River on the border with Tanzania. Aquatic birds are well represented and include the sought-after shoebill and papyrus gonolek; there’s also a large heronry that can be visited by boat. A checklist of almost 500 birds includes Ross’s turaco and the localised red-faced barbet and Souza’s shrike. Akagera is a lovely safari destination, one that perfectly complements the forested habitats protected in Rwanda’s other national parks, and a highly worthwhile add-on to gorilla tracking in the Virungas.

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Expert

Stephen Cunliffe –

ZA

Visited: June and July

Stephen is a travel writer and avid conservationist whose work appears in prestigious magazines such as Africa Geographic and Travel Africa.

Wilderness reborn

Overall rating

4/5

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Akagera is the only protected area offering traditional Big Five safaris in Rwanda. It boasts good wildlife opportunities, although not on quite the same scale as other iconic East African parks. Unlike the densely forested protected areas elsewhere in the country, Akagera is a typical savannah park dominated by sprawling grasslands and broken woodland. It is a refuge for elephant, buffalo, giraffe, tsessebe, impala and defassa waterbuck, while large populations of hippo and the elusive sitatunga – a rare aquatic antelope – thrive in the well-watered eastern sector of the reserve.

With the arrival of the African Parks non-profit conservation organisation in 2009 – and the reintroductions of lion in 2015 and 18 East African black rhino in 2017 – Akagera National Park became Rwanda’s only Big Five reserve. The park, with its attractive landscapes and extensive lake system, is also a bird-watcher’s paradise, with a staggering 525 species (including the iconic shoebill and endemic papyrus gonalek) recorded within the varied habitats of this relatively small, but extremely diverse, park.

The wildlife-rich Kilala Plain – with its abundance of grazing and water – is home to the richest biodiversity and largest concentrations of herbivores in all of Akagera, so any Akagera safari should spend significant game drive time exploring this impressive wildlife area. Although quite small by African protected area standards, the 112,200-hectare park protects central Africa’s largest wetland – known as Rwanda’s Lake District – and it’s the last remaining refuge for savannah-adapted species in all of Rwanda.

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