Akagera national park is located in the Eastern part of Rwanda along the frontier of the Neighboring Tanzania. The park was established in the 1934 to help protect and conserve the diverse fauna and flora commonly in the three (3) eco-regions the rolling hills of Acacia and Brachystegia Woodland, the sparsely distributed grassland and swamp-fringed Mountain. The famous Akagera Park got its name after the prominent Kagera River that flows along the frontiers of park supplying / feeding water to different water bodies mainly to Lake Ihema which is the second largest lake in Rwanda.
Tourist Activities Akagera National Park Rwanda
Game drive; The park provides opportunities for rewarding game drive in its well-designed network of tracks, which take visitors through different vegetation zones alive with plenty of wildlife species like elephants, buffalo, zebra, bushbaby, hippos, crocodiles and many other mammal species. On rare occasions, one can see species such as leopard, lion and black rhino. As one of the most scenic savanna in East Africa, the game drive in Akagera offers chance to enjoy the views and sights of the gentle picturesque hills blending in beautifully lowland swamps and water bodies. A sunset departure for a guided night drive adventure is an ideal way to end your day and the best opportunity to see the much sought after nocturnal creatures found in the park.
Bird watching; Akagera National Park after Nyungwe is the most significant ornithological site in Rwanda. Morning and evening bird safaris on the game tracks in Akagera National Park offers an excellent opportunity for birdwatchers to have an account of wide- selection of savanna bird species. This park is most popular for its richness in water birds in the East African region and one of the exceptional places to view papyrus endemics. Some of the common species on this birding watching safari are; black headed gonalek, heuglin’s robin-chat, crested barbet, the gorgeous lilac-breasted roller, grey hornbill, Ross’s turaco, and many more.
Short boat trips; AKagera national park surrounded with various Akagera’s lakes also gives room for short boat trip. This offers an opportunity to get close to the plentiful water birds including numerous African fish eagles, open-billed stork marabou stork, cormorants, crowned cranes, egrets and herons. On good day visitors may even get to see the elusive shoebill stork. Boat trips along the shores of Lake Ihema, Rwanda’s second largest lake, yield some great aquatic bird sightings and you can even fish on Lake Shakani.
Fishing; Lake Shakani is the site for the fishing activity; visitors to this park can spend relaxing day fishing off the lake shore and then cook their catch over an open fire at the campsite.
Behind the Scenes; Unusually, African Parks provides a chance to get a feel for the management of a national park on behind-the-scenes tours to their HQ and to meet the staff. Interestingly, because Rwanda is particularly strong on gender equality, Akagera National Park has many female guides, a rare breed on most African safaris. For more insight into Akagera, including conservation developments within the park, take a ‘Behind Scenes’ tour of the park headquarters and meet some of the people integral to the management of the park.
Tourist Attractions Akagera National Park Rwanda
Birds in Akagera national park; The park boasts of over 500 bird species and this has made it one of the sound birding destinations in Rwanda and the whole of East Africa. The different bird species are favored by diverse natural habitat which is found in Akagera Park. Akagera supports a mixture of acacia and papyrus species, including Red-faced Barbet, Bennett’s Woodpecker, Papyrus Gonolek, White-headed, Black and familiar Chats, Carruther’s and Tabora Cisticolas, White-winged and Broad-tailed Warblers and Miombo Wren-Warblers. In addition to the above include the African fish eagles, marabou stork, crowned cranes, cormorants and open-billed stork, herons and egrets among others.
Fauna/Wildlife in Akagera national park; Akagera national park over the past recent years has experienced an increase in wildlife populations and the latest statistics approximated that the Park is now housing a total of 8,000 large wildlfe species. The range of wildlife in the park includes the rare plains species such as the Impala and Topi also called tsessebe in Southern Africa. The park also has other species like eland species, oribi, the Masai giraffe, bushbuck, Defassa waterbuck, reedbuck, sable and antelope. The commonly encountered species include the Burchall’s zebra, hippo, the crocodiles and buffalo with in park areas. The new perimeter fence that was completed in late 2013 was introduced/ initiated to help protect and guard the wild life from crossing to neighbor communities around the park. There are ongoing plans to reintroduce lions, Rhinos in the park so that the park becomes perfect home for all the big five animal species .Currently due to lack of many predators in the park, wild life is currently relaxed and hence giving room for easy viewing.
Flora /Vegetation in Akagera national park; Akagera national park is blessed with exceptional levels of biodiversity, partly due to its convenient location at the confluence of various vegetation zones. The park is made up of Forest fringed lakes, savannah plains, papyrus swamps and rolling highlands. The extensive systems of freshwater lakes together with papyrus swamps, all combine to form the largest protected and conserved wetland in central Africa. Akagera National park is the only outstanding protected area with savannah vegetation in the land of thousand hills-Rwanda and this makes it to be the only refuge for savannah adapted plants and animals on a national scale. It complements the humid forests of Nyungwe National Park in the south of Rwanda and the afro-alpine habitats of Volcanoes National Park in the north.
How to get to Akagera National park Rwanda
Akagera National Park is 120kms about 2-3 hour drive from Kigali and can be visited on a long day trip if you’re short of time.
The only entry to Akagera National Park is via Kiyonza Gate in the south, close to the Park Headquarters and Akagera’s best lodge. Nyungwe Gate in the north is currently only available to exit the Park.

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