Akagera National Park

Back to Rwanda

Along Rwanda’s eastern border, Akagera unfurls a landscape you don’t expect here: classic savannah, acacia woodland and a chain of papyrus-fringed lakes that make up Central Africa’s largest protected wetland. It is also conservation’s great comeback story.

Highlights

Poached to emptiness by the late 1990s, Akagera has been spectacularly restored with African Parks: lions returned in 2015, black rhinos in 2017, and today the park is firmly Big Five. Boat safaris on Lake Ihema drift past some of Africa’s densest hippo and crocodile populations, with shoebill sightings for the lucky.

Best Time to Visit

June to September concentrates game at the lakes; the green season turns the hills emerald and fills the skies for birders — 480 species and counting.

Where to Stay

Magashi Camp holds the exclusive-use northeast — six tents, one peninsula, no crowds.

Pair it with the gorillas on our Akagera Big Five & Lake Kivu itinerary, or see all our Rwanda journeys.