Rwanda
Akagera National Park
Rwanda's Big Five comeback story
About Akagera National Park
Akagera is one of conservation's great comeback stories: once nearly emptied, this lake-and-savannah wilderness on Rwanda's eastern border now carries all of the Big Five, with lion and rhino successfully reintroduced.
Boat safaris on Lake Ihema drift past hippo pods and shoreline elephants, and the papyrus fringes hide the elusive shoebill. Just two hours from Kigali, Akagera turns a gorilla trek into a complete Rwandan safari.
Wildlife
What You'll See
- Lion
- Black Rhino
- Elephant
- Leopard
- Buffalo
- Hippo
- Shoebill
Activities
What You Can Do
- Game drives
- Lake Ihema boat safaris
- Night drives
- Behind-the-scenes conservation
A comeback story
Akagera: The Big Five, Restored
Akagera is one of conservation's genuine success stories. In the aftermath of the 1994 genocide the park was occupied by returning refugees and their cattle, poaching went unchecked, and by the early 2000s lion had been wiped out entirely and rhino had vanished. More than half the park's area was degazetted.
Since 2010 the park has been managed in partnership between the Rwanda Development Board and African Parks, and the turnaround has been remarkable. Lion were reintroduced in 2015 and are breeding. Eastern black rhino returned in 2017, followed by white rhino in 2021. Akagera is once again a Big Five park, and it now generates enough revenue to cover most of its own running costs.
The landscape is unlike anywhere else in Rwanda: rolling savannah in the west, and in the east a complex of lakes, papyrus swamps and channels fed by the Akagera River, which forms the border with Tanzania. That water gives the park something the gorilla forests cannot — boat safaris, big hippo and crocodile populations, and exceptional birdlife including the shoebill.
What you do
Akagera Highlights
Big Five game drives
Lion reintroduced in 2015 and rhino from 2017, joining resident elephant, buffalo and leopard across savannah and lake-fringed plains.
Boat safari on Lake Ihema
Large hippo pods, basking crocodile and superb waterbirds, with a realistic chance of the shoebill in the papyrus fringes.
Night drives
Permitted here and rare in the region, revealing hyena, bushbaby, genet and occasionally leopard on the move.
A conservation model that worked
A park brought back from near-total collapse, now largely self-financing — worth understanding as you drive through it.
Planning
Akagera FAQs
Is Akagera worth visiting alongside the gorillas?
Yes, if you have two or three spare days and want a complete Rwandan trip. It is roughly two and a half hours east of Kigali on good roads, so it slots in easily at either end of a gorilla itinerary. Game densities are lower than the Serengeti or Masai Mara and you should not expect Tanzanian numbers, but the Big Five are present, the boat safari is excellent and the landscape is a genuine contrast to the volcanoes.
Will I see rhino and lion?
Possibly, not reliably. Both populations are still small and spread over a large park, and rhino in particular are seldom seen — the black rhino are largely nocturnal and the reintroduced animals range widely. Lion sightings have improved steadily as the population has grown. Two nights, with an early morning and a night drive, gives you a realistic chance at both.
When is the best time to go?
June to September is the long dry season, when game concentrates around the lakes and the tracks are easy. December to February is the shorter dry window and also good. The wet months bring lush growth, superb birding and lower prices, though some of the northern tracks become difficult after heavy rain.
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