Akagera National Park in Rwanda is now a home to the Big Five African mammals; the African Elephant, Cape Buffalo, Black rhino, Lion and Leopard. This comes after the reintroduction of 10 black rhinos and more than 20 lions in 2015 under the joint conservation partnership of Rwanda and the African parks.
When you visit Akagera, you also spot other animals that live in the park and learn the history of poaching that led to extinction and what the Rwandan government is doing to restore the park’s habitats and wildlife especially the big five animals.
With a ranger, special game drives are carried out in search of the Big Five. The most commonly spotted are elephant, buffalo, lion and Black Rhino. Hower, it is hard to spot all the five in one game drive, so it is better to do more game drives especially if you are to see a leopard because it is a nocturnal big cat.
in addition to the wildlife experience, the luxury style of Rwanda African safari in Akagera, the only savannah park in the country and one of the largest protected wetlands in Africa.
Akagera has diverse habitats including River Akagera which the park was named after, several forest fringed Lakes, savannah plains, rolling hills. A variety of animals can be found in the park. The largest lake Ihema is home to hippos and Nile crocodiles usually seen during boat cruises. There are elephants, zebras, giraffes and ,more than 8 species of antelopes such as impala, topi, eland, oribi, duiker, bohor reedbuck, klipspringer, bushbuck, waterbuck. The park is also home to more than 500 species of birds and great for bird watching.
While staying at one of the luxury lodges, you are scheduled to go on 2 game drives per day, one in the morning and another in the evening. Night game drive are also arranged for those who love to be in the bush at night to look for nocturnal creatures like leopard, hyena, jackal, bush babies.