Akagera National Park

Akagera is Rwanda’s only savanna park, and it holds the country’s sole population of the Big Five, a genuine comeback story worth knowing before you arrive. Lions and rhinos vanished from Rwanda entirely in the decades following the 1994 genocide, and both have since been reintroduced and are now thriving: lions returned in 2015 and have multiplied several times over since, while black and white rhino populations, restored through a series of translocations from South Africa and even the Czech Republic, continue to grow under close protection.

Set along the eastern border with Tanzania, Akagera’s landscape is as varied as its wildlife, with rolling savanna, montane forest, and one of the largest protected wetlands in east-central Africa, fed by the Kagera River and dotted with lakes. Morning and evening game drives bring travelers close to elephant, buffalo, giraffe, and zebra, while a boat cruise on Lake Ihema is one of the park’s signature experiences, offering close views of hippo, crocodile, and the occasional shoebill stork along the shore. Birders in particular find the park rewarding, with over five hundred species recorded across its habitats.

For travelers building a broader Rwanda itinerary, Akagera makes an excellent addition either before or after gorilla trekking in the north, giving a Big Five safari and a primate encounter within the same compact country, something few destinations in Africa can offer.