Akagera: The Big Five Park Nobody Expects

People come to Rwanda for gorillas and are surprised to find a savannah park at all. Akagera runs along the Tanzanian border in the east, and after days of terraced hills and rainforest the moment the land opens out is genuinely startling.

One of Africa's clearest recoveries

Akagera had been badly degraded by the end of the last century. Since 2010 it has been managed by African Parks in partnership with the Rwanda Development Board, and the turnaround is well documented: lions were reintroduced in 2015 after decades of local extinction, and eastern black rhinos followed in 2017.

It is a Big Five park again, and it got there in roughly a decade.

North and south are different parks

The northern sector is open plains, and it is where lion and rhino sightings concentrate. Give it a full day rather than a loop. The south is lake country — a chain of lakes and papyrus swamp fed by the Akagera River, thick with hippo, crocodile and waterbirds.

Do the boat safari

You cannot see the lakes properly from a vehicle. An hour on Lake Ihema puts you at water level among the hippo pods, with fish eagles overhead and crocodiles along the banks. For many visitors it is the highlight of the park, and departures are scheduled so it is worth fixing your slot when you book.

And the night drive

Akagera is one of the few parks in the region that permits guided night drives. A spotter works a filtered lamp across the grass and an entirely different cast appears: hyena on the move, bushbabies in the acacias, civet and genet crossing the track, and occasionally leopard.

How it compares

Akagera is not the Serengeti and does not pretend to be. Densities are lower and there is no migration. What it has instead is variety within a short drive of rainforest and gorillas, and the rare experience of having a sighting entirely to yourself.

• About two and a half hours from Kigali by road
• Two nights minimum; three if you want a night drive and the south as well
• Stay inside the park — gates open early and first light is when it happens
• Leopard is genuinely hard here, as it is everywhere. Anyone guaranteeing the full five is guessing.