Rwanda’s savannah success story
- Akagera has transformed from a depleted landscape into Rwanda’s only Big 5 park.
- Wildlife numbers have risen from fewer than 5,000 to well over 13,000 animals.
- Lions, black rhinos and white rhinos have returned through major reintroduction programmes.
- Around 300,000 neighbouring people benefit directly from Akagera’s conservation and tourism economy.
- Game drives, walking safaris, birding and boat trips reveal Akagera’s varied ecosystems.
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Every protected space in Africa comes with its own story, with elements from every genre: drama, thriller, romance and tragedy. The fates and fortunes of these parks are irrevocably bound to those of the people around them, and no two chronicles are ever the same. Each visitor to an African wilderness experiences a snapshot in time, a chapter or two at most. But for those fortunate enough to visit Rwanda’s Akagera National Park, these may just be the best chapters in the entire saga. In the past decade, Akagera has established itself as a park on the rise – demonstrating an almost unbelievable transformation into Rwanda’s only Big 5 park and one of the premier African safari destinations on the continent.
Akagera National Park
The 1,122km2 (112,200 hectares) Akagera National Park is situated on the eastern edge of Rwanda, where the boundary with Tanzania is marked by the sinuous bends of the Akagera River (for which the park is named). Akagera safeguards Central Africa’s largest protected wetland, consisting of a complex system of lakes linked by papyrus-lined swamps. Away from the marshes, the jagged lines of animal pathways weave across vast plains and sweeping highlands like a network of veins, a testament to Akagera’s status as Rwanda’s last refuge for savannah-adapted wildlife.
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As clouds gather above the rolling sandstone hills and elephants feed peacefully in woodland valleys below, the breathtaking vistas are almost primaeval. The landscape, teeming with life at every level, seems so eternal that it is hard to imagine that its very existence was so recently threatened. Yet less than three decades ago, during the Rwandan Civil War and the years of recovery that followed, the park was invaded and denuded, its wildlife decimated by poaching and human-wildlife conflict.
Akagera’s rehabilitation can be attributed to the partnership between African Parks and the Rwanda Development Board. They entered into a joint management agreement in 2009 and began the day-to-day running of the park in 2010. Their progressive stewardship stayed the destruction and turned the narrative from looming catastrophe to one of long-term, sustainable conservation. Thanks to considerable investment in the park’s infrastructure and security, existing wildlife populations began to recover, bolstered by ambitious reintroduction programmes.
Tourism grew alongside this recovery, providing an increasingly important source of revenue for the park. In 2025, Akagera became the first park in the African Parks network to cover its operating costs entirely through self-generated revenue, with commercial activities generating more than US$5 million.
Most importantly, community involvement has always been a fundamental tenet of African Parks’ approach, and Akagera is no different. More than 500,000 people live in communities surrounding the park, and Akagera supports local employment, education, infrastructure and income-generating enterprises. The park contributes 10% of its income to Rwanda’s Tourism Revenue Sharing scheme, which supports projects including schools, healthcare facilities, clean water systems and cooperatives. In 2025, more than 300 full-time staff were employed by the park, the vast majority from local communities.
The return of the animals
Under certain circumstances, nature’s remarkable innate resilience allows wildlife numbers to recover independently, and the only human intervention needed is to provide them with a safe space to do so. This is always the preferred approach, but more dramatic measures are necessary when population numbers are too low to recover, if genetic sustainability is compromised, or a species is locally extinct. In Akagera, the restoration to its natural state has necessitated several large-scale wildlife reintroductions that have effectively reversed several local extinctions.
Savannah elephants and Maasai giraffe were among some of the first large mammal species to be reintroduced after poaching in the latter half of the 20th century wiped out existing populations. In 1975, 26 young elephants were translocated into Akagera, while Maasai giraffes were introduced from Kenya in 1986. Their descendants form part of the park’s thriving wildlife populations today.
Akagera is also reclaiming its title as one of Africa’s rhino havens. In the 1970s, the park was estimated to be home to over 50 eastern black rhinos, but widespread poaching hit them particularly hard. The last sighting of a black rhino occurred in 2007 before they were considered locally extinct. Ten years later, the park was deemed sufficiently secure for their return, and 18 eastern black rhinos made the cross-continent journey from South Africa to their new home in Rwanda. They were joined in 2019 by a further five rhinos sourced from European zoos, boosting the genetic diversity of the restored population. In 2021, 30 southern white rhinos were translocated from Phinda Private Game Reserve in South Africa to Akagera. By 2025, that population had grown to 41. In June 2025, a further 70 southern white rhinos arrived from South Africa as part of African Parks’ Rhino Rewild Initiative, one of the most significant additions to Akagera’s restored wildlife community in recent years.
The park’s lions suffered a similar fate during the 1990s, when they were hunted out of Akagera entirely. A founder population of seven lions was sourced from South Africa in 2015, followed by two males in 2017 to increase genetic diversity. The population has since expanded considerably, with several litters born in the park, and Akagera now supports a thriving lion population. Spotted hyenas and leopards are also found in the park.
Akagera’s flourishing ecosystem
Though the reintroductions of specific iconic species were prodigious enterprises in their own right, the natural recovery of Akagera’s landscapes and existing wildlife populations has been equally impressive. When African Parks assumed management in 2010, wildlife numbers were estimated at fewer than 5,000. Current park information puts the number at almost 12,000, representing an increase of more than 100%. Importantly, no high-value species has been lost to poaching since 2010.
Sizeable herds of buffalo, topi and zebra are everywhere, taking advantage of the bountiful grasses, while defassa waterbuck are perfectly at home wading through the swamps and reeds past pods of hippo. The endangered roan antelope may be somewhat elusive, but the towering statuesque eland are unmistakable, dwarfing surrounding impala and duiker. Klipspringer show off tip-toe agility on the rocky crags of hilly slopes. The primates are represented by large olive baboon and vervet monkey troops, the consummate survivors. Sightings of blue monkey are less frequent, but they have been spotted over recent years, firmly disproving the belief that they are extinct in the park.
Akagera National Park is also one of Rwanda’s most rewarding birding destinations, with almost 500 bird species documented in the park. The diversity of habitats on display means that birders can apply their skills in several different ways, from peering through reeds and rushes for a papyrus gonolek to scanning the skies for the grasshopper buzzard, or listening out for the call of a red-faced barbet in a thicket. Other notable species include Tabora and Carruthers’s cisticolas, white-crested turaco and northern brown-throated weaver. Shoebills are also among the wetland specialists recorded in Akagera.
Explore & stay
With the plans for Akagera’s continued upward trajectory firmly rooted in tourism, every effort has been made to offer visitors different ways to experience the park’s varied habitats. Game drives, including night drives for overnight visitors, remain central to the safari experience, while walking safaris, boat excursions on Lake Ihema, fishing, community cultural experiences and the “Walk the Line” experience offer different perspectives on the park. Visitors can also take a behind-the-scenes tour of park headquarters, while a hot-air-balloon experience offers aerial views over Akagera. Community experiences are led in collaboration with local guides and enterprises, with revenue shared with participating community members.
Akagera is accessible year-round, with wildlife viewing and conditions changing noticeably between its wetter and drier months. For budget travellers, there are four public campsites: Shakani on the shores of Lake Shakani, Muyumbu overlooking Lake Ihema, Mutumba in the northern hills and Mihindi in the park’s northern sector. Karenge Bush Camp, which has been rebuilt and is now open year-round, offers seven canvas tents overlooking the Kilala Plain. Ruzizi Tented Lodge is a nine-tent eco-lodge on the banks of Lake Ihema, wholly operated by the park, with its profits supporting Akagera’s conservation work. Other accommodation within the park includes Wilderness Magashi and SALT of Akagera.
Though Akagera is accessible year-round, the best time to visit is during the dry season, from June until September, when the wildlife viewing is at its best and rain is less likely to be disruptive. For the budget traveller, there are four public campsites: Shakani on the shores of Lake Shakani (where fishing is permitted), Mutamba at the highest point in the park, Muyumbu overlooking Lake Ihema and Lake Shakani, and Mihindi, near the shores of Lake Mihindi. Karenge Bush Camp is a good mid-range option, offering furnished tented accommodation. There is also a few high-end accommodation options inside the park, including Ruzizi Tented Lodge, which is fully catered.
When it comes to safari stereotypes, Rwanda is invariably associated with gorilla trekking, but in truth, this tiny country offers the full African adventure. Akagera National Park is the ideal complement to a gorilla trekking mission into Volcanoes National Park or a canopy tour of Nyungwe National Park. For those wanting to learn more about the bird and mammal offerings in Rwanda, Christian Boix’s (Africa Geographic director and one of Africa’s top birding guides) book Wild Rwanda is the region’s most authoritative “where to find” birds and mammals guide.
DID YOU KNOW that African Parks offers safari camps (lodges and campsites) where 100% of tourism revenue goes to conservation and local communities? Find out more and book your African Parks safari.
Everybody loves a comeback story, but it is even more uplifting when the main character is a vital piece of African wilderness. Akagera National Park is already unrecognisably improved from the depleted landscape of the late 1990s. The arrival of another 70 white rhinos and the achievement of operational self-sufficiency in 2025 mark significant new chapters in that recovery. Today, Akagera demonstrates how long-term management, tourism, community involvement and wildlife restoration can combine to secure a protected landscape.
Resources
- Read about the intricate link between conservation and community in Akagera National Park.
- Read about the rise of tourism in Akagera National Park here.
- Lions were reintroduced into Akagera in 2015. Read more about the occasion here.
- Learn more about safaris to Akagera National Park here.
Learn more about Akagera below:
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