Akagera National Park is one of the three conserved ecosystems and wildlife reserves in Rwanda protected by the Rwanda Development Board and assistance from other government ministries ( intensified in2012) for the protection of wild flora and fauna in the country. These three protected wildlife ecosystems and reserves include; Akagera National Park, Volcanoes National Park and Nyungwe Tropical Rainforest National Park.Akagera National Park was established way back in 1934 with an aim of gazeting wild life (flora and fauna) and conserving them in their eco regions of savannah, mountain and swamps. This park was named after River Akagera that flows throughout the country into several other water bodies with Lake Ihema being the largest of these.
Akagera National Park, found in the North Eastern side of Rwanda, bordered by Tanzania,formerly covering a wide area of 2500 square kilometers that was reduced to 1200 square kilometers following the 1994 genocide aftermath that left many people settling in the area and even encroaching and killing wildlife habitat.
The distribution / appearance of Akagera national Park is in such a way that the North is basically a low lying grassland and savannah area; its west is covered by rolling hills and valleys while its east is a wide swampy region and therefore waterlogged area of the park because of River Akagera flowing into a series of lakes, marshes and even papyrus swamps hence the largest Central Africa’s protected wetlands.
The park has a diverse and scenic view with various tour activities and attractions and services which include wildlife safaris and birding, and boat cruises and game drives and fishing.
The park is well known for its great wildlife tours which are usually done through game drives and these can be done by both private cars or by the park vehicles driven and guide by the tour guides. The drive to Akagera National park usually lasts between 2 hours and 5hours from Kigali (Rwanda’s capital city). The park entrance is Kiyonza Gate in the South after the park headquarters and the exit is at Nyungwe Gate in the North.
At the park, you will be able to view various animal species; eland, oribi, Masai giraffe, Impala, topi, antelope, bushbuck, zebras, hippopotamus, buffalos, crocodiles and elephants. This park also holds Rwanda’s oldest elephant (Mutware) ,he is about 50 years of living, calm and anti- social so you must avoid trespassing its area.