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We enjoyed our trip to akagera park. |
Tips: take a guide; do a sunset boat trip (saw hippo's, elephant bathing, crocodiles and loads of birds) and a night game drive. |
Spotted two leopards. |
One having a close encounter with lots of buffalos. |
The park scenery is wonderful, but there isn't a lot of wildlife. |
This may be a result of us being spoilt by previous trips to Etosha and Masai Mara. |
We spotted 5 lions, two pythons, a black mamba, tons of hippo's, some zebra's and giraffe. |
Blue monkey, velvet monkey, crocodile, buffalo's lots of different antelopes. |
And some lovely birds. |
Spent the entire day of June 6 at Akagera National Park. |
My four friends and i brought our own vehicle (an SUV - strongly recommend 4WD and a vehicle that is not low to the ground). |
We arrived before the park opened at 6am and drove the length of the park (from the South entrance to the North exit) until we left at 330pm. |
First, i highly recommend asking for Justus as your guide. |
He is wonderful - friendly and extremely knowledgeable about the park and its wildlife (having grown up in the area). |
He made the safari soooo much better than it would have been had we not had his insights and navigation help. |
The park is beautiful, and you will see plenty of animals. |
The only two of the Big 5 that we did not see were lions and elephants, but what we did see was well worth our time. |
Dozens of zebras, hundreds of impalas, more than a dozen hippos, nearly a dozen giraffe, as well as several pumbas and baboons, most all of these up close (as in can reach your hand out the window and touch them). |
Also, my friends were all residents of Rwanda - one had been to ANP before, and all of them loved the experience. |
Tips: 1. |
Ask for Justus, he's amazing. |
Bring water and food, you'll want to enjoy all of the park and it takes several hours to do so. |
If you have a legit camera (not just your phone camera), bring it. |
The scenery is top-notch and you'll be able to capture everything in all its beauty |
This national park is so spectacular! |
My first safari experience and unforgettable.... Our guide MONICA was outstanding and she expertly took us to see giraffes, zebras, elephants, hippos etc... unfortunately we didn't see lions but we really didn't care-the day was so perfect! |
We definitely recommend getting a guide to see the park and TAKE A 4 X 4 or your car is going to break down-the roads are not paved. |
We also loved the boat tour-do it early morning and enjoy the serenity on the water and the bird life. |
We also did the night drive but didn't enjoy that as much-the best part of it was the night sky! |
Visited Akagera for the 3rd time and entered for the first time via the Mutumba Northern Gate. |
Coming from Nyagatare this saved us quite some kilometers to drive to the main entrance in the Soutern part of the park. |
At the same time you can do more different loops before reaching the southern part with the nice Akagera Game Lodge. |
Road to Mutumba Northern Gate is excellent and all paved. |
Game viewing remains nice due to the superb nature of this park. |
Saw in half a day buffalo, zebra, impala, topi, baboons, wartog, bushbuck, fish eagle, crocodile, hippo, guinea fowl and a large herd of giraf. |
After a good night sleep in the excellent Akagera Lodge spotted in an early morning drive a leopard and elephant on the way out to the park gate. |
Roads to/from the park have improved a lot illustrating how much Rwanda Government is doing to attract tourism. |
Visited Akagera several times with our guest. |
The park is really nice for wildlife safari as. |
Our game drives were amazing with explore its best, viewing Lions,elephants,buffaloes and Rhino. |
It was such nice experience and the park's staff are very helpful. |
Highly recommended |
This place is indeed good to visit while with great guides. |
Had chances of viewing elephants, zebras, giraffes, Lions and more wild animals. |
With some reviews, did not expect much to see in the park, however my day was full of many surprises with many animals and great experience. |
Thanks to the African Parks for effective management and contribution to the growth of this great area |
Having already visited Kruger (South Africa) and Etosha (Namibia), we did not feel the need to visit Akagera. |
But because of covid situation and the compulsory 72h testing before entering any national parks, we had to take last minute decision every day. |
So in the end, we decided to visit the park with little expectations. |
The park is still super recent and it will take time to grow, so it's useless to compare it to other long-established ones. |
In the end, our 24h there were really amazing, we loved it. |
We crossed from South to North and we basically so all animals within few kilometers of the northern gate. |
We have also seen them along the way but the last part was the best. |
Plenty of buffaloes (200 easily, in the South and in the North), 20 giraffes during the journey, 3 elephants at the exit gate and a leopard along the road. |
Plus all the other smaller ones you easily spot (impalas etc...). |
We left from the reception at 7h30 and decided to drive non stop North till mid-way. |
It took just 2hrs to reach it. |
After, we slowed down and enjoyed all the rest of the way. |
Road is in perfect shape for most of the time even though it had been down pouring the night before. |
Hard work is being done and there is no way this park won't become even better in the next decade. |
Akagera National Park is situated on the eastern side of Rwanda bordering Tanzania. |
It takes around two and half hours to three hours drive from Kigali by reserved vehicle. |
Normally any SUV with one passenger will take around $350-400, however if there are a group of 5/6 people then it is normally charged $190-200 per person, from Kigali. |
This price includes the park entry fees and packed meal with drinking water. |
Normally the vehicle picks up the tourist from his/her hotel or place of stay around 5/5.30 am and reaches the park by around 8/8.30am. |
A trip around the park takes around 4-6 hours, depending on the agreement with the tour operator/guide/driver. |
And return back to Kigali by evening. |
But frankly speaking the hype created around Akagera Natioanl Park by the Rwandan tourist operators and the Rwanda Development Board is not at all worth to explore. |
This artificially developed park is not worth even one tenth of the money required to visit it. |
I have not seen any one of the big five animals which is being advertised so much, during my nearly 5 hours trip in the park. |
And I understand from my driver that he had not seen any of the big five during his last five visits. |
One of the guides whom I met during my Rwanda trip said that he had never seen any big five, in his ten visits to the park. |
But the RDB and tour operators promote it so much that they made to believe that it would be a life time experience. |
To me it was a life time disappointment. |
I had been to Masai Mara and many other African national parks but Akagera was a complete disheartening experience. |
However one can see Zebra, Baboon, Giraffe, Impala, Tsessebe etc. |
in abundance. |
My honest suggestion will be don't waste your money just to try your luck. |
There will always be a big difference between Natural park and artificially developed one. |
It can be tempting to take your own car and drive the game drive roads around the park. |
However, I can tell you that it is FAR better to sign up for guides and drivers to take you on these adventures instead. |
the guides of the game drives and boat tours are experts at finding the animals you want to see. |
We stayed for one week, took one DIY drive and decided to just take the guided drives after that. |
We saw SO many different kinds of animals, most of which we never would have spotted if it weren't for the guide. |
The guide and the drier put so much effort into ensuring we had an amazing time, and we never took the same route twice. |
Because the drives are private, you can tell the guide and driver what you want to see, and they will work to make it happen. |
This was a trip of a lifetime and our favorite part of our trip was the time we spent in Akagera. |
The hospitality was spectacular, even though the business was struggling due to the coronavirus outbreak that was just starting to arrive in Rwanda. |
If someone is considering a photography/ animal sighting safari in Africa, I can't think of a better place than Akagera. |
I would highly recommend this park for singles, couples, and families. |
Due to staying in Kigali and not having time to schedule in an overnight stay we opted for the half day game drive. |
After a 2.5 hour drive we arrived at the visitor centre. |
We were then given a 20 minute briefing by our guide Emanuel who was excellent prior to the game drive. |
Our short time there limited us to the southern part of the park but were delighted that on a short 5 hour game drive we saw a lone elephant, giraffes, zebras, impalas, antelopes, baboons, monkeys, warthogs, and water buffalo and numerous birds. |
Our party of 5 thoroughly enjoyed the game drive and I would recommend the park for anyone visiting Rwanda. |
Akagera National Park is a beautiful savannah ecosystem which seems infinite in size. |
The animals here aren't shy and will hangout around the vehicles allowing extended observations including plenty of picture opportunities! |
My guide was well-informed and answered most, if not all, of my large groups' hundreds of questions on the day safari. |
The night drive safari was an experience I wasn't prepared for; the guide could spot animals that I would have never found! |
Hyenas, porcupines, bush babies, etc.... amazing! |
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