RWANDA TRAVEL GUIDE 2021
WORLDS APART Rwanda’s national parks don’t begin and end at Volcanoes. Looking for iconic wildlife, biodiversity, and unique cultural activities? Make sure you explore everything Rwanda has to offer.
AKAGERA NATIONAL PARK
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The story of Akagera National Park is a remarkable one. The restoration of peace in Rwanda following the 1994 genocide saw refugees returning to Rwanda in huge numbers. As people turned to the forests for survival, deforestation began on a mass scale, and species including lions and rhinos were hunted to local extinction, to be replaced with cattle farms. As biodiversity declined, the impact was felt across Rwanda’s employment levels and tourism sector. All this changed in 2010, when the management of Akagera passed to the African Parks Organization, in partnership with the Rwanda Development Board (RDB). It was only a matter of time before the so-called ‘Big Five’ soon returned, so that Akagera
now serves as a model for the potential of conservation efforts worldwide to regenerate seemingly-lost natural habitats. In 2017, the park celebrated the return of 18 eastern black rhinoceros after a 10-year absence, closely followed by the translocation of two new male lions to boost the diversity of Akagera’s growing pride, which has now tripled in size since their initial reintroduction in 2015. With the return of its wildlife, Akagera has regained its place as one of Rwanda’s top tourist attractions. From 8,000 visitors in 2010, the park welcomed 44,000 people in 2018, including more than 2,000 school children, teachers and local leaders as part of environmental education programs.
