3 Days Akagera National Park Safari

Your safari guide meets you in Kigali for a short briefing before driving east through Rwanda's rolling green hills to Akagera National Park. Arrive in time for an introductory game drive en route to your lodge, where lunch awaits. Rest during the hottest hours, then head out again for an afternoon game drive from 3 to 6 pm across the savannah plains. In the evening, a night game drive reveals the park after dark: genets, bushbabies and prowling predators.

An early start before sunrise for a morning game drive in Akagera's grasslands and woodland: the best time to find lions on the move and predators returning from the night hunt. Search for the Big Five alongside giraffe, zebra, waterbuck, topi and reedbuck. Return to the lodge for lunch, then take to the water for a 2-hour boat cruise on Lake Ihema: hippos yawn at close range, Nile crocodiles bask on sandy banks, and buffalo and elephants wade at the lake's edge. Over 500 bird species make every direction remarkable.

After breakfast, order picnic lunch boxes and head deep into the northern sector of the park: Akagera's most remote and wildlife-rich quarter. Drive through dense miombo woodland, open flood plains and papyrus-fringed channels in search of elusive leopard, the rare shoebill stork and the resident lion prides. Exit through the northern gate and drive back to Kigali in time for hotel check-in or airport drop-off for your outbound flight.