Akagera National Park is located in the north east of Rwanda along the border of Tanzania. Its named after the Akagera River that flows along its northern boundary and feeds into a labyrinth of lakes of which the largest is Lake Ihema. The forest fringed lakes, papyrus swamps, savammah plains and rolling highlands combine to make Akagera amongst the most scenic of reserves anywhere in Africa. It has exceptional levels of biodiversity and forms the largest protected wetland in central Africa.
Although founded in 1934, much of the park was re-allocated as farms and in 1997 the park was reduced in size from more than 2,500 sq km to its current extent of 1,122 sq km. Since 2010, a joint venture with African Parks has seen Akagera return to its former glories.
Akagera National park combines well with Nyungwe and the volcanoes National park to offer a great safari element as it is home to many large plains, game species as well as species restricted to the papyrus swamps such as the sitatunga and the sought-after shoebill stock. Notable plains game include: Elephants, zebras, roan antelope, eland, topi and buffalo. Of the primates, olive baboons, vervets and the selective blue monkey are seen during day with bush babies often seen on night game drives.