Rwandan national park’s recovery a success story for conservation and tourism
The Akagera park suffered grievously in civil war of early 1990s but has earned back its ‘Big Five’ credentials to become a focus of national pride for Rwandans and a hot ticket destination for tourists
In Akagera National Park, another glorious day gives way to a warm, velvety night. A pair of African fish eagles return to roost on the shore of Lake Ihema, their finger-like primary feathers silhouetted against the purple-hued sky. The birds’ haunting cries reverberate across the placid waters and are swallowed in the gloaming.
This part of eastern Rwanda moves to nature’s rhymes and rhythms. At the Ruzizi Tented Lodge, the nightly hippo concert begins, a medley of belches, bellows, grunts and splashes breaking out a few metres below the property’s lakeside dining platform. With guests enjoying beers and cocktails, semi-submerged bulls announce their presence with tuba-like blasts, seemingly oblivious to the merrymaking overhead.
On the rustic side of luxurious, Ruzizi is far from the fanciest of safari accommodations (it doesn’t have its own vehicles and there’s no Wi-fi), but that hasn’t stopped the 20-bed eco-camp from proving a hit with visitors, drawn in increasing numbers to witness one of the most heartening conservation stories in Africa. Two decades on from the conflict that ravaged Rwanda, this up-and-coming park is now helping the so-called “Land of a Thousand Hills” make headlines for all the right reasons.
