Akagera National Park

Akagera was established in 1934 under Belgian rule and originally covered around 2,500 square kilometres. After the 1990s, when the country was emerging from civil war and the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, large areas were reallocated to returning refugees and the park shrank to 1,122 square kilometres. Poaching and conflict with livestock herders wiped out the lions and the rhinos.

In 2010 the Rwanda Development Board and the conservation non-profit African Parks began managing the park together through the Akagera Management Company. Security was strengthened with a western boundary fence, aerial surveillance and specialist anti-poaching teams. Seven lions were reintroduced in 2015, eastern black rhinos returned in 2017, and southern white rhinos followed in 2021 and 2025. Visitor numbers and park revenue have grown steadily, and much of that income is reinvested in the park and surrounding communities.

Communities around Akagera are largely farmers and cattle keepers, and Rwanda's long-horned Ankole cattle are a common sight on the drive in. The park's revenue-sharing and employment programmes, conservation education for schoolchildren and a growing number of Rwandan visitors mean the park is increasingly seen as a national asset rather than a barrier to grazing land. Taking a community experience or buying local crafts at the visitor centre is a simple way to support people living on the park edge.