National Parks
types of antelope inhabit the park, most
commonly the handsome chestnutet at a relatively low altitude on the bordercoated impala, but also the diminutive
with Tanzania, Akagera National Park couldoribi and secretive bushbuck, as well as
scarcely be more different in mood to thethe ungainly tsessebe and the world’s
breezy cultivated hills that characterise muchlargest antelope, the statuesque Cape
of Rwanda. Dominated scenically by the labyrinth ofeland.
swamps and lakes that follow the meandering course of
the Akagera River, the most remote source of the Nile,Camping alongside the picturesque
this is archetypal African savannah landscape of tangledlakes of Akagera is a truly mystical
introduction to the wonders of the
acacia woodland interspersed with open grassland.
African bush. Pods of 50 hippopotami
Akagera is, above all, big game country! Herds ofgrunt and splutter throughout the day,
elephant and buffalo emerge from the woodland to drinkwhile outsized crocodiles soak up the
at the lakes, while lucky visitors might stumble acrosssun with their vast jaws menacingly
a leopard, a spotted hyena or even a stray lion. Giraffeagape. Magically, the air is torn apart
and zebra haunt the savannah, and more than a dozenby the unforgettable duetting of a pair
of fish eagles, asserting their status
as the avian monarchs of Africa’s
waterways. Lining the lakes are some of
the continent’s densest concentrations
of waterbirds, while the connecting
arshes are the haunt of the endangered
and exquisite papyrus gonolek and the
bizarre shoebill stork - the latter perhaps
the most eagerly soght of all African
birds.
AKAGERA NATIONAL PARK.
S
NYUNGWE NATIONAL PARK
Nyungwe National Park is a very rare
and important habitat for many species,
especially primates and birds. And at
over 1000 square kilometers, Nyungwe
is Africa’s largest protected mountain
rainforest.
With about 310 bird species, 26 of which
are endemic, Nyungwe is one of the
most important and still undiscovered
— bird watching destinations in Africa.
Reaching to almost 3000 meters above
sea level with Mount Bigugu the highest
point in the Park, Nyungwe’s forests
extend to altitudes occupied by few
other forests in Africa.
Nyungwe is also home to one of Africa’s
greatest concentrations of chimpanzees
and a sometimes noisy, acrobatic
1 4
www.theeye.co.rw
All park info courtesy the Rwanda Office