Tourism Guide Africa Travel Guide Tourism Guide Africa June issue | Page 24

A Trip to
AKAGERA PARK
in Rwanda
BY PAULINE BURKEY
W
e had a blast hosting family
for the last two weeks here in
Rwanda, and had enough time
to leave Kigali for a bit and ex-
plore the city’s surrounding areas. We
went to Musanze, Gisenyi, and a long time
must-do on my list, Akagera!
If you’re familiar with Rwanda at all, you’ll
know that Akagera park is one of Rwan-
da’s many gems. The 1,200-square kilo-
meter park has out of this world views of
lush green scenery that is of course ac-
companied by Rwanda’s iconic rolling
hills. Though the park still has a long way
to go to rival some of the what other parts
of East Africa offer, there is no doubt that
being surrounded by such beauty in the
wildlife and of nature, is nothing short of
breathtaking.
Look at some of the amazing photos we
snapped during our safari. Don’t let the
pictures fool you though, because April is
NOT the best time to head to the park as
that is the time when the heavy rainy sea-
son begins, we headed into the park under
dense fog, rain and cold temperatures that
T O U R I S M
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A F R I C A
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T R AV E L
we were neither expecting nor prepared
for. I conveniently froze my butt off while I
wore only sandals and a light H&M button
up; but you know what they say…beauty is
sometimes pain.
As we huddled together in the safari ve-
hicle to keep warm, I kept saying to my-
self and others that the sun was bound to
come up, and surely it did. Just in time for
us to spot a beautiful lone giraffe teenager
on a lunch break in the savannah. It was
just what we needed after a dreary morn-
ing.
G U I D E