Of Elephants & Men: Akagera Boat Tour & Game Drive

Written By: Adrian Cox and Kaitlyn Church

On Thursday, January 4th, we visited Akagera National Park in the Eastern Province of Rwanda. We saw the park from both land and water, as we had the opportunity to go on a boat tour and game drive of the park. Thursday evening, we arrived at the game lodge at Akagera National Park before our park guides dropped us off at a dock on Lake Ihema for a 90 minute boat tour. The next morning, we were able to spend the entire day in the park, beginning our game drive at 7:30 AM and not leaving the park until 6 PM, 10 minutes before close. This experience provided an opportunity to see some of the natural wildlife of Rwanda from different viewpoints.

Our boat tour of Lake Ihema began at 4:30 PM, when the sun was just beginning to set. We first encountered some crocodiles that were relaxing on the bank of a small island in the middle of the lake. A small group of hippos was spotted nearby, but went underwater shortly after we spotted them. Our tour guide told us that hippos spend a majority of the day underwater because they have very sensitive skin that is prone to sunburns. He also mentioned that hippos actually walk underwater rather than swim and can hold their breath for around five minutes. We were able to get within 30 meters of a group of hippos, and could see the tops of their heads up close in the water. Along the bank, we also spotted three Cape buffaloes, a bachelor group. Our guide told us that these cape buffaloes were all older bulls that had been deemed “losers” and kicked out of their herd by a more dominant male. At the very end of the tour, we were just able to see an elephant from the water. We couldn’t get close to the island it was on because we were being chased by a few unhappy hippos. But even from far away, we were shocked by how huge the elephant was relative to the surrounding trees. After heading back to shore, we drove back to the lodge to rest and get ready for the next morning’s game drive.

On our second day in the park, we left early in the morning to start our day-long game drive. We started in the south, where the game lodge and visitor’s center is located. The southern part of Akagera is dominated by thicker bush vegetation than the north, and we could see the gradual transition to a drier climate as we worked our way into the more open grassland in the north throughout the day. The first animals we spotted were two zebras, and throughout the day we saw many more and in much larger groups. Midway through the day, we were able to spot a giraffe through the trees and had seen a few topi (a type of antelope) and waterbuck while we were searching for elephants that Tim and Vincent said had been spotted nearby. With no luck, we stopped at a restaurant in the middle of the park for lunch. With full stomachs and renewed spirits, we started our search once again. We decided to circle back to where the elephants had been sighted where we found two big groups of zebra and topi. Just as we were beginning to lose hope … an bull elephant walked out of the trees. It was massive. Tim said it was likely a scout for its herd, going ahead of the group to make sure the area is safe. He started walking straight towards us and all the drivers turned off the engines and told us to remain calm. The elephant walked right up to a car in front of us and was within two feet of it! It was slightly terrifying but also amazing to see. The elephant simply sniffed our cars and then walked back over to the trees.

We were accompanied by two tour guides, Tim and Vincent. Tim is from Kigali and lives with his wife and two daughters, Elle and Arya. He has a degree in computer science, and through getting it, he realized that it makes him very unhappy. He wanted to focus on human to human interactions instead of human to machine interactions. You could really tell his passion for helping people and connecting with them. On top of that, he was very professional and knowledgeable about everything in the park. Vincent grew up near Akagera and always had a strong interest in the wildlife he grew up around. He knew that he wanted to take this career path from a young age, and has a lot of knowledge about all the animals in the park. He has a degree in hospitality and tourism management, two sons, and is also a wildlife photographer.

While we only spent a little over 24 hours in Akagera National Park, we were able to encounter a wide range of wildlife while getting to learn from very knowledgeable experts. Our visit to Akagera is one of the most memorable parts of our trip, and we would highly recommend it to anyone that travels to Rwanda!