No trip to Africa is complete without a game drive. Tourists can scratch the itch to go on safari just two-and-a-half hours away from Kigali at Akagera National Park. Managed by the African Parks organization, Akagera and its biodiversity have made an incredible recovery from near decimation after the Rwandan genocide. The 1,140-square-kilometer expanse (one of Central Africa’s largest protected wetlands) now boasts all of the Big Five animals, along with an abundance of birds and antelope.
You’ll need to have a lot of luck to spot a lion or rhino—conservationists are still working on boosting their populations, and for now, there aren’t that many at Akagera. However, you’ll have no trouble spotting zebras, hippos, Nile crocodiles, elephants, and giraffes on a self-drive safari.
The landscape itself is just as spectacular as the animals that live here. You’ll see the environment make a glorious shift from savannah plains to wetlands and lakes.
