Rwanda>Akagera National Park>Akagera Game Lodge
Akagera Game Lodge was the original lodge built in the national park. As such, it has the pick of the locations and we’d be hard pressed to find a nicer spot to explore from.
What’s Akagera Game Lodge Really Like?
The building itself dates back some time (your reviewer guesstimated the 1980s). As a result, it’s not a lodge to come to for chic, cutting edge design, though it had a full refurbishment when the Mantis group took over in 2018, and today we’d describe it as a modern safari hotel.
There are around 60 rooms in total, all ensuite with a modern African décor. For a little extra cost we can book balcony rooms for you (we think having a little outdoor space is rather lovely) and there are also a few larger suites. Akagera Game Lodge does definitely feel like a hotel in the bush rather than a remote safari lodge, but it’s good value for a fairly standard level of comfort in such a remote area. We thought the restaurant here was reasonable, if not super exciting, the wifi remarkably good for the location, and it was a real treat to have the pool on a hot afternoon. As an aside, our notes from when we visited mentioned particularly that the staff were very kind.
What can I do at Akagera Game Lodge?
Typically when we send guests here, they’d come with our vehicle and guide who would conduct game drives. We rather enjoyed this small and pretty park- and we love how it’s returning from life after total degradation. Your reviewer had several good elephant sightings and, as the park gets restocked, we’re hearing reports of more and more wildlife from our guests. One thing that’s especially lovely to do here is to take a boat safari. These are operated by the park in the morning and afternoon and are generally shared with other guests. The hippos and crocs we saw were great, but even better were the birds. Even for non-birders huge fish eagles, pied kingfishers diving in and out of the water and jacanas skating along the surface are pretty cool. Also available at an extra cost is a “behind the scenes” tour of park HQ. African Parks are doing phenomenal work here, and it’s fascinating to see how much they’ve achieved. Please let us know if you would like us to pre-book this for you.
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EXTRAORDINARY AFRICA 