Akagera: Day Safari Drive with Kigali Pickup & Picnic Lunch

4.96

(141 reviews)

What’s the experience like?

I’ll admit, we almost missed our pickup because I couldn’t find my other shoe — turns out it was under the bed, classic. Anyway, by the time we left Kigali it was still dark and the city felt half-asleep. Our driver, Jean-Paul, was already wide awake and humming along to a radio station I didn’t recognize. The road out to Akagera got bumpy in places (my coffee nearly spilled), but sunrise over the hills made up for it. We stopped at Imigongo Art Center for a quick stretch; I tried to pronounce “imigongo” right but just got a laugh from the lady at the counter. She pointed out some of the swirling black-and-white patterns — apparently made from cow dung? Didn’t expect that.

The park entrance felt quieter than I imagined. There’s this moment when you sign in and grab your packed lunch — everything slows down for a second. Jean-Paul handed us reusable water bottles (no plastic allowed here), and then off we went into Akagera’s dusty tracks. The first animal we saw wasn’t anything dramatic — just a group of impalas flicking their ears in the morning light. But later, giraffes appeared out of nowhere, like they’d been waiting for us behind those acacia trees all along. Jean-Paul kept spotting things before any of us did; he’d tap the dashboard and say “look left!” or “wait… is that a rhino?” (it wasn’t, but hope springs eternal). Honestly, even just watching zebras graze with Lake Ihema shimmering behind them felt kind of surreal.

Lunch happened somewhere near a patch of shade with birds making this racket overhead. The picnic was simple — sandwiches, fruit, nothing fancy — but after hours in that dry air it tasted better than most restaurant meals I’ve had lately. Sometimes WiFi worked in the car; sometimes not at all (which honestly was fine). On the way back to Kigali I dozed off for a bit while Jean-Paul chatted quietly about how lions were reintroduced here not long ago. I still think about those wide open spaces and how small you feel out there — in a good way.