Rwanda has four national parks with different specificities that you can come and visit. These are Akagera National Park, Nyungwe National Park, Gishwati Mukura National Park and Volcanoes National Park.These national parks are often visited by tourists and a complete Rwanda safari to cover all the four national parks takes atleast 7 Days.
Other places of interest to visit in Rwanda include the National Museum which is situated at Butare,
Akagera National Park
In the Akagera National Park you can see herds of elephant and buffalo emerge from the woodland to drink at the lakes, while lucky visitors might stumble across a leopard, a spotted hyena or even a stray lion. Giraffe and zebra haunt the savannah, and more than a dozen types of antelope inhabit the park.
This National park is set at a relatively low altitude on the border with Tanzania. Much of it is dominated by swamps and lakes that follow the meandering course of the Akagera River, the most remote source of the River Nile.
Akagera is, populated with Herds of elephants and buffaloes and if you are lucky you can easily meet a leopard, a spotted hyena or even a stray lion. Giraffe and zebra are a common sight here, and more than a dozen types of antelope are in the park, most commonly the handsome chestnut-coated impala, but also the diminutive oribi and secretive bushbuck, as well as the ungainly tsessebe and the world’s largest antelope, the statuesque Cape eland.
If you camp around the water bodies in Akagera park crocodiles soak up the sun with their vast jaws menacingly amazed. Magically, the air is torn apart by the unforgettable high duetting of a pair of fish eagles, asserting their status as the avian monarchs of Africa’s waterways. Lining the lakes are some of the continent’s densest concentrations of waterbirds, while the connecting marshes are the haunt of the endangered and exquisite papyrus gonolek, and the bizarre shoebill stork – the latter perhaps the most eagerly sought of all African birds.
Nyungwe National Park
Nyungwe is most alluring for its primates: 13 species in all, including humankind’s closest living relative the chimpanzee, as well as the handsome L’Hoest’s monkey and hundred-strong troops of the delightfully acrobatic Angola colobus.
Extending for 1,000 square kilometres across the hills of Rwanda, Nyungwe National Park is the largest and most ancient block of montane forest in East or Central Africa, dating back to before the last Ice Age. This is unarguably rich centre of floral diversity, the forest has more than 200 different types of trees, and a myriad of flowering plants including the other-worldly giant lobelia and a host of colorful orchids.
Nyungwe is famous for its primates: 13 species in all, including humankind’s closest living relative the chimpanzee, as well as the handsome L’Hoest’s monkey and hundred-strong troops of the delightfully acrobatic Angola colobus.
Nyungwe harbours almost 300 bird species of which two dozen are restricted to a handful of montane forests on the Albertine Rift Valley. A unique bird specie in Nyungwe is the great blue turaco – an outlandish blue, red and green bird which streams from tree to tree like a procession of streamlined psychedelic turkeys.
Volcanoes National Park
Situated in the far northwest of Rwanda, the Parc des Volcans protects the steep slopes of this magnificent mountain ranges of the Virunga volcanoes. This world known park is home to almost a third of the world’s remaining population of the rare mountain gorillas. The park is characteriesed with the rich mosaic of montane ecosystems, which embrace evergreen and bamboo forest, open grassland, swamp and heath.
“In the heart of Central Africa, so high up that you shiver more than you sweat,” wrote the eminent primatologist Dian Fossey, “are great, old volcanoes towering up almost 15,000 feet, and nearly covered with rich, green rainforest – the Virungas”. Parc des Volcans protects the steep slopes of this magnificent mountain range – home of the rare mountain gorilla – and the rich mosaic of montane ecosystems, which embrace evergreen and bamboo forest, open grassland, swamp and heath.
A trek through the cultivated foothills of the Virungas offers views in all directions. In the park,there are colourful birds and chattering of the rare golden monkey, and littered with a view of the mountains’ elusive populations of buffalo and elephant.
Gishwati-Mukura National Park
Gishwat-Mukura is the newest national park in Rwanda. It was formed by joining the two forests of Gishwati and Mukura. The park is found close to Lake Kivu and is an excellent example of Rwanda’s conservation efforts. During and after the genocide, refugees encroached on forested land leading to severe deforestation and land degradation. Tourists can visit the park for nature walks, bird-watching and tracking primates like Chimpanzees or L’Hoest’s monkeys.