3-Day Rwanda Safari Itinerary: Akagera and Kigali

Detailed Itinerary

Day 1: Arrival in Kigali – Akagera National Park

Upon arrival in Kigali, your guide greets you, eyes bright with the promise of adventure and immediately depart for the wild Rwanda.

The road to Akagera winds through rolling hills, children wave from roadside paths, their laughter a melody carried by the breeze. Fields stretch out, a patchwork of green and gold. By late morning, the gates of Akagera rise like a threshold to another world.

Here, the land speaks in roars and rustles. Giraffes stride through open plains, their necks swaying in rhythm with the wind. Buffalo move in slow, deliberate steps, dust swirling beneath their hooves. The savannah stretches out, vast and endless, a canvas where nature paints its wildest dreams.

As the sun dips, step onto a boat on Lake Ihema. The water reflects the sky amber and rose. Hippos bob like ancient stones, eyes glinting, ears flicking. Somewhere nearby, a fish eagle’s cry echoes across the water, a haunting lullaby that lingers long after the boat docks.

Tonight, the night sky sprawls overhead, each star a pinprick of light, each breeze a whisper from the wild.

Accommodation Options:

• Camping: Akagera Campsite
• Budget: Akagera Game Lodge
• Standard: Ruzizi Tented Lodge
• Luxury: Magashi Lodge

Day 2: Full Day Safari in Akagera National Park

Immediately after dawn breaks, depart and go to the wild as you experience the scent of wild grass and the promise of adventure.

In your morning game encounter, you may witness the Buffaloes graze beneath acacia trees, their horns curved like ancient artifacts. Zebras kick up dust, their stripes flashing like brushstrokes on a moving canvas. Many antelopes, lions and even more.

Your guide gestures to a cluster of bushes eyes glint back, amber and unblinking. A leopard, sleek and stealthy, melts into the shadows. In the wetlands, elephants wade, water trickling down their thick, wrinkled skin. Further ahead, a black rhino emerges, a symbol of resilience, its gaze as ancient as the land itself.

Back at the lodge, the campfire crackles and with the flames dance, stories unfold, and the night air adds an extra layer of the authentic encounter you have been yarning with the call of hyenas and the distant cry of an owl.

Accommodation Options

• Camping: Akagera Campsite
• Budget: Akagera Game Lodge
• Standard: Ruzizi Tented Lodge
• Luxury: Magashi Lodge

Day 3: Akagera to Kigali – City Tour

The final morning dawns of Kigali when the sky brushed in pink and gold. You shall depart Akagera and head back to Kigali is a symphony of rolling hills and waving hands a landscape that feels as if it’s reaching out to hold you just a little longer.

Upon arrival in Kigali, visit the Genocide Memorial a place where silence speaks louder than words. You walk the halls, eyes tracing faces, each one a life, a memory, a story untold.

After the genocide tour, you proceed to the Inema Arts Centre, colors splash across canvases vibrant, defiant, alive. The market thrums with life, the scent of freshly ground coffee mingling with the sweet aroma of ripe mangoes. Every step, every glance, every heartbeat is a reminder that Rwanda’s past is only part of its story.

Your journey ends here, but the stories the whispers of the wild, the echoes of history linger long after the plane lifts off, Rwanda’s green hills fading into clouds.

Accommodation Options: Not included for this night, as the tour ends in Kigali.