Tr avel report RWANDA
giving it Big Five status – lions, elephant, buffalo, leopard and rhinoceros.
As part of the new gorilla permit scheme, tourists will receive a 30% discount if they stay three or more nights here, an incentive to get people exploring more of the country.
Lemon-yellow wildflowers waltz with wispy blades of long grass as we drive along one of two main roads in the scenic park, where hilltop views cascade down to lakes, savannah plains and swampland.
Lumbering buffalo search for scraps of shade beneath a wiry acacia tree, restless zebra dust bathe in the sunset-red African soil, and swarms of darting queria birds form the only clouds in an unadulterated cerulean sky.
Given the relatively small populations (there are just 19 reintroduced lions, a fraction of the 300 poached to disappearance), seeing big game isn’t easy but we do catch sight of a regal elephant as we sensibly avoid the stony glares of irritable hippos on a motorboat ride across Hema lake.
Although currently lacking the near-guaranteed drama of the Serengeti or Maasai Mara, Akagera does benefit from far fewer crowds and lower prices.
Operated by African Parks, the fully solar-powered waterside Ruzizi Tented Lodge costs from just $195 (£150) per person.
Getting the community onside has been instrumental in restoring the park, says Sarah Hall, tourism manager for African Parks.
After the genocide, the government granted half of the land for public cattle grazing, and an electric fence (solar powered, of course) was installed in 2013.
Projects are also under way to help local people reap the benefits of tourism.
Godefroid, one of 18 community freelance guides working in the park, takes me to nearby village Kageyo, to take part in one of several new tourist experiences.
“People know Rwanda for two things: gorillas and genocide,” he laments. “But we want them to learn more about our country.”
That said, he introduces me to the art of cow milking. He tugs at the satin udders with ease, although my clumsy attempts are pathetic.
As a gesture of hospitality, I’m invited to cup my hands around the bowl of warm, frothing liquid and am later shown how to transform it into yogurt.
But most visitors will come to Rwanda wanting to see mountain gorillas, so I end my trip in the highlands of Volcanoes National Park.
My base is the ridge-top Volcanoes Safaris Virunga Lodge, made up of 10 individual bandas, which easily has the park’s best view.
At 5am, I wake up to a thousand hills draped with a fine spider’s web of mist, drifting into Lake Bulera below.
Led by 20-year veteran Diogene, who’s had the honour of guiding David Attenborough, we scramble