Mantis Akagera Game Lodge

Mantis Akagera Game Lodge is located on a hill at the southern tip of the Akagera National Park elevated above the savannah, with exceptional views of Lake Ihema. Featuring 59 rooms, a conference venue, restaurant, bar, and a spectacular pool deck, the Lodge is the perfect home base while conferencing or exploring the conservation treasures of Akagera National Park.

Akagera Game Lodge is the ideal destination to experience the only Big Five reserve in Rwanda. The lodge has 59 air-conditioned rooms with en suite bathrooms. Decorated in contemporary Rwandanese style, the rooms offer a suitable workspace and Wi-Fi for busy travellers. Rooms can be booked with twin beds or double bed. The downstairs rooms are larger, allowing space for children under 12 to share, as well as an option for families to book inter-leading rooms. Upstairs rooms are smaller and have balconies overlooking the park.

Guests also have the opportunity to see an abundance of birdlife, including the rare Shoebill stork, the endangered papyrus Gonolex and the much sought-after Red-faced Barbet. With over 500 recorded species, Akagera is one of the best birding environs in the world with the highest recorded number of species per unit area. The Park has a unique diversity of habitats, including lakes, marshes, savannah, mountains, and woodland, and is the largest protected wetland in central Africa.

Alagera's Big 5 Experience
Akagera National Park is an inspiring conservation story being returned to its former glory and is home to the Big Five and nearly 500 bird species including the Shoebill and Papyrus Gonolek.

Guests can traverse the park from the southern tip to the north over a 6-hour game drive over rolling highlands, savannah plains, and swamp fringed lakes., with night drives that can be arranged on request.

Lake Ihema
Mantis Akagera Game Lodge can arrange morning or evening cruises on Lake Ihema. Sharing a border with Tanzania, Lake Ihema is rich in biodiversity, said to be home to 550 bird species, hippopotamuses and crocodiles.

About the Akagera National Park

Akagera is almost unrecognisable today compared to just 20 years ago when it was on the verge of being lost forever. While peace was finally restored in the 1990s after the 1994 Genocide, Akagera’s demise was just beginning. Refugees returning to Rwanda after the genocide were still battling for their own survival and turned to the forests for timber, wildlife for protein and the wild savannas for their livestock. Lions were hunted to local extinction, rhinos disappeared, and the park’s wildlife was displaced by tens of thousands of long-horned cattle. Biodiversity was practically lost, and with it so was employment and tourism. The park’s value was virtually diminished, which makes its story of revival even more remarkable.

In 2010, African Parks assumed management of Akagera in partnership with the Rwanda Development Board (RDB), shifting the park's trajectory from one of oblivion to prosperity and hope. After years of preparation, through effective law enforcement and management, 2017 saw the historic return of 18 Eastern black rhinoceros after a 10-year absence, thanks to the support from the Howard G. Buffett Foundation. An additional five captive-bred black rhinos were translocated from Europe in June 2019, with the support of the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA), to augment the genetic diversity. Two new male lions were also translocated to Akagera in 2017 to enhance the genetic diversity of the growing pride, which has now tripled since their initial reintroduction in 2015. With poaching essentially halted, the park’s key wildlife populations have continued to rise. The park is generating more than US$2.5M in annual revenue, making it 90% self-financing driven by the tens of thousands of people, half of whom are nationals, coming to see its rebirth.