Raising the Bar in Rwanda

In a first for Rwanda, our two wonderful Magashi Junior Guides, Alphonse Ntabana and Innocent Tuyisenge, both recently passed their Field Guides Association of Southern Africa (FGASA) Apprentice Field Guide qualifications, the first citizens to do so!

 

Not only is this a milestone for Rwanda and its local guides, but qualifications like these serve to raise the standard on guiding as a whole across the country. To that end, we’ve already registered Magashi’s next FGASA trainee, Aisha Kirenga Ingabire, who aspires to become the first qualified Rwandan female guide in the country.

For now, our guests at Magashi will reap the rewards of Alphonse and Innocent’s comprehensive training – alongside their senior colleagues – combined with this gem of a safari offering in Akagera National Park.

 

For those unfamiliar with eastern Rwanda, Magashi offers a world of exploration and discovery. As well as being situated in the only exclusive-use area in the national park, Magashi’s setting overlooking Lake Rwanyakazinga, surrounded by open plains, woodlands, swampland and grassy low mountains, makes it one of the most scenic savannah destinations in Africa. And with boating safaris also on offer, the diversity of experience just gets better.

 

And diverse it is! It is a place where lion, leopard, rhino, elephant, buffalo, hyaena, giraffe, zebra, hippo and many more grassland and wetland species roam. Despite being in residence for just a few short years, we’ve already seen a marked increase in wildlife in the area due to habituation.

2021 has been nothing short of spectacular in terms of numbers, and our guests have quite simply been having true field days. While a safari is so much more than a “Big Five” experience, as an example, just in October, almost three-quarters of our guests saw lion, leopard, rhino, leopard and elephant, and most saw at least four of these.

And what’s more, our guests at Magashi are only a few hours away from Bisate Lodge, and its up-close and soulful encounters with mountain gorillas in Volcanoes National Park.

The beauty of Rwanda is that you can do it all in this one scenic, friendly, safe and varied country, and you can visit knowing that with Wilderness Safaris you are in very capable and qualified hands.

By visiting Akagera for three days (two nights) or more between now and 31 May 2022, guests receive a 30% discount on the cost of gorilla trekking permits, representing a saving of some USD450 per person.