Akagera National Park

Akagera National Park, natural preserve in northeastern Rwanda. Created in 1934 by the Belgian colonial administration, the park was named after the Kagera River, which forms its eastern boundary, as well as Rwanda's border with Tanzania. Totaling 3,120 sq km (1,200 sq mi), Akagera National Park contains three distinct environments. The largest is the Kirara plain, a treeless savanna. Along the Tanzania-Rwanda border, a swampy area contains nine lakes with numerous islands, noted for their bird life, including cormorants, gonoleks, herons, ibises, and warblers. The largest lake is Ihema in the south. Ranging from 1,600 to 1,825 m (5,250 to 5,990 ft) high, a chain of low mountains stretches across the park and encompasses a variety of environments from wooded savanna and forest on lower slopes to short grasses on the summits. Akagera's animal life includes doguera baboons, buffalo, bushbuck, crocodiles, duikers, elephants, galago (bush baby), genets, giant crested porcupines, giant elands, hare, hippopotamuses, hyenas, impalas, leopards, lions, oribis, palm civets, roan antelope, topis, vervet monkeys, wart hogs, and zebras. Elephants and giraffes were introduced in the 1970s. Tsetse flies, transmitting sleeping sickness between wildlife and humans, are a major problem. The area experiences a dry season from May to September and rains in April and November. The park's entrance and airfield are at Gabiro in the northwest.