| Picture by © SCOTT RAMSAY |
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| Hello and welcome to our first quarterly newsletter of 2019, 2018 ended on a high as Akagera National Park recorded over US$2 million in tourism revenue for the year, making the park over 75% self-financing. More than 44,000 tourists visited the park in 2018, and 50% of them were Rwanda Nationals. With some exciting developments this year, we are eager to see what 2019 will bring! |
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| Puppies on Patrol. You may remember Nyumba, a local female dog who joined the canine unit, gave birth to eleven puppies last year. These puppies are now eight months old and have been in training as the next generation of tracking dogs. The puppies began with obstacle work and discipline training and are now working on tracking training. With the help of a trainer from South Africa recently, the canine unit handlers are now well equipped to continue the training process. The hope is that these dogs will be able to work as a pack, off-lead and wearing GPS collars, which will make them more efficient trackers as they are able to move faster than if they were on a lead. |
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| Puppies in training. Photo credit: Scott Ramsay |
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| Community centre is getting ready to open. In our first newsletter of 2018, we mentioned the community centre construction project to develop a multi-use space outside the park including a example vegetable garden, bee-keeping and chicken rearing, tree nursery, shop for local craft, interactive education centre and more. The garden in now well-established and this year the education center and shop are ready to start operating. The idea is to inspire and assist the local community and cooperatives to develop income generating ideas, improve and diversify their production, and have an outlet to sell their products. We’ve been working with bee-keeping cooperatives around the park and assisted them with an application to the US Ambassadors Small Grants Program to develop a central honey processing centre at the community centre. This will help the cooperatives to reach a standard and find suppliers for larger quantities of honey. The next stage is to develop dormitories which will facilitate schools coming from other parts of Rwanda to spend the night near the park since a day visit for schools further afield is very difficult. |
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| Community liaison officer, Fiston, outside the education centre. Photo credit: Scott Ramsay |
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| In a bid to keep Akagera cleaner and create awareness around reducing waste we have removed the rubbish bins at campsites and picnic spots. The Government of Rwanda has made the protection of the environment a priority having banned the use of plastic bags more than 10 years ago and making Rwanda one of the cleanest countries on the continent. Recently cabinet drafted a law on the ban of single-use plastics. Akagera National Park is the only refuge for Savannah adapted wildlife in Rwanda. Last year the park received 44,000 visitors; if every single visitor leaves a plastic water bottle and other rubbish, this creates an enormous burden of waste management on the park. Waste was not being disposed of properly, and without any consideration of what happens to it. We hope that removing bins will encourage visitors to be more considerate about their consumption, and support our initiative by taking rubbish with them. Already some tour companies are providing stainless steel water bottles for guest use! We’re making changes too, in order to reduce waste and plastic use at our accommodations and other facilities. |
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| In case you have not already heard, Ruzizi Tented Lodge will be closing in the month of May for renovations. Prior to closing we’re running a special package deal for the month of April, with discounted rates including park entry fees and a boat trip. Contact the bookings team on ruzizi for more information. We’ve also decided to extend the opening months for Karenge Bush Camp, due to out of season demand, and so the camp will now be operating throughout the year, except the months of April and November through to mid-December when the camp will close. |
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| Ruzizi Tented Lodge double tent. Photo Credit: Scott Ramsay |
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| The Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Authority (RURA) have completed the construction and installation of four towers in the park hugely improving mobile connectivity throughout the park.Rwanda has an excellent mobile network covering almost the entire country. The network in Akagera National Park was not sufficiently covering the whole park. With the completed construction of these towers Akagera now has a better network as well as a 3G internet connection that will allow our visitors to share sightings and stay connected with others outside the park, it will also help visitors in need of assistance inside the park. The four towers are constructed at the headquarters close to the Akagera Game Lodge, Rwisirabo, Mutumba hills and another one at Muhororo. |
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| Field medic training for the Rangers. The daily work of rangers in the park involve activities that expose them to potential dangers, either from the wildlife or an interaction with poachers. All rangers have basic first aid training every two years and this year 12 rangers were given a two week intensive field medic training course. The training included preventative measures as well as advanced first aid, how to deal with shock, performing CPR and treating injuries. One medic will be deployed with every ranger team on patrol in the park. |
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| Rangers receiving medic training |
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| Shakani Campsite renovations are close to completion. Shakani, Akagera’s only lakeshore campsite, has been under renovation. A low stone wall has been built around the site, mainly to prevent access to hippo and new camp toilets and showers are being constructed with running water and solar showers which will make Shakani the only campsite with flushing toilets and warm water! An Additional rondavel shelter has been constructed as well as additional barbeque areas. For more information about camping in Akagera Park, you can email us on akagera |
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| Shakani campsite is being renovated |
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| Akagera Guides participate in an advanced bird training exercise. Organized by the Rwanda Development Board (RDB), in partnership with the German Development Corporation (GIZ) and Rwanda Safari Guides Association (RSGA) this training was aimed at improving the bird watching experience in Rwanda and generate revenue from Avitourism. The guides were trained on bird watching techniques, photography, ringing, breeding biology, tourism and presentation. For its size, Rwanda has an exceptional number of birds species with over 700 species throughout the country, including several endemics. Akagera National Park has recorded almost 500 of those species. Akagera was represented by our guides Theogen Gashagaza, Emmanuel Nkuranga, and community freelance guides Daniel Nishimwe and Peninah Kamagaju. The exercise is being conducted in main bird watching destinations in Bugesera District in the Eastern Province, Akagera National Park and Nyungwe National Park. |
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| Bird watching Photo Credit: John Dickens |
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