Lake Ihema is perched in the Akagera national park, where the Big Five wildlife safaris take place in Rwanda. In order for travelers to access Lake Ihema, they should first access Akagera National Park, which is among Rwanda’s most rewarding national parks, besides Volcanoes National Park and Nyungwe Forest National Park. Akagera National Park offers many activities that travelers can participate in to ensure an exciting trip.

 

Accessing Akagera National Park

Tourists must first enter Akagera national park because Lake Ihema is situated there. Akagera National Park is along the border with Tanzania, in the eastern corner of Rwanda. 

 

Akagera National Park can be reached by road transportation. Visitors can access the Akagera National Park through the northern or southern gates, depending on where they are located. Akagera National Park is located 110 kilometers from Kigali City. You can get there from the city in about two and a half hours. We recommended the use of private modes of transportation on the road because buses and other forms of public transportation will take a long time to get to the park.

 

In order to have an exciting safari in the Akagera National Park, it is still advised for self-driving tourists to hire a guide once they enter the park. A guide can be hired at the park entrance who is knowledgeable about the park. Tourists can take part in other activities and visit endless attractions in Akagera National Park while traveling to see Lake Ihema. These attractions are as follows:

 

Tracking the big five at the Akagera National park 

Akagera National Park presents the Big Five as the only savannah national park in Rwanda. It boasts of having viewed all five of the "big five" during the magical game drives. Akagera National Park's "big five" include the leopard, buffalo, lion, elephant, and rhino. If you're interested in visiting Akagera National Park to spot all five of the big five animals, don’t hesitate. You'll have the most exciting adventure in Africa thanks to the Akagera National Park's size, which will make it easier for you to see each animal species in the least amount of time possible.

 

Game drives

Akagera national park offers a game drive with a greater opportunity to see a variety of wildlife animals. It's interesting to note that Akagera national park has two types of game drives available: morning game drives and nocturnal game drives, or night game drives. Morning game drives give you a chance to see a variety of animals, but nocturnal game drives offer a chance to spot nocturnal animals like lions and hyenas as they try so hard to catch prey for their dinner. The nocturnal game drives allow for the viewing of some animals that are not visible during the day.

 

Akagera national park also has the Humure refugee village, which teaches travelers about a number of cultural values in Rwanda, including their traditional dress code, food, and other interesting cultural attributes. You can also engage in cultural encounters in the Inema crafts village and the Humure refugee village, where tourists can spot the culture of Rwanda explained through the beautiful art pieces. One of the Rwanda tour packages that will guarantee you have a great time in the country is visiting Akagera National Park, but among the activities and attractions that can be found there, one to highlight is Lake Ihema, which will provide amazing experiences in the park.

 

Lake Ihema

Lake Ihema receives its water from a river tributary of the Akagera River, which also supplies water to other small lakes within the park. It is located in the southern sector of the Akagera National Park. It is obvious that Lake Ihema is the largest lake in the park out of all the others.

 

Lake Ihema is blessed with a wealth of biodiversity, which includes numerous attractions such as the 155 bird species, including the critically endangered shoe bill stork, jacana, papyrus gonolek, sandpipers, herons, and malachite kingfisher. Around Lake Ihema, there are several papyrus swamps where visitors can view a wide variety of wildlife like hippos, buffalos, and many others. 

 

Tourists should engage in a number of the activities listed below while visiting Akagera National Park in order to view Lake Ihema, but you can also engage in a number of activities in other parts of the park for an unforgettable experience.

 

Birding

Ihema attracts a variety of waterbirds and other bird species, such as flycatchers, sunbirds, the Cardinal Woodpecker, weavers, the African Harrier Hawk, the White-Tailed Blue Monard, grey-crowned cranes, herons, egrets, the cardinal woodpecker, the slender-billed ball fetch, the weavers, and the leveling cuckoo. 

 

Sport fishing

Sport fishing is one of the interesting activities that can be done in the park on Lake Ihema, among other things. A sport fishing license is required for anyone interested in participating in sport fishing in Akagera National Park. Because the park places a greater emphasis on conservation, the activity involves catch and release, and only mature fish—not young ones—may be taken. However, as a way to thank visitors who participate in the activity, one fish is given to them to keep among the fish taken.