Camping in Akagera National Park

Camping in Akagera is done at four designated campsites: Muyumbu and Shakani in the south, both fifteen minutes inside the main gate, Mutumba on the high ground two to three hours in, and Mihindi with its café in the northern sector. Tents can be hired at reception for three of the four, and firewood is provided. Akagera national park lies about 110 kilometres east of Kigali on the Tanzanian border.

Camping is the cheapest way to sleep inside the fence and, at the two northern sites, quite possibly the best positioned. A tent at Mutumba puts you closer to the lions than anyone paying ten times as much in the southern sector. The trade off is honest: pit latrines, no running water at two of the sites, and everything you need carried in with you.

The Four Campsites in Akagera National Park

There are four sites, and the differences between them matter more than the names suggest. Older guides still list three, which is out of date; Mihindi in the north brought the count to four.

All four have basic facilities and all four are managed by the park, booked through reception. Two sit fifteen minutes from the southern gate, which suits a first night or a short trip out from Kigali. Two sit hours north, in the game rich half of the park, which is where the argument for camping becomes compelling rather than merely cheap. Each has barbecue facilities and firewood provided on site.

Shakani Campsite: Lakeshore Camping and Fishing Trips

Shakani sits directly on the edge of Lake Shakani, fifteen minutes inside the southern main gate, and it is the most comfortable of the four. It has running water, an ablution block with flushing toilets and solar heated showers, and two rondavels with wood fired barbecues.

You wake to birdsong and hippo grunting from the water, which is the reason people book it over Muyumbu even with the ridge views up the hill. This is also the only lake in the park where sport fishing is permitted, so a camping and fishing trip in Akagera means Shakani by default: buy the permit at reception, fish from the bank, grill your catch on the site’s barbecue in the evening.

One thing to understand about the layout. Shakani is not fenced. A low stone wall runs around the site to discourage hippos from wandering in overnight, and hippos come out of the water after dark to graze, so stay close to your tent once it is dark.

Muyumbu Campsite: A Ridge Site for Southern Safari Trips

Muyumbu is the other southern site, also fifteen minutes from the gate, set high on a ridge looking down over Lake Ihema with Tanzania away to the east. The view is the selling point, and sunrise from up there is the best in the southern half of the park.

Facilities are more basic than Shakani’s. There is a low lying electric fence around the site to keep hippos and other animals out, pit latrines rather than flush toilets, an underground rainwater reserve rather than running water, bucket showers, and an open sided communal rondavel shelter with barbecue facilities. Tents can be hired at reception, but you bring your own mattresses and bedding. If you want a view and do not mind a pit latrine, this is the better of the two southern sites; if you want a hot shower, take Shakani.

Mutumba Campsite: High Ground for Northern Game Drive Safaris

Mutumba sits on top of the Mutumba hills, the highest ground in Akagera, two to three hours of driving inside the southern gate. It is the most remote of the four and the best placed for wildlife.

This is game country. Buffalo and zebra herds use the surrounding hills, and the site gives fast access to the Muhana and Kilala plains, which hold the densest concentration of animals in the park and its most active predators. Being up here at first light is the whole point. Views run out over the lakes and across to Tanzania, and evenings are cool and breezy in a way the lake sites are not.

Facilities match Muyumbu: low electric fence, pit latrines, harvested rainwater, communal rondavel, barbecue. The important difference is that nothing is available for hire at Mutumba. No tents, no bedding, no equipment. You arrive fully self sufficient or you do not stay, so plan this one properly.

Mihindi Campsite and Café on a Northern Safari

Mihindi lies in the northern sector near Lake Mihindi, three to four hours inside the southern gate, and it is the odd one out in a useful way. The old research house on the site has been converted into a coffee shop, and there is a picnic area used by day visitors passing through on the long drive north.

It has a low lying electric fence to deter hippos and other mammals, an ablution block with flushing toilets and solar heated showers, and barbecue facilities. It is also the only campsite where you can hire both tents and bedding, which makes it the easiest of the four to arrive at underprepared. Rates here are higher than the other three because breakfast is included. For anyone driving the full length of the park, Mihindi is the natural halfway stop even if you are not sleeping there.

Tent Hire and What to Bring on a Camping Safari

Tents are available for hire at reception for the southern sites and for Mihindi, currently as six person canvas tents of about three metres square, which sleep four comfortably. Hire does not include bedding or any other equipment. Mihindi is the exception, with bedding available there too. Mutumba has nothing.

Bring: sleeping bag or bedding, mattress or mat, cooking equipment and gas, all your food, water, a head torch, insect repellent, a warm layer for the evenings and a first aid kit. Firewood is provided on site, and barbecue facilities exist at all four. Do not plan to drink the tap water; boil it or carry bottled water in. Bins have been removed from every campsite, so everything you carry in leaves with you, which includes food scraps and fish remains. There is no fuel anywhere inside the park, so fill up before the gate.

Safety, Baboons and Sharing Camp With Wildlife

Camping here means sleeping in a national park with buffalo, hippo, elephant and, since 2015, lions. The arrangements are sensible rather than alarming. Muyumbu, Mutumba and Mihindi have low lying electric fences to keep large animals out, and Shakani has its stone wall against hippos. Muyumbu and Mutumba were fenced only after the lions returned.

What that means in practice. Stay inside the site boundary after dark and do not wander off to look at anything. Keep your food secured and your rubbish contained, because the animals that actually cause visitors trouble here are baboons rather than predators. Do not sleep with food in the tent. If you hear lions calling at night, which happens at Mutumba, that is normal and they are not at your tent. Overnight visitors must be at their campsite by six in the evening unless they are out on a booked night drive, and the same rule that applies everywhere in Akagera applies here: you may not walk in the park outside the campsites and picnic spots.

Activities and Game Drive Safaris From the Campsites

Campers get the same access to activities as lodge guests, all booked and paid for at reception rather than included in the camping fee.

Night drives are available to overnight visitors, leaving late afternoon in a park vehicle with a pop up roof taking seven guests, and they are the one activity campers most often miss because they book too late. Boat trips run four times daily on Lake Ihema, an easy add on for anyone at Shakani or Muyumbu. The Behind the Scenes tour of park headquarters, the community cultural visits and the Walk the Line fence walk are all arranged through the same desk. For game drives, you can self drive with the entry fee you have already paid, or take a community freelance guide in your vehicle by half day or full day, which is worth doing on a first visit.

Getting to the Campsites and the Best Time for a Camping Trip

Kigali to the southern main gate takes two to two and a half hours over about 110 kilometres. Muyumbu and Shakani are then fifteen minutes further. Mutumba is two to three hours of driving inside the gate and Mihindi three to four, so anyone heading north should be through the gate by late morning at the latest, since gates close at six and you must be at your site by then. A high clearance or four wheel drive vehicle is sensible, and not optional in the rains. Directions are on the getting there page.

Booking is not strictly required for camping, though tell the park in advance if you want a tent put up for you, and everything is paid cashless by card, bank transfer or mobile money. The Akagera hotels and lodges page covers the alternatives if you decide a bed sounds better after all.

Frequently Asked Questions About Camping in Akagera

Camping is straightforward to organise yourself if you have a vehicle and gear, and awkward if you have neither. The operators listed on our Rwanda safari companies page can put together a camping trip with a vehicle, equipment and a guide, which works out considerably cheaper than the lodges while keeping you inside the park.

If you are camping at Mutumba, say so when you enquire. It changes the packing list, the driving time and the departure hour from Kigali.