Ruzizi Tented Lodge

Ruzizi Tented Lodge is a nine tent eco lodge on the shore of Lake Ihema in the southern sector of Akagera, sleeping a maximum of twenty guests, running on solar and operated by the park itself. Rates are full board and bookings go through park reception. Akagera national park lies about 110 kilometres east of Kigali, with the lodge roughly six kilometres inside the southern entrance.

Two things set this place apart from the other lodges in the park. It is small enough that you will know everyone staying there by the second dinner. And every franc of profit goes back into running Akagera, because the park designed it, built it and runs it.

Ruzizi Tented Lodge: A Safari Camp on Lake Ihema

Ruzizi Tented Lodge sits in riverine forest on the banks of Lake Ihema, the nine tents set back from the water and hidden among palms and fig trees. Wooden walkways link them to a thatched reception and dining area, and out to a deck raised over the lake. A fire pit sits in the middle of the camp, which is where people end up with coffee at six in the morning and a drink after the afternoon drive.

The building was built to disappear into its surroundings rather than announce itself, with natural materials used through the structure and much of the furniture and décor hand made by local artisans and cooperatives. Twenty guests is the ceiling, so the camp never feels busy. Only lodge residents are allowed on site, which keeps it quiet but also means you cannot drop in for lunch on a day visit without arranging it in advance.

The Tents at Ruzizi: Classic, Tree Top and Family Safari Accommodation

Nine tents in three types. Seven are classic tents, en suite, configured as doubles or twins, each with a shaded veranda set out with campaign chairs and a tree trunk table. One is the tree top tent, built four metres up with a view over Lake Ihema, a king bed, a bath and an outdoor shower, which is the one couples book months ahead. One is a family tent with a double room for two adults and a twin for two children.

Every tent has a proper bathroom with hot and cold running water, a flushing toilet and a shower, plus a safe. These are canvas walls on a solid base rather than a hotel room, so you hear the lake at night: hippo further out in the water, birds well before dawn, and the occasional heavy footfall of something walking past. That is the point of staying here rather than in a building.

Meals and Dining Between Safari Drives

Rates are full board, covering dinner, breakfast and lunch, and meals are taken in the thatched dining area or out on the deck over the water depending on weather and mood. The camp is small enough that food comes out of one kitchen for twenty people, so it is closer to eating in a private house than working through a buffet.

Breakfast fits around game drives. If you are leaving before six for a morning drive, the kitchen will sort coffee and something to take with you, and a fuller breakfast waits when you return. Lunch is usually the quiet meal, eaten in the middle of the day when nothing much is moving outside. Dinner is a set menu, served after dark, and it is worth asking about Rwandan dishes rather than defaulting to the familiar options. Drinks sit outside the board basis and are charged to your account, along with anything premium.

Safari Activities From Ruzizi Tented Lodge

The lodge’s position in the southern sector puts almost every park activity within easy reach, and all of them are booked and paid for separately from your room rate.

The boat trip on Lake Ihema is the obvious one, launching a few minutes from camp with four scheduled departures daily, the last of which runs into sunset. Guests here are ideally placed for that late trip, since day visitors have to be out of the park by six. Night drives leave at half past five in a park vehicle with a pop up roof taking up to seven guests, and are your best chance at hyena, genet, serval, bushbaby and the occasional leopard. Guided game drives with a community guide are arranged at reception, in your own vehicle or the park’s.

Beyond the vehicle, Ruzizi guests can join a guided walking safari with experienced guides, which is unusual in a park where general walking is not permitted. Sport fishing at Lake Shakani, the Behind the Scenes tour of park headquarters, the seven kilometre Walk the Line fence walk and the community cultural experiences are all booked through the same reception. Birders should note that African finfoot, a genuinely difficult bird, is seen regularly from the lodge deck.

Solar, Water and WiFi at the Safari Camp

The camp runs on solar around the clock, in the tents and in the main area, so there are no generator hours and no evening blackout. Lighting, charging and hot water all work through the night.

Bathrooms have hot and cold tapped water with flush toilets and showers, which is a genuine comfort at a camp of this size and not universal in Akagera. WiFi reaches both the tents and the lounge, though treat it as functional rather than fast, and consider whether you actually want it here. Laundry can be arranged and is charged separately rather than included in the board basis. Each tent has a safe. Bring insect repellent, a torch for the walkways after dark, and a warm layer for early starts, since the mornings are cooler than people expect this close to the equator.

Children and Families on a Ruzizi Safari

Ruzizi takes families, with one purpose built family tent holding two adults in a double and two children in a twin. Child rates apply to six to twelve year olds sharing with parents.

Whether it suits your family depends on the children. This is an unfenced camp on a lake shore in a national park with hippo, crocodile and buffalo in the vicinity, and the walkways are dark at night. Older children who will stay with you and follow instructions do very well here. Toddlers are a different matter, and families with very young children are usually better served by the larger lodge on the ridge, which has a children’s pool, a playroom and a playground. Ask the park directly about their current minimum age rather than assuming, since these policies get reviewed.

A Lodge Owned by the Park: Where Your Safari Money Goes

Ruzizi was designed, built and is wholly operated by the management of Akagera, which makes it different in kind from a concession leased to an outside operator. The profits do not leave. They go into running the park: ranger salaries, vehicle maintenance, monitoring equipment, the fence that keeps wildlife and farmland apart.

That connects to a wider picture worth knowing. Akagera now covers the large majority of its own running costs from tourism, ten percent of park income goes into Rwanda’s revenue sharing scheme for surrounding communities, and a further share funds compensation for households affected by wildlife. The park employs over three hundred people, most from the districts around it, up from fewer than sixty when African Parks came in alongside the Rwanda Development Board in 2010. Staying here is not charity, it is simply a lodge where the money has a shorter route back to the thing you came to see.

Getting to Ruzizi Inside Akagera National Park

Kigali to the park’s southern entrance takes about two and a half hours over roughly 110 kilometres, most of it on tarmac. You head towards the airport, turn left shortly before it, run east through Rwamagana to the Kayonza roundabout, right for fifteen kilometres to Kabarondo, then left onto the tarmac and follow signs to the gate.

Once you are through, the lodge is about six kilometres in, fifteen minutes of driving. From reception you head towards Lake Ihema, turn right on Road 9 and follow it straight to the Ruzizi entrance. A high clearance vehicle is sensible, and necessary in the rains. Gates open at six and close at six, so time your arrival to be inside in daylight, and remember there is no fuel in the park. Full directions sit on the getting there page, and park entry is paid at the gate, separately from your accommodation, as set out under entrance fees and costs.

Seasons and Booking for an Akagera Safari

The lodge prices in two seasons, and the split is worth knowing before you fix dates.

Bookings go through park reception by phone or email, or through the park’s online booking page, with a deposit to confirm and cashless payment by card, bank transfer or mobile money. Give them the ages of any children. Most guests stay one or two nights and pair Ruzizi with a night at Karenge Bush Camp in the north, which is the combination the park itself suggests and the best way to see both halves of Akagera without a punishing drive. The Akagera hotels and lodges page compares all the options.

Frequently Asked Questions About Ruzizi Tented Lodge

Because Ruzizi has only nine tents, the practical difficulty is availability rather than choice, particularly for the tree top tent in high season. The operators listed on our Rwanda safari companies page can hold a tent alongside your park entry, activities and transfers from Kigali, and will know quickly whether your dates are workable.

If they come back saying Ruzizi is full, ask them to price a night here plus a night at Karenge rather than moving you outside the park. That is usually the better trip anyway.