Wilderness Magashi is the only camp inside a private concession in Akagera National Park, holding a 4,200 hectare exclusive-use area on the shores of Lake Rwanyakazinga in the far north. Guests book it fully inclusive, with twice-daily activities, park fees and drinks covered. The camp opened in 2019 through a partnership between Wilderness and African Parks, and sits in the most productive corner of Rwanda’s only savannah park.
Wilderness Magashi Location and Private Safari Concession in Akagera
Magashi occupies the northeastern tip of the park, looking west over Lake Rwanyakazinga with the Mutumba Mountains behind. What separates it from every other property in Akagera is not the tents. It is the ground.
The camp holds the park’s only exclusive-use concession, roughly 4,200 hectares of it. Inside that area, Magashi vehicles are the only vehicles. No day trippers from Kigali, no queue at a sighting, no radio traffic from six other cars. In a park this compact and this popular, that is worth more than it sounds.
The concession also unlocks things the rest of Akagera does not allow. Guided walking is permitted here. So are night drives, and catch-and-release fishing on the lake year round. Anyone who has visited the southern sector, where you stay in your vehicle between six in the morning and six at night, will notice the difference immediately.
Wilderness has since opened a second, smaller property called Magashi Peninsula on the same concession, with two suites and a four-bed villa on a private stretch of shoreline. It is a separate booking at a higher tier, and the villa comes with its own vehicle, boat and guide. If a booking agent quotes you “Magashi” without saying which, ask.
Tented Suites at Wilderness Magashi for Your Akagera Safari
The camp is small on purpose. Wilderness lists eight tented suites now, though it opened with six and plenty of third-party pages still say six, so confirm the number if group size matters to your booking.
Each suite is canvas on a raised boardwalk, facing the water. Inside, king or twin beds, a writing desk with a tablet for guest use, a refreshment station that gets restocked through the day, and an en suite bathroom. The design leans on Rwandan textiles and craft rather than generic safari beige, which is a deliberate choice by Wilderness and one of the more likeable things about the place.
Main areas are a lounge, dining space, bar, pool and a wide viewing deck with a fire pit at the front. Hippo from the lake are audible from bed at night, which guests mention more often than anything else in reviews.
The camp runs entirely on solar and has removed single-use plastic. That is worth stating plainly rather than as a marketing line: it means generator noise is not part of the experience here, which in a camp this quiet you notice.
Game Drive Safaris in the Magashi Private Concession
A game drive safari from Magashi runs twice daily and is included in the rate. The northern sector holds Akagera’s densest game, and the concession sits in the best of it.
Leopard density here is genuinely good by regional standards, which is unusual enough to be the reason some guests choose Magashi over the southern lodges. Lion have been present since the 2015 reintroduction and the pride has grown substantially since, helped by two more males brought in during 2017. Eastern black rhino returned in 2017, with a further five translocated from European zoos in 2019 to broaden the gene pool. Southern white rhino followed in 2021.
Alongside the big names you get topi, impala, eland, roan, buffalo, spotted hyena, Maasai giraffe, plains zebra and, in the papyrus, the shy sitatunga. Elephant come down to the lake near camp and swim, which sounds like a brochure claim until you see it.
Nothing is guaranteed. Rhino remain the hardest of the five to find anywhere in Akagera, and a three-night stay improves your odds far more than a two-night one.
Boat Safaris on Lake Rwanyakazinga
Lake Rwanyakazinga carries one of the highest hippo densities in Africa, and a boat safari here puts you level with them rather than looking down from a bank. Crocodiles on this lake run large.
The water also brings you close to birds that are hard work on foot: herons, African fish eagles, open-billed storks, kingfishers, and the papyrus specialists along the fringe. Boating is part of the included activity rotation, so you are not choosing between a drive and a cruise on the same day the way you would elsewhere.
The concession is the product. Everything else at Magashi is very good, but the exclusive access is what you are actually paying for.
Birding Safaris and the Shoebill Search from Magashi
Akagera records more than 520 species, and a birding safari from the northern camps has an advantage the southern lodges cannot match: the papyrus swamps where the shoebill lives are close by rather than a five hour drive away.
That does not make a shoebill likely. It makes it possible on a morning outing instead of a full-day expedition. Guides here track recent sightings and will build a boat trip around a reasonable chance if you say it matters to you when you arrive.
Beyond the shoebill, the concession turns up grey crowned cranes, papyrus gonolek, swamp flycatcher and a long list of raptors over the open ground.
Catch and Release Fishing Trips and Nature Walks at Magashi
Fishing on the lake is permitted year round on a catch-and-release basis, which is rare in an East African national park and comes down again to the concession status. Tilapia and catfish are the usual catch. It is a quiet way to spend a middle-of-the-day gap.
Guided walks go out with an armed guide and cover the ground vehicles cannot: tracks, dung, insects, birds at eye level, and the smaller things that a game drive moves past at speed. Children need to be thirteen or older to join a walk.
Rhino and Lion Monitoring Tours with the Magashi Guides
Guests can join the identikit work the camp does with African Parks, helping record and identify individual leopard, lion and rhino from photographs. Each animal carries distinct markings, and the database that comes out of it feeds real monitoring rather than a guest activity built for show.
It changes the tone of a drive. Instead of looking for an animal to photograph, you are looking for a specific animal to identify, and the guides treat you as useful rather than as cargo.
Dining and the Kugisha Supper at Wilderness Magashi
Food at Magashi leans on Rwandan produce and local dishes rather than an international hotel menu. The kitchen serves the country’s well-known “Rolex” wrap at breakfast, which is a small thing that guests remember.
The camp also runs a travelling Kugisha supper, served around a fire with traditional stories and songs. Whether that lands depends entirely on your appetite for organised cultural evenings; some people find it the highlight and some would rather eat quietly. Say which you are when you check in and the staff will work with it.
Who Wilderness Magashi Suits, and Who It Does Not
It suits travellers already booked into a high-end gorilla property in the west who want the savannah half of Rwanda at the same standard. It suits photographers, who benefit more than anyone from having a sighting to themselves. It suits anyone who wants walking and night drives, which no other Akagera lodge can offer.
It suits families less well. There is no dedicated family tent, no children’s programme, and no triple rooms. Children from six are accepted but must share with an adult, families travelling with six to twelve year olds are required to take sole use of a vehicle at extra cost, and walks are closed to under-thirteens. Some agents recommend the camp only for families with children over fifteen, largely because gorilla trekking has the same age floor and the two trips are usually booked together.
It also suits you poorly if the budget is the constraint. Magashi sits at the top of the Akagera market by a wide margin. Ruzizi Tented Lodge gives you a tented stay inside the park for a fraction of it, and Akagera Rhino Lodge gives you a lake view from just outside the southern gate for less again. Neither gives you the concession.
Getting to Wilderness Magashi for Your Akagera Safari
Kigali to camp is about three hours by road. Wilderness includes transfers between the camp and Akagera’s North Gate in the rate, which matters because the north gate is exit-only for self-drivers. You do not drive yourself in here.
Helicopter and charter access into the park is possible and cuts the transfer substantially, though it is arranged separately. Most guests arrive by road from Kigali, or link directly from Volcanoes National Park after gorilla trekking, which is a longer transfer across the country.
Best Time for a Magashi Safari
June through September is the long dry season and the strongest window for game viewing, with short grass and animals holding near water. Mid-December into February gives a second dry spell with fewer vehicles across the park as a whole, though the concession stays quiet either way.
The wet months, March to May and October into December, bring high grass and harder tracks, plus migrant birds and lower rates. Wilderness runs its low season from March to May and mid-October to mid-December, so the price difference is real if your dates are flexible.
Wilderness Magashi Questions
How much does Wilderness Magashi cost per night?
Magashi is a fully inclusive camp at the top of the Rwandan market. Published guidance puts full-board rates in the region of 3,000 to 4,000 US dollars per person per night sharing, moving with season. A conservation levy of 150 dollars per person per day is charged on top and is not part of the quoted rate. Single supplements apply. Rates shift by season and by property, so treat these as a planning figure and get a written quote for your dates.
What is included in the Magashi rate?
Accommodation, all meals, twice-daily scheduled activities, park fees, all local drinks apart from premium imported brands and champagne, laundry, the 3 per cent tourism tax, local government taxes, and road transfers between camp and Akagera’s North Gate. The conservation levy sits outside it. So do gorilla, chimpanzee and golden monkey permits if you are combining parks.
Is there a minimum stay at Magashi?
Two nights is the published minimum. Three is the better choice if rhino are on your list, since the northern sector rewards time and a two-night stay gives you effectively three activity slots.
Can children stay at Wilderness Magashi?
Children aged six and over are accepted and must share a room with an adult. There is no triple share and no family tent. Families travelling with children between six and twelve are required to take sole use of a vehicle, which adds cost. Walking activities are open to thirteen and over. Children up to sixteen receive a reduction on the adult rate, larger in low season than high.
How does Magashi compare with Magashi Peninsula?
Magashi Camp is the original property with eight tented suites in a lakeside position. Magashi Peninsula is newer and smaller, with two suites and a four-bed villa on its own peninsula, and sits at a higher rate. The Peninsula villa is sold per villa per night for a maximum of six guests and includes a private vehicle, private boat and dedicated guiding. Once inside the park, the Peninsula camp is reached by boat.
Can you walk and do night drives at Magashi?
Yes, and this is one of the strongest reasons to book it. Guided walks, night drives and catch-and-release fishing are permitted inside the private concession. None of those are available to guests staying in the main body of the park, where vehicles must stay on the tracks and gates close at six in the evening.
Planning Your Stay
Magashi is the kind of booking where the details decide whether it is worth the money: how many nights, which season, whether the concession access matters for what you want to see, and how it pairs with a gorilla property in the west. The operators listed on our Rwanda safari companies page book both halves of that trip regularly and will tell you honestly when a cheaper Akagera lodge would serve you just as well.
When you enquire, tell them your dates and who is travelling, and ask each operator to quote the same itinerary so you can compare like with like.