Head east from Kigali (about 2.5 hours) to find one of the most accessible wildlife parks in East Africa. Akagera was badly degraded after the genocide — much of it was settled by returning refugees — but has been rehabilitated since 2010 under a partnership with African Parks. Lions were reintroduced in 2015 and black rhino in 2017, completing the Big Five.
Go early in the day for elephants, hippos, zebra, giraffe, and antelope around the park's chain of lakes. The landscape is attractive — open savanna rolling towards papyrus-fringed lakes — and the crowds are nothing compared to Masai Mara or Serengeti.