Volcanoes NP - Gorillas in the mist

The Suza family

The mountain Gorillas of Rwanda is one of many success stories of this tiny little Country saddled between the Democratic republic of Congo (DRC), Tanzania and Uganda. The border of these three countries is also host to the last remaining wild mountain gorilla populations.

Akagera NP - Cats on the road

Running giraffes

We have spent quite a lot of time in Akagera in 2019 - about 8 times in the first 3 months of the year.  And it has paid off with some nice sightings of lion, a couple of glimpses of leopard, and one really good long weekend where we caught the Big 5.  

Akagera NP - A Big 5 weekend

The lions of Akagera

The jewel in the crown of an African safari is the sighting of the big 5.  However, despite Big 5 being thrown around, the reality of sighting the Big 5 are actually very rare. This is mainly because one of the Big 5 - the leopard - is just plain hard to spot anywhere despite its wide distribution. Another - the rhino - is already extinct in some of the iconic national parks in Africa. Buffalo is probably the easiest to spot in any of the African parks along with elephants. If there are lions around, you have a good chance of finding them provided you know how to track down lions.