Akagera-Nationalpark

The Akagera National Park (also Kagera National Park ) is located in the east of the Central African state of Rwanda on the border with Tanzania, south of the so-called "North Bend " of the, also called Kagera Nile as an indication of its source flow function for the Nile River, in an up to 15 km wide and 150 to 200 km of swampy ditch and lakes through which the Akagera flows.

This Fluss-/Seenlandschaft arose as a result of outbreaks of the Virunga volcanoes in Terziär through which the direct drainage of the Rwandan flow system was made more difficult in the direction Lake Victoria. It is of particular interest because it is covered by floating islands of papyrus in large parts. Otherwise, it is an open tree savanna on vielgliedrigem hill country with more or less rich acacias stocks; There are gallery forests along the river course. The parking area at an altitude 1250-1825 m originally corresponded largely to the area of ​​distribution of the tsetse fly in Rwanda, so that for many years there was no competition between agricultural use and conservation.

The park was founded in 1934 by the former colonial power Belgium, which ruled Rwanda with League of Nations mandate, covering an area of 2,500 km ². He formed with adjacent protected areas in Uganda and Tanzania a larger protected ecosystem between Victoria and zentralafrikanischem ditch.

Until the early 1990s, the park was very rich in wildlife and in particular Headquartered buffalo herds, significant holdings of impala, topi, zebra, waterbuck, eland and other big game. Lions were frequently observed, rare leopards. Along the lakes and rivers are home to many hippos and crocodiles. Also impressive is the number of about 500 species of birds including the Shoebill and the Rotgesicht Barbet. The park was opened two hotels for tourists, of which survived the Akagera Hotel Located in the south of the national park near the Ihema Lake today.

In the late 1980s the population pressure increased significantly. In addition to the reduction of the parking space then also the civil war of the 1990s and the built in parking area refugee camp seemed very negative impact on the ecosystem. Today, it covers an area of ​​approximately 900 km ².

The American Wildlife Conservation Society in 2005 started a project to study the impact of elephant herds on the development of the ecosystem. Elephants were living in the park until the 1990s, only in a small, defined area.