Weekend Trip to Akagera

After a week of questionable life choices — late nights, heavy pours, and a fair share of what I’ll politely call “morally grey” activities — my friends and I decided it was time to trade bar stools for camp chairs. We needed a reset. And what better way to do it than a weekend escape to Akagera National Park?

We packed lightly (well, some of us did), threw together whatever camping gear we could find, and headed east. The drive alone felt like a detox — rolling hills giving way to sprawling savannah, the city noise fading into birdsong and the low hum of the engine.

By the time we arrived, the park was alive with the golden glow of late afternoon. We pitched our tents for the night, but quickly noticed we were sharing the campsite with some serious adventurers. Their rigs looked straight out of an overlanding magazine — rooftop tents, solar setups, gear boxes stacked just right. One particular Land Cruiser caught my eye — rugged, spotless in its own dusty way, the kind of vehicle that looks like it’s been everywhere and back.

As night fell, the air was cool, and the sky opened into a canvas of stars we never get to see in the city. The stillness was only broken by the occasional rustle in the bushes, a reminder that in Akagera, you’re never truly alone — you’re a guest.

Weekend excursions like this are a luxury I don’t take for granted. Living in Rwanda and having access to a national park just a few hours away is a game changer. It’s a reminder that no matter how messy life gets, there’s always a place to ground yourself, to breathe, and to remember that the world is bigger than whatever was happening last week.