Boat cruise along the shores of Lake Ihema, Rwanda’s second largest lake after Lake Kivu, yield some great aquatic bird sightings, a single nicest way to explore the park and you can also spot some of the wildlife which do live in the waters of Ihema lake. This will give you a great experience t increase on your animal counts you observed during the safari game drives.
What to expect on a boat cruise experience
During your boat launch, keep an eye out for crocodiles, buffaloes and hippos as well as colorful Kingfishers, magnificent Fish Eagles, Egrets, Hamerkops and their enormous nests and even the prehistoric-looking Shoebill. And the endemic species include the jacanas, Ibis, plovers, herons, malachite Kingfisher, Hawk and many more. The boat ride is roughly 2 – 3 hours which leaves you with a great memorable experience of the Rwanda national park.
Boat Trips depart at 7.30am, 9am, 3pm and 4.30pm.
There are also three prescheduled boat trips (day, morning and sun set) in order to enjoy the park from water level that is surrounded by the crocodiles, hippos as well as birds. You can do a morning cruise, mid-morning cruise, afternoon cruise or sunset boat cruise, that reward you with rewarding site seeing adventure of a number of wildlife and bird species.
The park authorities can also arrange tours on Lake Ihema in order to see the hippo pods and the huge Nile crocodiles that are hard to observe. This is also the best way of viewing the park’s abundant water birds including the breeding colonies of noisy and the smelly cormorants as well as the open bill storks. The one-hour boat tour costs $40 per person at maximum of 11 people and in case you want to schedule your own trip with a private group at your time, it will cost $180 to rent the whole boat.
You can as well take a boat safari with in Akagera Park along Lake Ihema where you will see many hippos and crocodiles. The boat on this lake also cost $30 per person during the day for an hour with a guide. The boat trip can be done along with the day game drive or night game drive, to make your stay at Akagera National Park wonderful. Spice your Wildlife safari at Akagera with an amazing adventure, of boat ride at Lake Ihema.
The Evening Boat Cruise
This time, we took the evening boat cruise at 17:30 and it’s just 5 minutes’ drive from Ruzizi folks and it’s so spectacular! You spend an hour on this lake as you visit an island full of birds, while you pass the hippos and the crocodiles. The guides are so excellent, and their cost is worth $40 per person for one hour. The sun starts to set and all stress rushes out of you, as you are on the lake with a tiny piece of the calmness in Rwanda.