2-Day Akagera Big Five Safari

Rwanda's most affordable proper safari: an overnight in Akagera National Park with an afternoon game drive on arrival and a full dawn drive the next day — the two windows when the park's lions, elephants, rhinos, buffalo and (if you're lucky) leopards are most active. You sleep under canvas at a tented camp on the shore of Lake Ihema, hippos honking in the dark.

This is a shared-group departure, which is exactly why it costs what it does: up to six travellers share the vehicle, the guide and the fun. It runs every week year-round and is the standard answer for anyone in Kigali with a free weekend.