AKAGERA NATIONAL PARK RWANDA

Work has finally started on the fencing of the Akagera National Park boundary.  This project was awarded to TNH Fencing together with our partners EME from Kigali.  It has taken a long time to get the project underway as a large number of stakeholders are involved in the park and they together with private landowners along the boundary had to be satisfied with the planned fence and its placement before work could commence.

 Akagera National Park is situated in eastern Rwanda and covers an area of 1200km².  Akagera was founded in 1934, but large areas of the park were resettled by returning refugees in the late 1990’s following the Rwandan civil war.  The western boundary of the park was regazetted in 1997 as a result, reducing the park size by more than half.  The reserve consists of savanna, mountains and wetlands as well as a series of lakes including Lake Ihema.  Akagera is home to large numbers of animals including elephant, buffalo, leopard and roan.  There are plans to introduce black rhino and lion to the reserve.  The park is being managed by the Akagera Management Company which is a partnership between African Parks Network and the Rwanda Development Board (RDB).  The fencing of the reserve forms part of the US$ 10 million expenditure planned for Akagera.

The boundary is to be fenced using a prefabricated hinge-joint field fence and will be electrified using offset brackets (outriggers).  Additional electrical wires will be added to the top of the fence to discourage climbing.  The electric fence will be powered by Stafix B18 cyclic wave energisers made by Tru-test of New Zealand.  These 18 Joule output energisers are the largest battery powered units available and are ideal for controlling the movement of wildlife across the reserve boundaries.  Each energiser will be equipped with monocrystalline solar panels delivering 250 Watts.  With fencing teams now on the ground and construction underway, the 110km electrified game fence should finally be completed by mid 2012.