Go to Akagera National Park for visually striking commercial filming and photography tours in its vast savannah grasslands and woodlands. Commercial filming and photography is a purpose-driven travel experience designed to capture beautiful, high-quality films and photographs for profit. One of the most interesting and rising adventures in Akagera National Park is commercial filming and photography. In its uniqueness, the commercial filming and photography tours in Akagera National Park planned thoroughly. This is because it covers the entire park area to capture the various flora and fauna species.
With a variety of wildlife species, Akagera National Park is ideal for commercial filming and photography tours. Until recently, filming and photography were just done as a hobby during different adventurous activities like game drives and birding. However, these were later commercialized as the documentaries and films became highly expensive due to their demand. This commercialization led to the creation of filming permits in most of the wildlife destinations in Rwanda, including Akagera National Park.
Filming and photography tours to capture some of the unique wildlife species in Akagera NP requires incredible patience. Some think filming or photographing is just a matter of holding a camera and snapping a photo or taking a video. However, it is much more complicated than that because it requires a lot to capture the best film or photo.
Cost of commercial filming and photography tours in Akagera National Park?
Commercial filming/photography tours in Akagera National Park cost USD 400 per day. However, visitors through a tour operator should contact the park management for all filming arrangements before the tour. To do a commercial filming and photography tours in Akagera National Park a Rwanda Press Accreditation is essential. Both local and foreign media teams must apply for this press accreditation before embarking on this tour. In addition to filming costs, visitors on a commercial filming and photography tour are required to pay daily entrance fees.
Accessing Akagera National Park per day per visitor costs USD 100. This does not include the vehicle entrance fees. Commercial filming and photography tours in Akagera are quite pricey, as they are a unique experience. These tours require each visitor to obtain a filming permit before embarking on this experience in Akagera National Park. These permits can be acquired from the Rwanda Development Board, and a local registered tour operator can easily obtain these permits for the visitors.
How many people are required for this tour and for how long?
There is no specific minimum number of people to participate in the commercial filming and photography tours in Akagera National Park. Akagera is a wide savannah protected area that can accommodate a large number of people. However, with a large filming crew, many filming permits, press accreditation, and other costs increase with the crew size or visitors. Commercial filming and photography in the park do not run on a fixed duration. However, capturing the best film or beautiful photos takes time as it requires patience and precision. This is why commercial filming and photography tours in Akagera National Park should last a couple of days.
What to see?
Akagera National Park is Rwanda’s only savannah protected area with incredible and unmatched savannah adventure experiences. There is plenty to see while on commercial filming and photography tours in Akagera National Park, as mentioned below.
Wildlife species
Akagera National Park has a vast range of wildlife species, including the big five and primates. These wildlife species are the main characters for any commercial filming and photography tours in Akagera National Park. The big five includes elephants, buffaloes, lions, rhinos, buffaloes and leopards. Other animals in the park include antelopes, waterbucks, reedbucks, giraffes, duikers, topis, oribis, impala, and zebras, among others. There are also primates, such as black and white colobus, olive baboons, vervets, blue monkeys, and bush babies, among others.
Bird species
Over 480 bird species call this incredible Akagera National Park home. The bird species mostly fall under 2 types, migratory and resident. Migratory bird species are birds that are seasonal to the park, while endemic species are the residents are available year round. During commercial filming and photography in the park, birds can be captured. Some of these birds include papyrus gonolek, grey-crowned cranes, white-collared olivebacks, African fish eagles, brown-throated weaver, white-winged swamp warbler, fork-tailed drongo, grasshopper buzzard, and dimorphic egret, among others.
Vegetation
Akagera National Park has one of the most impressive vegetation zones, which provides the setting for perfect nature films and photos. The lovely and close to peculiar habitats of Akagera National Park are scattered across the park. These vegetation zones include savannah grassland and woodland, swamps, and scattered forests. The park also has rolling hills and valleys, which offer amazing scenic beauty, so photogenic.
