When Akagera National Park completed the fencing of its boundaries in 2007, it marked a key achievement in the conservation of one of Rwanda’s most treasured ecosystems.

The move was designed to secure wildlife, reduce illegal activities, and stabilise ecological balance inside the park. But fencing also meant that wildlife would now exist in a closed system. Animals could no longer disperse freely beyond park borders, and natural population regulation through migration would be limited.

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That reality is now shaping how Akagera manages one of its key attractions: lions. In 2015, seven lions were reintroduced to Akagera National Park, marking the beginning of the species’ return after years of absence. Two years later, in 2017, two additional lions were translocated to strengthen the population. Today about 70 lions roam the park.

This month, park teams fitted GPS collars on three lions to strengthen monitoring and administered contraceptives to five lionesses as part of ongoing population management efforts. The intervention aims to balance lion population growth within the park’s ecological carrying capacity.

"In a fenced reserve, every additional birth has a direct impact on the ecosystem,” Jean-Paul Karinganire, the park&039;s Communications, Funding and Reporting Manager said. "Our responsibility is to ensure that predator numbers remain aligned with prey availability and habitat limits.”

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Unlike vast ecosystems where young males disperse over long distances and natural pressures regulate numbers, lions in Akagera cannot move beyond the fence. In parks where poaching is controlled and prey is stable, cub survival increases and mortality declines. Without dispersal, populations can grow faster than the ecosystem can sustain, hence the need for birth control measures.

"Birth control among lions allows us to mimic natural regulation,” Karinganire said. "We delay reproduction and increase the spacing between litters, but lions maintain their pride structure and natural behaviour. Cubs will still be born, but just at a sustainable rate.”

The Akagera team also fitted a GPS collar on one elephant, installed in-horn VHF transmitters on 17 white rhinos and eight black rhinos, and successfully darted eight black rhinos.

Park management described the operation as a critical component of biodiversity protection and species security.

"This exercise strengthens monitoring, improves rapid response capability, and enhances protection for key species across the park,” Karinganire added.

The management said that now, active and science-led management is ensuring that conservation success, especially among apex predators like lions, does not upset the balance of the ecosystem.