ABOUT
US
Growing up in the Akagera National Park neighbourhood, I heard many stories about wildlife, especially elephants. Those stories stayed with me and eventually led me to work as a guide through the Akagera Community Freelance Guides Cooperative in 2014.
BACKGROUND
Godefroid NYAMURANGWA
FOUNDER
Over time, I became deeply inspired by the Akagera elephant story of resilience—their incredible journey from near extinction to a thriving population of about 150 elephants, according to the 2024 census. I was particularly drawn to the story of Mutware, one of the original translocated elephants. He was bottle-fed and became habituated to people, later growing into a famous bull known both for crop-raiding incidents and as a major tourism attraction. Mutware died of natural causes in 2018, but his story left a lasting impact on me. As a guide, I wanted to preserve and share these stories in a meaningful way, especially with visitors and local communities. This inspired me to write a children's storybook in Kinyarwanda for local kids, titled Inzovu Mutware, published through Éditions Bakame. The program grew from this desire to keep Akagera's elephant memories alive for future generations.
GOALS & OBJECTIVES
CONSERVATION AWARENESS
My mission is to use the Akagera Elephants Memories Program to build a healthier relationship between wildlife and the surrounding communities, so that people and elephants can live side by side with less conflict and more understanding. Akagera National Park itself is a powerful story of resurrection—moving from a period of serious challenges to becoming one of Africa's strongest conservation success stories.
EDUCATION
KNOWLEDGE PRESERVATION
STORYTELLING
LONG-TERM MISSION
My long-term vision is to establish a dedicated Education and Research Centre focused on elephants and community-based conservation around Akagera National Park. The centre would become a place where traditional knowledge and modern research are brought together, documented, and passed on to the next generation.
Building a structured learning space where young guides can develop deep knowledge—behaviour, tracking, conservation ethics, interpretation, and community engagement—using both traditional experience and research-based information.
Capturing local stories, observations, and historical memory about elephants (like the story of Mutware) so they are not lost, and so communities feel ownership of the conservation narrative.
Creating a unique, responsible tourism and learning experience connected to elephant monitoring and research—where visitors can learn, contribute, and leave with genuine understanding, not just photos.
Using the centre and the program to reduce conflict by improving awareness, encouraging prevention methods, and helping communities see conservation as something that can benefit them directly.
Ensuring that conservation, memory, education, and livelihoods continue to reinforce each other, creating lasting positive change for both elephants and communities around Akagera National Park.