Reviews of trips to Kigali

"Patrick was a great personable driver who added to the overall holiday with his knowledge of the country and willingness to engage in conversation.

Rwanda is a great country who have put the past behind them and are looking forward to a bright future (hopefully). The country is the cleanness I visited in Africa, the people are friendly and embrace all visitors. Children are keen to engage in conversation to practise their English. Food was surprisingly of very good quality. An up and coming country on the world stage and one I would recommend to visit.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

A suggestion would be to offer a boat transfer on the lake for one leg of the journey rather than driving.

If I was to do it again, I would suggest doing the trip the other way round i.e. starting at the Forest and finishing with the gorillas as a highlight. I know that most trips are subject to getting the gorilla pass so this may not always be possible." Read full review: 12 nights in Africa; 12 on a Rwanda safari

"The trip was amazing, Rwanda exceed our expectations and I wished we'd stayed longer. Selous is a worthy extension and I couldn't have been happier with all the guides, transfers, flights and all but one of the hotels!

I would like to put in a plea that EA consider booking Rwandair air connections between Kigali-DAR/Kili. They are by far the most efficient and organised airline I've used in Africa and for clients looking to do a similar trip I would opt to book your own internal flights, than go back to Nairobi using EA partner airlines.

Thanks to Ellie and all at EA for organising a fabulous trip for us." Read full review: 13 nights in Africa; 5 on a Tanzania safari

"Fantastic holiday....worth every penny!

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

The only comment I could make is that Travellers should be informed that they must always bring wet weather gear regardless of season rather than just giving a "suggestion". When it rains it really rains and we were there in the dry season!

Everything else was wonderful and we would especially like to thank our guide (Alex), who really made our holiday" Read full review: 8 nights in Africa; 8 on a Rwanda safari

"everything we had anticipated

generally everything was excellent, except the Milles Collines Hotel was very poor in copmparison and worse than expected" Read full review: 13 nights in Africa; 7 on a Tanzania safari

"We were/are very pleased at your succesful efforts to change our dates etc.

Nairobi airport was not a good experience, both changing to fly to Tanzania and coming back from Rwanda. Talking to others, flying to Amsterdam and then with KLM to Kilimanjaro sounded much easier." Read full review: 14 nights in Africa; 8 on a Tanzania safari

"The trip was amazing. It was the combination of the history, the culture and the wildlife that made it all so special. Our driver Sam was very good and answered all our questions and was very helpful in taking us to the places we especially wanted to see that weren't necessarily on our itinerary.

The genocide memorial in Kigali was exceptionally powerful and thought provoking and we would advise anybody travelling to Rwanda to visit there, preferably at the start of your trip because then it is even more incredible to appreciate how far the country has come when you see people working together so harmoniously in the fields and villages.

The wildlife is amazing, the views are beautiful and the people so friendly

We would definitely recommend doing two gorilla treks because you get two very different experiences. Our first trek the gorillas were eating and then on the move through the bamboo. Our second trek we arrived during "social hour" so the youngsters were all playing. Grit your teeth and pay the price it is so worth it." Read full review: 12 nights in Africa; 11 on a Rwanda safari

"Gorilla trekking exceeded expectations. The time and experience was made more enjoyable interesting and educational by our driver Patrick Tembo. Rwanda and its people who were all warm and friendly deserve all the help and advice we can give them.

Other travellers might like to visit the Ubushobozi. Org, this is a charitable project which helps teenage girls suffering from abuse HIV and exploitation. We purchased some very nice bags made by the girls and were entertained by them when they showed us their traditional dancing. A very pleasant afternoon in Musanze." Read full review: 14 nights in Africa; 13 on a Rwanda safari

"staff did an excellent job of keeping in touch

I would travel with EXPERT AFRICA again

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

Everything was excellent!!!" Read full review: 5 nights in Africa; 5 on a Rwanda safari

"We are hard core independent travellers but booking this trip with Expert Africa has made us re-evaluate the possibility of using this sort of service again. Right from the very beginning, our contact Ellie was superb. Knowledgeable, friendly and patient (I asked and she answered a lot of questions!), she made us feel comfortable and reassured about leaving the responsibility of our holiday in someone else's hands.

It was clear from the start that Expert Africa had spent a lot of time researching the quality and service levels of the guides and hotels they recommended. When Ellie recommended a hotel, she was able to talk about it with confidence and in depth knowledge, which saved me hours researching on various websites. She was also scrupulously honest, making sure I understood the pros and cons of each itinerary or proposition.

I liked the fact that she had done the Rwanda trip herself last year as it gave more credence to what she was saying and cost permitting, I think it is a brilliant idea to have your consultants do as many of the trips as possible so they can speak with authority.

We also felt supported throughout the whole experience (and not just dumped after having paid the cash). When we had a small concern about our transfers in Tanzania, we emailed the info@expertafrica.com email address as we could not remember Ellie's address. This was relayed to her immediately and she responded incredibly quickly, allaying our concerns. This really impressed us and will go a long way to ensuring repeat business for Expert Africa as well as recommendations to our friends.

We are well travelled enough to know that no trip is ever without a hassle or two but one of the reasons we stopped travelling with tour operators is that we felt they relinquished responsibility once we had given them a credit card number. It is the complete opposite with Expert Africa and I loved the fact that you care enough about your customers to give out the mobile details of your staff in case of a real emergency or problem. That speaks volumes about the quality of your operation and your values. Well done Expert Africa, you rock.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

I understand why you levy a credit card surcharge in this economic climate - but it is a pain in the posterior to be honest. We had cash in the bank and were able to fund the trip from a standing start so to speak, but if we hadn't been able to do so, paying the surcharge might have been enough to make us consider an alternative travel company. I appreciate that their service might not have been as good but that might have been the trade off......" Read full review: 14 nights in Africa; 5 on a Rwanda safari

"Additional Feedback - Patrick our guide was wonderful sometimes his timekeeping was slightly off but he excelled in everything else, the roads through Rwanda were sometimes very poor especially from Nyungwe to Lake Kivu however it was so scenic. he was so knowledgeable and catered to our whims especially with the gorillas,

We have already recommended Expert Africa to so many people after this trip for both the advisory service before and the quality of the holiday. We had the most wonderful holiday surpassing all our expectations. Thank you so much for arranging it.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

We couldnt fault the service" Read full review: 16 nights in Africa; 8 on a Rwanda safari