Reviews of trips to Kigali

"We had a wonderful, memorable holiday with lots of interest in truly beautiful surroundings. We received a really friendly welcome wherever we went. Our holdiday was really made by our driver/guide, Johnson, from Primate Safaris, who drove safely, worked incredibly hard, was friendly, informative and always went out of his way to do things for us.

We were also very moved by the history of the place and individual stories from local people. The gorilla trekking was fantastic and the trip to the Akagera park magical.

We had such great fun as a family and with Johnson and local people we met, felt part of a bigger family for a short time. Would love to return.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

Re trip - It might be useful to stress that getting money and small change was tricky (ATMs not working at all in Kigali or elsewhere and getting money from a bank took about an hour!). Also, to maybe advise people that tipping is widely expected and people need to budget for this and try to get small denominations of notes. We found dollars are far more usable where we were than euros.

maybe have a 'very good' category for this form as sometimes it was difficult to choose between good and excellent." Read full review: 8 nights in Africa; 6 on a Rwanda safari

"It was a great holiday.
Primate Safaris were really good at trouble shooting and were lovely people to meet. They gave us confidence from the start which is great when arriving tired in a new country.
Some difficulties in paying respect to the people who died in the genocide early on in the holiday which was important for me.
The Solice visit was great and worked well but I don't think Primate Safaris and Solice had spoken before the day. Sophie was very helpful and informative and Patrick again ensured everything went well. With hindsight I would have prefered this experience, and visited the genocide memorial at the start of the trip rather than the end.
Thanks.

Driver/guide within Rwanda
We both found Patrick a great guide and very personable. It was a pleasure to have access to his company and information. He was also great at sorting out any issues and being flexible." Read full review: 12 nights in Africa; 7 on a Rwanda safari

"The purpose of our trip was to visit the gorillas. This was a truly fabulous experience and was certainly worth all the effort involved. Watching the gorilla families play, feed, and interact with each other was wonderful. And many comical moments were provided by the younger gorillas who seemed to want to show off to our human group. One youngster fell out of a tree and landed on his back looking up into our eyes. Looking a bit surprised, he just carried on feeding at our feet. Another young one tried to stand on two legs and beat his chest - but only managed a single beat before falling flat on his face in front of us. Despite the advised limit of 7m, we were able to get practically within touching distance of the groups.

We had two treks to the gorillas. They were both very different. The first trek, to the Sabinyo group, involved much climbing (hanging on to creepers and bamboo) and sliding in the mud. In many places, the porters had to haul members of our group up by the arms. There were no paths and we folllowed the porters who were busy using their machetes to plough a route through the dense growth. Much of the time was spent pressed deep into the undergrowth and this meant we were on the receiving end of many stinging nettles. We climbed up the mountain side, traversed for some time and then wound our way a different route down another part of the mountain before finding the gorillas. And yet, after viewing the gorillas, our exit from the forest simply involved a 10 minute walk along a well worn path.

Our second trek was to Group 13 and our party included some quite elderly people with sticks (one had just had a knee replacement). Obviously, the guides must have known that the gorillas were very close. This party could never have managed the trek that we had undergone the day before. Indeed, this second trek proved to be a simple wander into the forest and the gorillas were found after only a few minutes walk.

The trek to the golden monkeys was also excellent and we were able to get a very good view of these animals. The limits on numbers in each trek obviously do not apply for this particular trek - as we had 19 in our party.

Recommendations: Take a good pair of gardening gloves, wet weather trousers (as well as your rainjacket), long socks into which to stuff your trousers (or better still, gaiters/puttees). Expect to get totally covered in mud. And take winter clothing to keep warm during dinner and whilst in the lodge. Wet weather covering for your camera is also important.

Arthur was an excellent and knowledgeable guide with good knowledge. He was very amiable and happy to accomodate our needs. He bought stamps for us (from Rhungeri) and posted our postcards. Took us to lunch at a nearby restaurant as a change from the lodge. Full marks.

All in all, an excellent and highly memorable trip!!" Read full review: 7 nights in Africa; 5 on a Rwanda safari

"We thoroughly enjoyed our trip. Primate Safaris, the local agents, were faultless. Our guide/driver Arthur was friendly, helpful, knowledgeable and good company, and his English was excellent.

The gorilla tracking was unforgettable, and worth every penny. The official guides were very good. We also enjoyed the golden monkey trip, and would recommend this itinerary (monkeys first, then gorillas) as it allows you to acclimatise a bit.

We spent two nights in Nairobi before going to Rwanda, which also helped to get used to the altitude." Read full review: 4 nights in Africa; 4 on a Rwanda safari

"We had excellent experiences with gorilla tracking in Rwanda, game viewing in the Serengeti and enjoying the sun on Zanzibar. We would recommend all of these experiences to friends.

While we would recommed going to the Selous, we can not recommend the Lake Manze Camp. This camp was not a good match for us. However, the Lake Manze Camp was the only camp in Selous that had availability on our preferred days. We knew that there were risks with going to this camp as it was so new (in that there may be some procedures that may need to be worked out). We did not expect the full Italian experience. We were expecting that there would be an African experience.

We already talking about our next trip to Africa. We know that we will go again.

When we do, we plan on contacting Expert Africa.

Feel free to include us on the mailing list for your 2008 brochure. Thank you!!!" Read full review: 15 nights in Africa; 7 on a Tanzania safari