Reviews of trips to Lake Kivu

"We had expected an itinerary which we only got from our guide on arrival in Ruanda.
We found we had a very long and bumpy trip from Kigali to Nyungwe and from Nyungwe to Kibuye. These were unexpected and not pleasant.
We wondered why we had 4 nights in mountain view lodge rather than 3 nights and last night in Kigali> Most others seemed to do this.

THE PERSON WHO MADE OUR TRIP SPECIAL WAS OUR DRIVER IN RWANDA, AIMABLE. He broke our long journey to Nyungwe with a stop at the National museum. He made our last day in Rwanda special as he suggested we left very early so we could spend time at the Genocide museum before we caught our flight to Zanzibar. He shared his own experiences of the politics of Rwanda and the Genocide. He really looked after us

Overall the trip was great we enjoyed all the primates, Rwanda. Zanzibar and Mafia" Read full review: 18 nights in Africa; 10 on a Rwanda safari

"Absolutely fantastic. Rwanda is a beautiful country.

Our guide Theo was wonderful and we saw so much more than the gorillas (which were amazing). We would strongly encourage anyone to visit Rwanda and to see as much of the country as possible.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

the only small improvement would be to have one night at Kibuye and then a second night either at Gisenyi (FCO permitting) or back in Kigali. That would still leave time for a boat trip on the lake but would provide nicer accomodation." Read full review: 11 nights in Africa; 10 on a Rwanda safari

"We both really enjoyed the trip. It was wonderful to have the opportunity, in my case, of returning to Rwanda and seeing more of the country and its people - and of course, the beloved gorillas - a real privilege. My travel companion, Darrell, for whom it was the first time, had a wonderful time too, and I think, I hope (!), understood why I was so enamoured of the country.

Private guide in Rwanda

Patrick was always punctual, patient, calm, friendly and efficient. A very good driver especially on the bumpy stretches of road.
He always attended to our requests (postcards, money changing, a local market etc) He tried to negotiate suitable groups for us to join on the gorilla trekking - very much appreciated. He also saw to my "revisiting" (and showing Darrell) Virunga Lodge and Hotel des Milles Collines. I loved the way Patrick just walked into both places although we weren't guests there - I'd expected to see them only from the outside!

Patrick also did an excellent job in knowing how, when and where to give out Darrell's pens and notebooks to children (as you know, it can be chaos) and also in giving away clothes Darrell discarded at the end of the trip. It gave us great pleasure to see the happy faces.
Patrick always answered our questions but we thought maybe he could have been a little more spontaneously informative on the trip in general, as he was, in fact, on the tour of Kigali. However, it may be considered by himself and his office that he is mainly the driver and each place/activity has its guide." Read full review: 10 nights in Africa; 6 on a Rwanda safari

"The trip was exellent and the country was amazing. The people of Rwanda are friendly and warm, its great to visit a country that has not been totally overdeveloped by tourism.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

The tags for the bags, document wallet was a very nice touch." Read full review: 12 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

"Overall, we had a fantastic trip to Rwanda. Got great gorilla sightings and a bonus sighting of one of the research groups on the way back from Karisoke. We had to walk through shoulder high stinging nettles to get out of their way but it was worth it!

The people of Rwanda are lovely, very friendly, welcoming and they seem genuinely delighted that we chose to visit their country. The country itself is beautiful, stunning landscape and incredibly clean. I enjoyed it as much as I did the first time I visited and would love to go back again! William [Rwanda guide] was very good, very polite and very knowledgeable. Would maybe have been nice if he was a little bit more talkative at times, but he appeared a bit shy. Could not fault his guiding though and he looked after us very well.

He asked us to say hello to Tracy. He talked about guiding you a couple of years ago and sends his best wishes!

And on the final evening when we were feeling fed up about going home, we visited the Palacina suites in Nairobi - wow what a place! Beautiful rooms and a fantastic meal to finish our trip. We would definitely go back there! Thank you for the suggestion!

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service

Keep doing more of the same! I would definitely use you again for a bespoke trip to Africa and would happily recommend you to others - in fact I have done so already!" Read full review: 9 nights in Africa; 6 on a Rwanda safari

"Rwanda was brilliant - fascinating, scrupulously clean, would recommend the country to anyone who is bitten by the Africa bug. Communication was in a mixture of English, Swahili and French. It was good to start our trip with a visit to the Kigali genocide memorial. Our driver/guide Jackson was fantastic - and added hugely to our experience of Rwanda, even though he was an Arsenal supporter!

However were we to go again, we would adjust some of the timings. The routine seems to be to go and see primates early in the morning, which leaves the rest of the to explore, and so in many ways we would have been better doing 2 (rather than 3) nights in Nungwe, only one night in Moriah Hill, and possibly add one night (or more) in Gisenyi. (It would have been great to go over the border into Goma.) Volcanoes NP was good, though again one night less would have been fine and we would still have time for three primate expeditions. (We were rather extravagant and saw two diffierent goriila groups, which was great but very expensive!) We were also quite sad a not staying in Kigali again.

We had one medical emergency - our daughter got huge boils on her back, luckily on the night before we were due to return to Kigali, so the following morning we drove to a private hospital in Kigali for treatment. This was relatively efficient - after we had paid some money - but did mean that she missed out on swimming in Zanzibar.

Dar was a lovely surprise for one night - we wished we had stayed an additional night here. Zanzibar was as expected, though Stone Town was more chaotic and smellier than I remember (from 35 and 7 years ago).

The whole trip was very expensive - which of course we knew about beforehand! - but tips etc menat that we spent another 500 US dollars per person duing the three weeks, without being extravagant. For example, tipping of guides was $10 per person per excursion, and sometimes we chose to give trackers etc. tips. This is not a complaint, just for information." Read full review: 21 nights in Africa; 6 on a Rwanda safari

"We had a fabulous holiday and absolutley adored Rwanda. Chimpanzee trecking was very hard work but we did it. Saw lots of Golden Monkeys in the gorgeous Bamboo forest and about 14 Gorillas in the Virungas - one chased us - wanted to play apparently - but I certainly led the advance of the retreat! Of course Virunga Lodge was our heaven.

Excellent guide in Rwanda

Patrick was helpful, courteous and knowledgeable. Everything one could ask for.

The cancelled flights and lost luggage were most annoying but we got over that and the agents got our luggage to us after 2 days so not too bad in the end. Shooting Star found us bits to get by on including a size 12 bikini for my size 16 body ! not pretty sight but did allow me to swim.

All your agenbts were completely efficient

Thought Stone Town was the dirtiest place we had ever visited and one night was definately enough. It does not in anyway compare with Marrakesh. There was more litter and dirt in one square foot of Stone town than in the whole of Rwanda. And where was hell - being inside the old underground slave cell - totally atmospheric and hauntingly awful.

Suggestions for improvement:

No you seem to have it spot on - maybe a secreatary to help fill in this form!!

Thank you for a wonderful holiday" Read full review: 14 nights in Africa; 6 on a Zanzibar holiday

"Wonderful experience and an inspiring country!

Thanks for the advice and arranging to fill our gap between flights in Nairobi by going to the Palacina Hotel - we had a fantastic meal, were very well looked after and returned to airport relaxed and happy!!

Suggestions for improvement:

Apart from comments above, no - your help, advice and organisation skills were, once again, excellent" Read full review: 12 nights in Africa; 7 on a Rwanda safari