Rwanda: reviews from our travellers

"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

"The goriallas surpassed our expectations and this 4 day trip was a trip of a life time with 3 trecking days, the first day to see the golden monkeys and then 2 days of trecking to see the gorillas. Please be aware that with the animals each day you only get 1 hour of viewing time maximum.

South Luangwa lived up to our usual expections and the guys at Tafika base camp and the bush camps of Chikoko and Crocodile are some of the best in the area making a very good safari experience. My only comments here is they have to be careful when veting people to go on the bush camp trips as the make up of a group may affect the pleasure others get in this trip, i.e. mixing families with children with others on such a trip can be a downer. But certainly bush camps are for those who wish the real safari experience.

Toko Laya Safari Camp is an ideal place to finish yoru safari and catch the sights of Livingstone and the falls, a very well run and organsied camp despite having been only open since May 2008. A tribute to some of the good staff they have. The only issue that being in the game park next Livingstone it is not really a big game experince with no cats and not masses of wildlife. But a good place to relax and cover various experinces offered by the lodge.

Suggestions for improvement:

None
we were very well dealt with by Expert Africa and appreciated the opportunities to disucss fully when we wished to review/modify the itinerary." Read full review: 14 nights in Africa; 9 on a Zambia safari

"Absolutely fabulous.

High expectations given Steve's major milestone, met in every single way. A perfect excuse to come back for the Migration.

We would recommend the combination of Rwanda and Tanzania to anyone. It is eminently do-able.

Suggestions for improvement:

None - excellent as usual. Intending to remain one of your many satisfied regular clients. Thank you so much." Read full review: 16 nights in Africa; 10 on a Tanzania safari

"The problem with the suite took the gloss off the trip especially as it was to celebrate my woifes birthday.
The problems encountered were outside of your control being let down by your suppliers.
Need to review Governors Camp room allocation procedures.

Comments on the guide:
Excellent. Very impressed. Theo was a joy and nothing was too much trouble.

Strongly recommend their services" Read full review: 6 nights in Africa; 4 on a Rwanda safari

"An amazing wildlife experience and my eyes were opened to the beauty of Rwanda.

My guide (William) was simply excellent in every way. [local guide for Rwanda trip]

The big plus when dealing with Expert Africa is that you can speak to people who have experienced the trips. I would suggest you make sure this continues." Read full review: 4 nights in Africa; 4 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

"I think when we started planning this trip some doubts were expressed about whether we could really fill two whole weeks visiting only Rwanda (and in addition refusing to "do" the genocide bit). But we never had a boring day.

Rwanda is such a populated country - on every drive the scenery competes with "people watching" opportunities. Everyone with their bundles on their heads, children with homemade toys (we bought banana-leaf footballs back as presents for everyone), markets to look at and explore. And then there is the bird-life. And it also a country with some amazingly forward looking environmental policies - plastic bags are banned.

So much to see and learn ......

Regarding the guide ... Fred was not just a guide, he became a friend. It makes a huge difference when you have a guide who really goes the extra mile to make sure you enjoy every hour of your trip. Fred arranged things really well: I'm sure we got good rooms, good service and definitely better guides for tracking because of his knowledge and connections.

He didn't fuss, but I felt he just quietly watched to see what sort of people we were, and what we liked doing, and then suggested or arranged things to suit us. So we, as very amateur bird watchers, got guides for our walks who were knowledgeable and interesting.

He also made sure we had plenty of information about what to expect when tracking (how far into the forest the primates were, how long it had taken groups the previous day, how much water to take etc.) and made sure we had a good porter, which was money well spent as it makes the walking much easier and provides much needed local employment.

Suggestions for improvement:

No complaints! This feedback form is great - though it took me ages to fill in. Glad you did not have these last year when we finished our ten week trip, I would have been at the computer for days. Funny thing is that although I never got around to sending in feed back after that trip your next brochure said exactly what I thought about most of the places we had visited - your carefully researched descriptions matched our experience.

I think that was also something we appreciated on this trip - Tracy took the time to make sure we knew what we were letting ourselves in for, so when we arrived somewhere pretty basic, that was what we were expecting. I don't think she prepared us properly for the Sabinyo Lodge - but the log fires, huge rooms and vast hot showers were a very pleasant shock!" Read full review: 13 nights in Africa; 8 on a Rwanda safari