Reviews of safaris to Volcanoes National Park

"Terrific.

Rwanda was great to see the gorillas. they were magic.

Zambia, though was marvellous. We have been to places in Namibia, Botswana and Tanzania before and we really enjoyed them. However when/if we return to Africa we will go back to Zambia: Kafue and South Luangwa. The people were terrific overall, and we saw a variety of wildlife and birdlife.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

No" Read full review: 21 nights in Africa; 16 on a Zambia safari

"This was an incredible trip that is even more amazing given the limited time Amanda had to prepare.

Everything I could have thought of from Rwanda was included. I would love to go on another safari prepared by Expert Africa, and I will be recommending them to anyone who asks for my opinion.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

Maybe just a little more detail regarding information about the lodges and accommodations.

Hard to find something to improve on such a great experience!" Read full review: 12 nights in Africa; 12 on a Rwanda safari

"The trip has been excellent. We could entirely relax as we had always someone taking care of us, especially on arrival at the airports. Richard Trillo has been always very responsive and helpful in the planning phase. The guides and the drivers and all the people we met have been extremely skilled and helpful." Read full review: 12 nights in Africa; 6 on a Kenya safari

"Learning about Rwanda was as important and valuable as seeing gorillas and monkeys.

A fine combination of powerful experiences.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

Tell people to do monkeys before (not after) gorillas, as a warm up.
In my case two gorilla days instead of one was very good, but of course that's even more money.

My guide/driver was Bram. He was excellent. Always polite, helpful, knowledgable, prompt, flexible. Many thanks to him." Read full review: 4 nights in Africa; 4 on a Rwanda safari

"Exceeded expectations.

Fascinating country and whist it sounds a little misplaced to say it the opportunity to confront the Genocide added a thought provoking additional dimension to a brilliant wildlife experience. Compared to our other Africa experiences the two stand out features were the opportunity to be more active (moving about on foot etc.) and the feeling of safety and a warm welcome from a people who still have next to nothing in spite of the relative success of rebuilding the country.

All of our accommodations were up to standard even if they are way below the better lodges in other parts of Africa in terms of pure lodge experience.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

At the planning stage perhaps make suggestions for alternatives and give advice to make choices.

For example, in Nyungwe it would have been good to have been offered tjhe forest treks and also a visit to the tea plantation (our guide tried to get us in but it was closed on a Sunday). As related in this form, our guide was quite resourceful in adapting our itinerary when the first day's sites were unavailable and in fact we are glad to have seen a couple of the alternatives that we may have missed otherwise. These could have been suggested in planning maybe.

These remarks really are intended as pointers to improve what is already an outstanding service that we have now used three times (Namibia, Tanzania and Rwanda) and will use again." Read full review: 10 nights in Africa; 9 on a Rwanda safari

"Organisation from Expert Africa was excellent, and advice choices resulted in a really outstanding trip.

We could not be happier." Read full review: 17 nights in Africa; 8 on a Zambia safari

"The biggest issue with comfort for the trip was that we were given an older vehicle which is quite uncomfortable from the beginning of the trip until we reached Kivu lake. At Kivu Lake, three days into the Rwanda part, I let Expert Africa know about my concerns regarding the possible safety issues of the vehicle as well as the comfort issues. I had an almost immediate reply from Expert Africa who contacted the tour organizer, Primate Safaris in Rwanda. They met us the next day with a new vehicle for the rest of the trip.

The entire planning of the trip took multiple conversations and emails with the Expert Africa team. They were extremely helpful and worked with us until we found a trip that we thought would meet our desired experience. I believe we had seven iterations before finally choosing the last one.

I would have mixed feelings about going during rainy season again. It was less crowded, which was quite nice. A few plans did get rained out or had to be changed.

The few hotels we stayed at in between various parts of the trip were used only for several hours and simpler, less expensive accommodations would probably have sufficed quite well.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

We did not seek other quotes for the trip.

Our previous trip to Zambia with Expert Africa impressed us so much, that we only used them to arrange this tour for us. It was a good decision." Read full review: 14 nights in Africa; 8 on a Rwanda safari

"We loved every minute of our trip. A new day a new adventure. Superb accommodation, safaris, food and wines.
Loved Africa." Read full review: 24 nights in Africa; 12 on a Tanzania safari

"We thoroughly enjoyed the trip it met all of our specifications in terms of culture, history and wildlife.

The visit to Kigali was very moving and a trip to Rwanda couldn't be done without visiting the Genocide Museum to see what the people of Rwanda have been through.

Our visit up to the Volcanoes National Park was everything and more ... the hike up to the golden monkeys was well worth it and was a great prelude to the hike to see the Gorilla's the next day. The Gorilla experience was amazing and the time flew by so quickly it was over in a flash.

To end our wonderful trip we spent a few days on Lake Kivu which again incorporated a trip into the town passing the church where more than 36000 Tutsi's were massacred, as well as the bird life in the gardens of the lodge and on the water's edge.

We found all the staff in the hotels, the guides and all the Rwandan people were really friendly and welcoming throughout our stay." Read full review: 8 nights in Africa; 6 on a Rwanda safari

"This trip was worth everything that my husband and I put into it. We hesitated on the cost but then realized that having the exact trip we wanted would be worth it.

I can't gush enough about how perfectly ExpertAfrica put together everything for us. It was also in the perfect order, and met every little thing we had asked for.
We wanted walking safaris, which we got. We wanted luxury, which we got. We wanted parks/reserves that were not as crowded but still had great game viewing. Nothing about the itinerary disappointed us.

I'm also impressed with the order of the itinerary. We thought it strange that we were going to Selous and then Ruaha when everyone we encountered in Selous mentioned that they had come from Ruaha. We wondered why we were doing it the other way, and also wondered, with Beho Beho's level of luxury, if maybe finishing on it would be better. But once we got to Ruaha and experience Kichaka Expeditions, we knew that the trip had been planned exactly right. Though both camps are absolutely great at what they do, if we had done it in reverse order, we might've been a little disappointed.

Also, I want to comment that I was very pleased with Primate Safaris, who worked with us in Rwanda. They were professional, and really great. Our luggage had gotten lost on the way into Kigali, and the company helped us get it to us. The guiding was knowledgeable, friendly, easy to talk to, and we had a really good time.

The only problem with this trip is that it made me realize how unhappy I am with my current day job and it was extremely hard to transition back to regular life. It was almost too good of a trip! All I want to do is return to Africa on another vacation, even though I know it will be a long time before I can...
But for certain, when I do, I will book through Expert Africa.

As a note, though Lyndsey helped with our final details of our trip," Read full review: 14 nights in Africa; 10 on a Tanzania safari