Travel reviews by Mr N & Mrs S from UK

Kigali is a lovely city, and the tour gave us a good first view of it.

We saw the modern, prosperous city, with its tree lined boulevards, interesting architecture, new housing developments and plenty of open spaces. We also saw the older, much more crowded and less prosperous areas, and very much enjoyed going through the old commercial centre with all its hustle and bustle. We marvelled at the way all the traffic seemed to flow well and at the ability of the motorbikes to weave in and out - everyone seemed very tolerant. Everywhere was impressively tidy, with no litter, and people were always smiling. London could learn a lot from Kigali!

The visit to the Genocide Memorial was very sobering, but at the same time it is beautiful. We are very pleased that we had time to make this essential visit. We used the headsets rather than reading the boards. They were very clear and really enhanced our appreciation of events.

The National Park HQ is set in lovely grounds, with modern buildings and excellent coffee and toilet facilities. The impression is of a big melee of people, but it is all very professionally organised, and people are soon assigned to their group and introduced to the leader who outlines the plan for the morning.

We had originally thought of the Golden Monkey trek mainly as a warm up for the Gorilla trek. However, the trek was very worthwhile in its own right, as they are beautiful and delightfully entertaining animals.

We went out in a group of about 14 people with our guide, Ignataus, who was pleasant and informative. It was an easy, but very interesting, walk through agricultural land - passing adults working in the fields and children, often guarding the sheep or cows or looking after younger members of the family, all of them happy to wave and say hello.

We met the trackers and reached the group of monkeys just at the base of the forest. At first it seemed that it might be difficult to spot them as they moved quickly through the bamboo, but then we realised that there were lots in the open field. This is where we spent a very enjoyable hour watching and photographing them. They seemed completely unfazed by our presence, and often walked very close to us, concentrating totally on the next juicy thistle or their next place to dig up a potato. The trackers kept a good eye on what was going on, but they remained very unobtrusive.

All in all a great morning.

We had two days of Gorilla trekking. The start of each day was just as impressively organised as our trek to the monkeys had been.

Our first Gorilla trek was led by Augustin, and our group of 8 people was assigned to the Amahoro group.

The start point was different from yesterday, but again we enjoyed walking through the fields to reach the edge of the forest. As soon as we crossed the boundary wall we were told that the trackers had located the gorillas and that they were not too far away. The walk to reach them probably took about 30 minutes. It was not difficult, as it was mainly on the level and quite open, though with no clear path. We needed to watch our footing going through bamboo thickets and bushes and over the occasional stump.

We found the gorillas in a fairly open depression in the forest covered with lower growing bamboo and scrub, and this is where they remained for the hour we spent with them. The group ( I estimate that we saw about 12 animals) included two silverbacks and others of varying sizes, including some quite small. They were highly tolerant of our presence, and we were able to move around so that everyone in the group had good views.

The gorillas themselves did not move much as they were either feeding or resting. There were some amusing interactions eg a youngster doing his best to disrupt the sleep of his mother, until one of the slightly older males went across and reprimanded him. One of the silverbacks did eventually move and briefly stand to beat his chest at a youngster, which gave a better idea of his bulk, but the second just sat in the middle of a big bush for the whole time.

I have to confess that, although I enjoyed the morning and realised that I was incredibly privileged to be in the presence of these rare animals, I did not go 'WOW', which is my usual reaction to seeing exciting wildlife for the first time (and often for the many times after that!).
Nevertheless we went back to the hotel feeling content.

I am very happy to say that our second day produced the WOW factor in spades! This time we were assigned to the Umabano group and our leader was Rukundo, who was great fun.

We set out from the same place as yesterday, but the weather was much sunnier so we had wonderful views of the volcanoes. A very pleasant walk across the farmland, gradually gaining height, and today we kept going, heading for the lower slopes of the volcano. Excellent views all round.

Eventually we reached the climb over the stone wall to enter the forest, where we were told that the trackers had located the gorillas higher in the forest (not too high, we were promised!). A stiff climb of about 30 minutes up a fairly well defined path did indeed bring us to the first gorilla.

The time we spent with them was fantastic. There were several silverbacks (the group has six), other younger males and females and one quite small. At times they were feeding, or simply sitting, but in general they were moving up the steep slope. We followed them, with the trackers doing a great job of making a path for us through the incredibly dense vegetation. The gorillas were very tolerant of our presence, and sometimes walked very close to us - we all held our breath as one of the silverbacks came right past us.

This group provided us with some entertaining moments. One silverback kept making the most enormous yawns; another rolled around on his back looking very relaxed and comical a younger male (who was sitting eating and with whom the guide had said it was OK to have my photo taken) got up and came right up to me, where he did a twirl and then went off to roll down the hillside. At one stage about half a dozen gorillas, from a silverback to the smallest member of the group were all leaping/rolling down the hillside. We all fell about laughing!

After that the gorillas went out of sight, but we all agreed that we would like to carry on following them. This was an adventure in its own right - there was no path, we just followed our guide and the trackers. We did not have any clear view of the gorillas until eventually we came to a deep ravine which we could not cross, but our reward for all the effort was a great view of the silverbacks climbing up the other side. They made it look so easy - a wonderful demonstration of their strength and agility.

We estimate that from entering the forest we had climbed about 600ft, so the descent was another adventure, going more or less straight down through dense vegetation, following a route made by the trackers.

A most enjoyable morning, with a great feeling of achievement. We felt that today we had seen the gorillas in a true mountain environment.

We were in good hands with our guide, Mul. He was a very good driver and a very informative guide. He advised us that the best plan was to set off early, have breakfast in the crater and return to the lodge for a late lunch - this way we would avoid the crowds that arrive at lunchtime. This was absolutely the right advice.

It was a relatively short drive to the entrance and we were one of the first vehicles to enter. The steep drive down was thrilling - it definitely felt as though we were entering a different world, which on that day was quite cool! Within minutes of reaching the bottom we stopped and there, in the middle distance, was a black rhino, moving away from us. We both had excellent views through our binos - we had seen them before at closer range at a waterhole in Namibia, but it felt special to see one here in its natural habitat.

I think we spent almost six hours moving round the crater, appreciating its huge size; the steepness and completeness of its walls (very difficult to convey in photos!); and the variety of scenery within it. We saw plenty of animals, always appreciated even when we have seen them before. We particularly enjoyed seeing some elephants with longer tusks; hippos rolling over in a shallow pond with their little legs momentarily waving in the air; zebras gathering round rocks, contorting themselves to get an all-over scratch; and some magnificent male lions.

Our most notable viewing was of a lion, which had caught a wildebeest, being attacked by a pack of at least twenty hyenas (after they had banded together to chase away his brother who might otherwise have helped him). It was quite brutal, and at one point Mul said he feared for the lion, which was bleeding quite badly. However, after a long battle the hyenas appeared to retreat, probably because the lion had bitten several of them. We left optimistic that the lion would be OK. We were very privileged to witness this battle of nature, particularly since there were only two other vehicles with us.

On a calmer note, we had lovely views of birds, particularly crowned cranes, pelicans, ibises, storks, flamingos and beautiful Kori Bustards.

We had a very pleasant breakfast by a quiet lagoon and afterwards continued our unhurried and still quiet drive. As Mul had predicted, it changed dramatically after about midday - there was an increasing number of vehicles and every time one stopped there were another ten within seconds. Many stopped with no consideration for others wanting to go past, so it all became rather chaotic.

We were happy therefore to make our way to the exit road, where it all quietened down again. We had a lovely drive up with entertaining views of elephant families on the way. A final view down from the top into the very special world we had visited. A great experience.

In our opinion, staying at a lodge within easy reach of the entrance is essential to enjoyment of Ngorongoro.

Just an extra note about Mul's driving skill in getting us back to the airstrip the next day. We woke to thick fog, which persisted all the way until we started the descent to the entrance gate. So Mul had 2 hours of driving with very limited visibility, on a road with steep drop-offs and which was liable to be slippery in the damp, with an almost continuous stream of vehicles coming the other way. He did brilliantly. The number of vehicles we passed, and the sheer chaos at the entrance gate among those yet to enter reinforced how lucky we were to stay at Entamanu Lodge. Thank you, Mul.