Travel reviews by Maria from Belgium

"The good points: great trek to Dian Fossey's grave, good gorilla trek in spite of the size of the group (8 visitors) and my free day at Gisenyi.
Also, nice car and driver.

The less good ones: too much spare time in the afternoons at Nyungwe House and at Sabyinyo Silverback Lodge. I suggest that Expert Africa recommends some optional visits for free afternoons, like a visit to a tea plantation in Gisakura (I only realised this might have been possible after I left) or a visit to the Dian Fossey Fund Campus (which I visited at my request after the golden monkey trek, as the Campus is well visible from the road, otherwise I would have missed it).

Some final details:
Cost: my itinerary included a villa in Nyungwe House and not a room in a 4-room small building."

Feedback response

We are very pleased that this traveller thought the private driver-guide and vehicle was good, and enjoyed the trekking and the time in Gisenyi.

Trekking group sizes are organised locally by the Rwanda Parks Authority - independent of both Expert Africa, and our Rwandan ground partners. Unfortunately we have no involvement in group size or allocation. There is however, a very strict maximum of 8 trekkers to a group. As there are only a limited number of permits available each day, and the trekking is a popular activity, it is common that there will be 8 people trekking together, especially in peak season.

Most tracking activities occur during the morning, and depending on the length of these, guests may have free time in the afternoon, which we do note in our documentation. Many people want to rest in the afternoon, but equally others prefer to head out again for another activity. Hence we do not generally pre-book any afternoon activities, to allow our travellers more freedom and flexibility. All of our Rwanda trips include a private driver-guide who is very happy to organise extra visits locally.

The 'standard room' type at Nyungwe House used to be referred to as a 'Villa' (suitable for a couple or solo traveller), while 'Family Villa' was used for the two-bedroom option. This traveller was allocated the correct room type as we booked, however we are very sorry that the language description of the room type was not clear. We have amended our documentation to make this clearer for future guests.