Rwanda: reviews from our travellers

"Gorilla trekking exceeded expectations. The time and experience was made more enjoyable interesting and educational by our driver Patrick Tembo. Rwanda and its people who were all warm and friendly deserve all the help and advice we can give them.

Other travellers might like to visit the Ubushobozi. Org, this is a charitable project which helps teenage girls suffering from abuse HIV and exploitation. We purchased some very nice bags made by the girls and were entertained by them when they showed us their traditional dancing. A very pleasant afternoon in Musanze." Read full review: 14 nights in Africa; 13 on a Rwanda safari

"staff did an excellent job of keeping in touch

I would travel with EXPERT AFRICA again

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

Everything was excellent!!!" Read full review: 5 nights in Africa; 5 on a Rwanda safari

"We are hard core independent travellers but booking this trip with Expert Africa has made us re-evaluate the possibility of using this sort of service again. Right from the very beginning, our contact Ellie was superb. Knowledgeable, friendly and patient (I asked and she answered a lot of questions!), she made us feel comfortable and reassured about leaving the responsibility of our holiday in someone else's hands.

It was clear from the start that Expert Africa had spent a lot of time researching the quality and service levels of the guides and hotels they recommended. When Ellie recommended a hotel, she was able to talk about it with confidence and in depth knowledge, which saved me hours researching on various websites. She was also scrupulously honest, making sure I understood the pros and cons of each itinerary or proposition.

I liked the fact that she had done the Rwanda trip herself last year as it gave more credence to what she was saying and cost permitting, I think it is a brilliant idea to have your consultants do as many of the trips as possible so they can speak with authority.

We also felt supported throughout the whole experience (and not just dumped after having paid the cash). When we had a small concern about our transfers in Tanzania, we emailed the info@expertafrica.com email address as we could not remember Ellie's address. This was relayed to her immediately and she responded incredibly quickly, allaying our concerns. This really impressed us and will go a long way to ensuring repeat business for Expert Africa as well as recommendations to our friends.

We are well travelled enough to know that no trip is ever without a hassle or two but one of the reasons we stopped travelling with tour operators is that we felt they relinquished responsibility once we had given them a credit card number. It is the complete opposite with Expert Africa and I loved the fact that you care enough about your customers to give out the mobile details of your staff in case of a real emergency or problem. That speaks volumes about the quality of your operation and your values. Well done Expert Africa, you rock.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

I understand why you levy a credit card surcharge in this economic climate - but it is a pain in the posterior to be honest. We had cash in the bank and were able to fund the trip from a standing start so to speak, but if we hadn't been able to do so, paying the surcharge might have been enough to make us consider an alternative travel company. I appreciate that their service might not have been as good but that might have been the trade off......" Read full review: 14 nights in Africa; 8 on a Zanzibar holiday

"Additional Feedback - Patrick our guide was wonderful sometimes his timekeeping was slightly off but he excelled in everything else, the roads through Rwanda were sometimes very poor especially from Nyungwe to Lake Kivu however it was so scenic. he was so knowledgeable and catered to our whims especially with the gorillas,

We have already recommended Expert Africa to so many people after this trip for both the advisory service before and the quality of the holiday. We had the most wonderful holiday surpassing all our expectations. Thank you so much for arranging it.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

We couldnt fault the service" Read full review: 16 nights in Africa; 8 on a Rwanda safari

"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

"A great holiday, well organised, we were met at every point, our driver/guide in Rwanda, Sam was very good. The holiday met our requirements and are looking forward to next year.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

Please really emphasis the damp and coldness of the mountains when going to Rwanda to see the gorillas, it is not so much as to what to wear when climbing but how to keep warm in the rooms as everything feels damp, also take a torch as the rooms can get dark as the generators are only on for certain times, can make reading difficult." Read full review: 15 nights in Africa; 5 on a Tanzania safari

"Generally happy with the whole trip, except for Swahili House

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

I do not have any suggestions at present" Read full review: 19 nights in Africa; 7 on a Zanzibar holiday

"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

"The organisation of the trip was great and everything worked perfectly. The guides and their landcruisers were excellent.

The change in location of the Serengeti Safari Camp to be by the Mara River was great - and as it was a new site it was amazing to be there on its first night ever. The re-arrangement of our transfers and flights worked very smoothly to our relief.

We had said that this would be our last safari, but we had such a great time that I suspect we'll be going again.......

We felt that we were glad to have gone gorilla trekking now, as we soon wouldn't have the energy to climb the mountains - the climb is from 7,000' to about 9,000'. Not impossible, but we were the oldest in our groups by more than somewhat on our gorilla trekking days, so we were the slowest." Read full review: 19 nights in Africa; 13 on a Tanzania safari

"Loved it, wouldn't have changed a thing - thank you so much for all your hard work organising everything :)

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

Yes I think you should start thinking about where we can go next time when we've saved a few pennies lol" Read full review: 17 nights in Africa; 6 on a Malawi trip