Reviews of Mountain Gorilla View Lodge
(88%) From 101 travellersThey do not necessarily represent the views of Expert Africa.
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Gorillas!
The numerous staff were always very polite and attentive.
It gets cool at night: 50 degrees F. Get extra wood for your fire. The hot water bottle helps!
Take off a couple of layers before you set out on your trek: it gets warm soon.
Functional and comfortable stay
Perfectly acceptable lodge but a little anonymous and tired looking.
The activities more than made up for the lack of a "lodge experience".
Great location and room
The rooms were huge and had a fire , which we had lit before dinner. Able to dry clothes beside it and enjoy the warmth.
Hotel also cleaned and dried our shoes after trekking, this was very appreciated as we were very muddy.
The foot massage offered at end of hike was also excellent.
Good food and excellent service.
Lovely gardens as well.
Lovely lodge with a great view
The lodge was spacious and clean, with a welcoming fire which was lit afternoon and evening to take the chill off the room.
The gardens were tidy with feeders, plants and flowers to attract the birds.
The free boot clean and foot and leg massage were very welcoming after a muddy hike!
Good choice of food on offer at meal times.
2nd stay at MGVL
Great location. Friendly staff.
Would stay there again.
Mountain Gorilla View Lodge review
The service was terrific. They anticipated our needs before we even knew we had them: they lit a fire in our fireplace every night, and provided us hot water bottles to keep us warm through the cool evenings. They washed our boots when we came back from Gorilla trekking completely soaked and covered in mud. They also got up very early on our last day -- 4:30am -- to cook us a hot breakfast before we left. I was quite impressed with the level of service.
The room itself was comfortable and large, with a nice view. It felt very private even though there were other bungalows nearby. It was a little bit of a long walk to the lodge, and when we wanted to ask for more firewood, we had to walk all the way back to the lodge since there is no way of calling the front desk.
We had a very pleasant time. The food was good -- buffet style.
Mountain Gorilla View Lodge review
This lodge is situated within a reasonable distance (by vehicle) to the trekking centre. It's difficult to decide whether the somewhat old fashioned interior design is part if it's rustic charm or whether it's just well past its sell by date and in need of upgrading - probably the latter.
Large bed/lounge area with open fire which was lit for us by one of the staff. There was an electric kettle of sorts; not a type seen before - a small jug which only just warmed the water. The shower/wash room, which was huge, left quite a lot to be desired; the shower head was mounted close to the corner of two walls and as a result you could not adequately cover yourself with water. The shower area floor should have anti-slip paint applied or mats to prevent possibly slipping. The wash basin had no plug.
The choice and quality of the food was just about average. Have not previously had the pleasure of eating cold toast - not to be recommended.
Mountain Gorilla View Lodge review
The Mountain Gorillas Lodge, sister hotel to Lake Kivu, had the same slippery shower floor problem, but otherwise the lodge facilities and standard were fine, although after relative quiet at Nyungwe and two days of splendid isolation at Lake Kivu it came as a bit of a shock to the system to find a fully occupied dining room. The altitude and weather were now back to being cooler, even when not raining, and again we took advantage of the fireplace in our room, although again it had to be specifically requested, but it was clearly a much more regular occurrence. Food was fine, and, from the non-meat eater’s perspective, throughout the trip there was one of the best ranges of food available, with plenty of fish and interesting vegetable dishes. Although the strength of the local coffee can be challenging!
Read more about the whole safariMountain Gorilla View Lodge review
It was very cold and damp in our room. It was not until our third night that I realized (based on another guest's experience) that we could request a small electric heater for our room. This was great as we were able to get our bath towels to dry. Even clean bath towels and sheets were always damp prior to obtaining this electric heater.
The food was excellent. We had lots of vegan options which was wonderful.
The staff were all very accommodating. The fact that we could rent gaiters (prior to trekking) was great. Perhaps knowing this prior to the trip would have been helpful as I wasn't sure whether or not to pack our gaiters - which would take up valuable suitcase space.
It was also wonderful that the staff cleaned our hiking boots after our very muddy trek!
