Reviews of safaris to Volcanoes National Park

"Fantastic holiday....worth every penny!

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

The only comment I could make is that Travellers should be informed that they must always bring wet weather gear regardless of season rather than just giving a "suggestion". When it rains it really rains and we were there in the dry season!

Everything else was wonderful and we would especially like to thank our guide (Alex), who really made our holiday" Read full review: 8 nights in Africa; 8 on a Rwanda safari

"The safari company in Rwanda.
Excellent, exceptional even. The Driver/Guide was very good: always on time, always helpful, always interesting and well informed. And a good driver. What the Toyota safari wagon lacked in comfort it made up for in space and really came into its own in tackling some of the poor tracks as we drove to our trekking departure points. On all three trekking days he looked after us well at the ranger station and made sure we got onto trekking groups well suited to our (limited) ability.

The Transfer Company.
Very good. Punctual, helpful and willing. They went out of their way to take us to an exchange and a chemist and on each occasion escorted us through the airport with an efficiency we could not have matched. Their help was much appreciated.

The Trekking.
Each of the treks start over farm land using the paths used by workers to reach the wall (a wall that marks the boundary between the National Park and the Farm land which was built to keep the buffalo and elephant out of the farm land) for up to an hour, followed by up to four hour more strenuous walking to the habituated group you have been allocated to visit.

Our trek to the Golden Monkeys was about 90 minutes and fairly easy at a modest pace. It was a pleasure to watch and photograph the monkeys for an hour or so as they moved gently and quietly through the trees and bushes. On the return trek we were luck enough to bump into a gorilla group, unique we were told.

Our first gorilla trek was about two hour in total to their location, the pace was leisurely over gradually ascending terrain with just the occasional more difficult clime. On our second trip the family were only just over the wall, so a fairly easy walk.

The experience of being with the gorillas was unforgettable and difficult to verbalise; memorable, moving, emotional, exciting, almost unimaginable; having a silverback just a couple of yards from you is a truly amazing experience." Read full review: 11 nights in Africa; 5 on a Zambia safari

"everything we had anticipated

generally everything was excellent, except the Milles Collines Hotel was very poor in copmparison and worse than expected" Read full review: 13 nights in Africa; 7 on a Tanzania safari

"We were/are very pleased at your succesful efforts to change our dates etc.

Nairobi airport was not a good experience, both changing to fly to Tanzania and coming back from Rwanda. Talking to others, flying to Amsterdam and then with KLM to Kilimanjaro sounded much easier." Read full review: 14 nights in Africa; 8 on a Tanzania safari

"The trip was amazing. It was the combination of the history, the culture and the wildlife that made it all so special. Our driver Sam was very good and answered all our questions and was very helpful in taking us to the places we especially wanted to see that weren't necessarily on our itinerary.

The genocide memorial in Kigali was exceptionally powerful and thought provoking and we would advise anybody travelling to Rwanda to visit there, preferably at the start of your trip because then it is even more incredible to appreciate how far the country has come when you see people working together so harmoniously in the fields and villages.

The wildlife is amazing, the views are beautiful and the people so friendly

We would definitely recommend doing two gorilla treks because you get two very different experiences. Our first trek the gorillas were eating and then on the move through the bamboo. Our second trek we arrived during "social hour" so the youngsters were all playing. Grit your teeth and pay the price it is so worth it." Read full review: 12 nights in Africa; 11 on a Rwanda safari

"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

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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.

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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