Rwanda Tours in Summer

An excellent and varied intinerary with comfortable accommodation in spectacular locations and knowledgeable tour leaders. The highlight was observing the gorillas - we were lucky enough to encounter a family of six, including a baby, after a relatively short trek of an hour - but the trip also included a fascinating visit to the indigenous Batwa people and provided many opportunities to support local communities and women's empowerment projects. Highly recommended.

Please reserve one room at hotel on last day for grouo, to have shower, changing clothes, reorganizing luggage in waiting for flight. Another company as Explore are doing like that.

We had a wonderful experience! The itinerary was really good and our CEOs Luke and Ronald were the best. There?s two things I didn?t like though. 1. Please just include all the meals during the tour and make the tour more expensive. Not including meals in places like Bwindi where there is no other restaurant option and you?re forced to eat at the lodge you?re staying at anyway is just pointless and annoying as you have to calculate the money you have to withdraw from ATMs and ends up costing you more because of high ATM fees! Either include all meals or do a breakfast/dinner included lunch optional system for people who don?t want to eat lunch 2. Kigali View Hotel. Can?t believe G Adventures picks this hotel as end point and recommends it to its guests! It was really bad. The food was horrible, the rooms smelled, the bathroom smelled. Luckily it was only one night so it was bearable but for people who wanna end on a high or who decided to stay longer that Hotel is a full disappointment! And if you decided to keep it as your end point at least clearly label it as VERY BUDGET and recommendations for nicer hotels in the area.

We travelled on the same trip as Angela, and agree with everything that she said. The wildlife sightings in the Masai Mara were excellent; the boat trip on the Kazinga Channel was every bit as good; the trip to the source of the Nile is fun; and then there is the big finale of the chimp and gorilla trekking, all making this a wonderful journey. Only one site, near Lake Nakuru, had poorer facilities, although as it had baboons and colobus monkeys in the camp while we were having lunch, we could happily overlook that. This is definitely a trip where you need to have the right mental attitude, and then just go for it. The trip notes say that you will remember the time with the gorillas for the rest of your life. That is not an exaggeration, but it could be applied to the rest of the trip as well.

What an incredible trip. The scenery, the wildlife viewing and the people all combine to make a fabulous itinerary. We were incredibly lucky with the wildlife from the very start, with the Big 5 achieved between the Masai Mara and Lake Nakuru, along with five cheetah, lions, baby giraffe, elephants, zebra and so much more. We were incredibly lucky with the boat trip in Queen Elizabeth NP, getting to spend time watching two herds of elephants, both with babies, come down to the water's edge to drink. The whitewater rafting in Jinja was intense but absolutely brilliant and the safety was top notch. There are options on the rafting for how intense you want the experience - our group did the highest class available and spent a fair bit of time in the water, but it was such a fun activity. The chimp trekking in Budongo was on relatively easy paths, with only the last 5-10mins being properly 'off-track'. The chimps stayed up in the trees, however we still had a great viewing, with a young chimp playing around and giving some fabulous poses and facial experiences. Beware of the chimps throwing things down at you - they are surprisingly accurate with their aim! The gorilla trekking is everything you imagine and more. It is impossible to predict how far or how hard your walk will be, so go prepared for a tough hike. Our group had around an hour of reasonable hiking on established tracks, followed by around 30-40 mins of full scrambling up and down a steep ravine as the gorillas moved away in search of a different food source. Once the gorillas had re-settled, we were able to spend the hour with the whole family, from the massive silverback to the playful adolescents and the relaxing females. The trackers are awesome and the gorillas showed no signs of being even remotely bothered by our presence, coming up towards us and playing / posing for photos near by. As other reviewers have previously mentioned, there are lots of early mornings, but you soon adjust and, as this is when the wildlife is most active, it is definitely worth it. The campsites were generally of a very good standard. We had a slight issue with very late and loud music at the Jinja camp (take earplugs), and one campsite did not have working showers when we were there, but as this was one night only it really did not have a big impact. Most of the facilities were good and some were excellent (lovely hot showers), but really this trip is not about the accommodation - with good food (thanks Ken!) and great company, you really do not need luxury and the experience of waking up to the sounds of baboons and hyena made everything worthwhile. The Exodus tents and mattresses are good quality and well cared for, and there were plenty of opportunities for upgrades if you wanted a break from camping.

I have been fortunate to travel a lot. These countries were my 51st, 52nd and 53rd but this was the best time of my life. This was my 7th small group trip. I have never felt more grateful in my life—and it is all owed to this wonderful staff, Gilbert (our guide), Stoney (our driver), Albert (our cook) and Charles (his helper). I moderately injured my low back while rafting in Jinja and was very worried that if it worsened (from camping or the bumpy dirt roads) I would not be able to do the Chimp or Gorilla treks. The staff did everything in their power to help me through this and I’m very thankful for that; the injury never worsened and I was able to do everything that the agenda entailed. The safari portion of our trip was extraordinary, particularly in the Mara and Lake Nakuru. The boat safari in Murchison was also amazing as we saw everything in such a different ecosystem. The highlights: five lionesses in a tree, two leopards, a monster of a crocodile, a wildebeest stampede, a hippo and a family of warthogs at our campsite in Murchison, hordes of playful baby baboons, a pack of zebras hilariously chasing an territory-invading jackal and virtually every other large African mammal except the cheetah. A few other animal experiences to mention: —There are 1,388 species of birds in East Africa. I’m not a birder or anything but I was constantly in awe of the gorgeous, highly varied plumage patterns of these majestic creatures. —The chimps in the Budongo Forest were outrageous. We hoped to just see a few eating in the treetops. We saw that and about twenty minutes into our viewing session a highly-orchestrated colobus monkey hunt began with screeching, screaming and yelling. Chimps rapidly descended all around us, ran across the forest floor and ascended other trees nearby. The rangers claimed they killed three colobus. While we collectively only had one picture of a chimp eating his prey, it was an exhilarating, albeit terrifying and somewhat sad, experience. —I figured the chimps had stolen the show. But the gorillas responded. Extraordinary experience...we had no clue how close they were going to get. They say it’s a seven meter distance that we need to maintain, but not if the gorillas decide they want to play with you... One of the gorillas (an impish three year old boy) sprinted to me, stuck his head between my knees and patted the sides of my thighs in rapid succession. He then just lied there. No one got any of it on film because the silverback, Bweza, was waking right towards me as his son was pulling this stunt and everyone had to shuffle away quickly... Bweza was no more than two meters away from me before we could all pull back. It was terrifying but that early lesson taught us that these gorillas are extremely habituated and thus, totally harmless; I suspect Bweza was simply wanting to keep his playful toddler in check. Later on during the viewing hour, the same three yr old pirouetted three or four times right at our feet. It was adorable. That was followed by several minutes of wrestling with his same-aged cousin. One of the great memories of my life. Most importantly, our crew made the trip. Gilbert, our leader, was outstanding. Solid knowledge of the animals. He has degrees in tourism and social anthropology and it really shows. He not only has a good understanding of the countries we visited but the continent and the world as a whole. His education led to a bunch of really interesting conversations that I enjoyed. Very well organized, kind and funny as well. A great trip leader. Albert was our chef and did a damn good job prepping tasty meals for us. Most importantly though, he was ALWAYS in a good mood and lifted the spirits of our group constantly. I’ll never forget the guy. Stoney, our driver, was a great great guy. Sincere, kind and very hard working. He navigated some tough roads and kept us on time. I had several great conversations with him about all kinds of topics ... mostly his family, his childhood and Kenya’s hopes for the future. Another guy with a big heart I’ll never forget. Lastly, Charles, the helper, was just a damn hard worker. For a first timer, he really seemed to contribute a lot. Always dived in when he was needed. Again, what a great trip. I’m elated that I was able to do this with such a wonderful group of people. Thanks Exodus!