Rwanda Tours in Winter

The time with the gorillas was one of the most amazing times in my adult life. I felt like a 5-year-old child on Christmas morning the entire time, and had a grin on my face that must have lasted for days. The rest of the trip was wonderful, but I will never forget the gorillas.

An amazing trip with so many memorable moments, seeing all the big cats, black and a white rhino, herds off elephants and the boat trip along the Nile. Crossing the Ugandan border was an experience in itself with so many checks and the officers wanting "gifts" from us. The campsites are not what you might expect and quite often the showers were cold water and only one to share between you. Unfortunately most of the group and staff became ill in the second week of the trip, this really dampened the spirts of everyone and it was hard with everyone feeling bad. The food was not too my liking so I stuck to peanut butter sandwiches but Wilson did try his hardest to keep me fed but I will say that everyone else seemed to enjoy his cooking. We were a mixed group of ages but it was great how we all got on so well together as this could make or break a trip. The 4 guys that took care of us were amazing and so helpful and friendly. Really loved this trip but be prepared to rough it and definitely get a porter for the Gorilla trek as believe me you will need one.

The stunning scenery and the awesome wildlife were just two factors making this one of the best trips I have ever experienced. The four man crew were what made it extra special.The Masai Mara went well beyond expectations, with clear access to all of "the big five." Plus many many more species of birds and animals were on display throughout all of the national parks visited. The accommodation was clean and pleasant, the truck spacious and comfortable even over rough roads and on long journeys, while the meals were always made from fresh ingredients, very tasty and excellent quality.

I can't really tell you what this trip is like until you have yourself been to the Rwandan Genocide Museum, climbed the misty mountains up to the gorilla family, slept in the wild, gotten the mandatory sunburn, stood on the equator, ridden on horse-back across Ugandan sugar cane plantations, flown in a hot air balloon over the Mara, eaten ugali, stared into the eyes of a lion, seen the Great Rift Valley, been greeted by a thousand smiles and made friends with some of the very best people.

Wonderful trip - from the Masai Mara to the Gorillas in Rwanda. Often and his crew couldn't have been more helpful and informative - and I travelled with a really nice group of people.

We took the trip over the Christmas period and it was a good one, the crew (Jacob, Stoney, Silvia and Dolly) were all excellent and could not be faulted. The organisation was good, the driving excellent, (how Stoney gets that truck along some of those roads is unbelievable) and the food was good and plentiful.There were 11 of us on the trip and we all got on very well which is a good thing if you are stuck on a truck for 2 weeks. Do not worry about charging batteries as the truck has a plug by each seat which can be used anytime whilst the truck is moving.The White Water Rafting Option in Jinja was excellent and the safety precautions couldn't be faulted, you are almost guaranteed to be thrown out at least once but we all felt perfectly safe when we were.The campsites were in some cases very basic with no water in the toilets and cold or no showers but they were adequate and in others there were options for upgrades to rooms if required.On day 8 the trip notes stated a visit to the top of the falls, what they did not say is that it involved a boat trip and then a trek along an uneven trek and a climb up several steps of uneven height, which was a bit testing for some people, although I see that this might have changed now but you might want to check.The big but is that on our trip both the Chimps and Gorillas were unco-operative and people thinking of doing the trip need to be aware that there is no guarantee of seeing either. On our trip some of us trekked 5 miles along tracks and off track just to see 1 Chimp and for the Gorillas we left camp at 4.45am and drove for 3.5 hours to the start point and then split into 2 groups, the moderately hard trek group took 7 hours of hard trekking up and down steep slippery and overgrown hills there and back to see the Gorillas who were up in the trees and not all that easy to see, the easier trek group took 10 hours and 4 of our group needed stretchering out with exhaustion which cost them between $200-$300 dollars each. We then all had another 3.5 hour drive back to camp getting back between 20.30 & 22.30 hours, much to the relief of Jacob our guide. Although this is what happened on our trip, we were told that that was not the norm but.....