Três dias Nyungwe Canopy e Kivu Lake Adventure

I would highly recommend the three-Day Nyungwe Canopy and Kivu Lake Adventure with Countryside Tours- Rwanda. We had such a great time exploring new parts of this beautiful country. Our tour guide, Jean-Paul was so friendly, accommodating, kind and courteous. He exceeded our expectations in every way. He was fun and very knowledgeable. Never once did we worry or wonder what the plans were – his communication skills were amazing! We always felt safe and informed. We left early the first day and made a quick stop at King’s Palace. Following that stop we drove to Nyungwe National Park and participated in the canopy walk. Nyungwe National Park is gorgeous! We had an amazing time. From there we traveled to Lake Kivu for an overnight stay. Jean-Paul was an amazing driver and the vehicle was very comfortable with WIFI connection on board. The next day, we took a water trip on Lake Kivu to Nepoleon Island and Monkey Islands. We hiked to the peak of Nepoleon Island. It was so beautiful to enjoy this beautiful lake from the top of the Island. In the evening, we went on a night fishing trip with the locals. Such a magnificent experience. A once in a life time opportunity for sure. The trip included two nights stay and five meals plus all admission to the canopy, night fishing and boat ride to Napoleon Island. This was so much fun! Do it! Ask for Jean-Paul.

I really enjoyed this nature vacation-adventure. I had been to Lake Kivu before so Olivier kindly helped me to customize this trip with an early-morning chimpanzee trek in Nyungwe Park. The ever-present views of Kivu and other lakes were soothing and refreshing, on the road and at the hotel, and I was happy to sample some tasty fish and local fares. The canopy walk was fascinating; and I was delighted to see several chimpanzees and baboons in their forest habitat. It is the Rainy Season so I went fully prepared with gear, but lucky for me, both trekking days turned out be pleasantly sunny. My driver/guide, John, was very friendly and helpful, with solid time-management and safety skills. Even the the long drives to and from Kigali were worthwhile, in offering beautiful scenery of green terraces, tea plantations, rolling hills and lush forests.

This tour took us on a drive from Kigali to south-western Rwanda across the land which as its metaphor suggests, is indeed a land of thousands of hills. Nyungwe forest itself can be a hit or miss if you want to spot the elusive fauna. If animals are a must see, then you might be disappointed, but a short trek up and down through the mountainous tropical forest to the canopy has its own thrill. There are other longer trails in Nyungwe, but this tour does not cover them. Night fishing on Lake Kivu was for us the highlight of this tour. One gets to see the action right from the central fishing boat (of three boats). The locals are not pretending to fish for the benefit of tourists but simply going about earning their livelihood. Beware though that this part is subject to security approval by the naval marines, which fortunately we were granted at the last minute, or we wouldn't have known what we missed. The night accommodations might not be luxurious, but are adequate. We went in the rainy season, so a good jacket, umbrellas and shoes for trudging through clayey mud are recommended. Do keep your eyes open throughout the drive and witness the clean green Rwandan countryside, especially on the drive back to Kigali via winding roads or you will miss out on wonderful sights of the lake and misty mountains. Not quite sure how things will look like in the dry season. Our guides, Olivier and Bosco were very professional, friendly, punctual in their pickup from our hotel, pointed out interesting spots throughout the drive and generally made us feel safe. We really enjoyed their company. Did I mention a WiFi hotspot is present in the car should you want to stay connected? Keep it to a minimum though or you will miss out on the more important things. This two-day adventure has my recommendation.

I really enjoyed the tour with Olivier -- the degree of tailoring, friendliness, and strong interest in making this an enjoyable experience was impressive. The tour included several unexpected add-ons that brough strong value to the experience. I also really appreicated that the guides took great pictures of the tour, and sent us these photos after the tour, again unexpected but a great value-add. I would definitely recommend this tour.

There are only positive things I can share based on my experience with Countryside tours and will highlight a few here: 1. Olivier is an excellent tour guide with immense knowledge of the country, tourist sites and tourism industry. He has great interpersonal skills, offers a professional service, and is dedicated to making our experience as rewarding as possible. We saw other tourists at various sites who did not have the breadth of experiences we were given because Olivier made a point of including additional activities and cultural experiences all throughout our tour. It really made the tour special, unique and outstanding. 2. Countryside tours was very accommodating. We asked for a modification to our itinerary and we faced no issues with the requested changes. Countryside tours was happy to accommodate our plans and made everything run smoothly. Clear information was always provided (i.e., schedules and itineraries) with the perfect amount of detail. 3. Olivier is very personable and became a friend along the way. I greatly appreciated our conversations and our laughs over meals together. He made the tour a special experience with the little things he did (i.e., taking photos and videos throughout and sharing his own photos with us - capturing things that I would not have been able to capture). I have travelled to more than 30 countries and consider Countryside tours to be the best tour guided experience I have had. I recommend this company very highly.