点评:We spent 2 weeks in April 2024 in Rwanda. We've travelled to over 40 countries across the world and Rwanda is one of our top 3 experiences. This is primarily because of Francis and the Go Gisenyi Tours team who met all our requests and made this trip a once in a lifetime adventure.
When we first started planning the trip, we had some ideas of what we wanted to do, but were not really sure about how to go about coordinating everything. We knew we wanted to do a cycling tour of the Congo Nile trail, see the gorillas and the chimpanzees and visit Akagera National park. We reached out to independent TAs and received quotes but none of them were as punctual and detailed as Go Gisenyi Tours. In the end, we wanted to do everything with a single tour company, and given that it was super low season in Rwanda, we got a very reasonably priced package for 4 adults.
The attention to detail when the tour actually started was incredible. Francis and his team took care of us like we were a part of his family. When we were exhausted during the 5 day Congo-nile trail cycling adventure, he was there along the way with drinks and snacks and encouraging words. On the last day of the cycling trail , he even drove his car behind us slowly at 8-10mph so that he could see us reach the finish line. That theme continued throughout the tour during all the activities where Francis was meticulous in making sure that he or his associates were always at hand to meet any of our needs. Admittedly this personalized care may not be possible in peak season (we did go in April which is super low season, but in our experience, we'd definitely travel back to Rwanda in April).
From seeing the chimpanzees up in the trees to having an incredible time with the gorillas (and because it was low season, it was just our group and another individual and that made the experience even more surreal), we were living our bucket list items . On the way back from the gorillas , we even had a surprise birthday celebration where Francis and Gratien (our safari guide) had a cake and we celebrated the birthday by the side of a road and distributed that to the rangers and the guides we had hired and that's certainly a memory of a lifetime. Another memory of a lifetime was when our safari guide, took us to this spot to look at some elephants and correctly predicted where they'd show up on the road. And lo and behold, within 20 mins we were surrounded by a herd of about 30-40 elephants . We had some hair rising moments with the matriarch sussing us out and trying to make sure that the herd was in no danger ( they had a couple of very playful baby elephants in the midst who were very well hidden). We spent about 2 hours in complete silence with the elephants in the Akagera national park and that's another memory of a lifetime for us. You can see why Rwanda rates so highly in our travel experiences.
April is also remembrance period for the Rwandan genocide and it was really impactful to hear people's stories and learn about Rwanda's history. It's incredible to see the progress Rwanda has made in such a short time and that definitely added to our experience.
To Francis - who also goes by Rakifi, which means friend in Swahili - you and your team's hospitality (Javier who was our cycling guide for 5 days and Gratien who was our safari guide for 3 days) and experiences definitely left a big imprint on our lives . Thank you for being a friend to us and enriching our experience in Rwanda. To anybody else who is considering a planned tour to Rwanda, Francis and Go Gisenyi tours are very easy to recommend and you cannot go wrong. Here's hoping Rwanda leaves a mark on you the way it did on us.
翻译:2024 年 4 月,我们在卢旺达度过了 2 周。我们去过全球 40 多个国家,卢旺达是我们最喜爱的 3 个国家之一。这主要归功于 Francis 和 Go Gisenyi Tours 团队,他们满足了我们所有的要求,让这次旅行成为一生一次的冒险。
当我们刚开始计划旅行时,我们对自己想做的事情有一些想法,但并不确定如何协调一切。我们知道我们想骑自行车游览刚果尼罗河小径,看大猩猩和黑猩猩,并参观阿卡盖拉国家公园。我们联系了独立的旅游顾问并收到了报价,但没有一个像 Go Gisenyi Tours 那样准时和详细。最后,我们想和一家旅游公司一起做所有事情,考虑到当时是卢旺达的淡季,我们得到了一个非常合理的 4 人套餐。
旅行开始时对细节的关注令人难以置信。 Francis 和他的团队像家人一样照顾我们。在为期 5 天的刚果-尼罗河骑行冒险中,当我们筋疲力尽时,他一路陪伴着我们,为我们准备饮料和零食,并鼓励我们。在骑行的最后一天,他甚至以 8-10 英里/小时的速度缓慢地开车跟在我们后面,以便看到我们到达终点线。在整个旅程的所有活动中,Francis 都一丝不苟地确保他或他的同事随时满足我们的任何需求,这一主题一直延续。诚然,这种个性化的照顾在旺季可能无法实现(我们确实在 4 月去了,那是淡季,但根据我们的经验,我们肯定会在 4 月回到卢旺达)。
从在树上看到黑猩猩到与大猩猩共度美好时光(因为是淡季,只有我们一行人和另一个人,这让体验更加超现实),我们都在实现我们的愿望清单。在从大猩猩回来的路上,我们甚至举行了一次惊喜的生日庆祝活动,Francis 和 Gratien(我们的野生动物园导游)准备了一个蛋糕,我们在路边庆祝生日,并将蛋糕分发给我们聘请的护林员和导游,这绝对是一生难忘的回忆。另一个一生难忘的回忆是,我们的野生动物园导游带我们到这个地方看大象,并正确地预测了它们会在路上出现的位置。瞧,不到 20 分钟,我们就被一群大约 30-40 头大象包围了。我们毛骨悚然,因为母象在观察我们,并试图确保象群没有危险(它们中间有几头非常好玩的小象,它们隐藏得很好)。我们在阿卡盖拉国家公园与大象一起度过了大约 2 个小时,完全安静,这对我们来说是一生难忘的另一个回忆。您可以看到为什么卢旺达在我们的旅行经历中排名如此之高。
四月也是卢旺达种族大屠杀的纪念期,听人们讲述故事并了解卢旺达的历史确实令人感动。看到卢旺达在如此短的时间内取得的进步真是令人难以置信,这无疑丰富了我们的体验。
致 Francis - 他也叫 Rakifi,在斯瓦希里语中是朋友的意思 - 你和你的团队的热情好客(Javier 是我们 5 天的自行车导游,Gratien 是我们 3 天的狩猎导游)和经历无疑给我们的生活留下了深刻的印象。感谢你们成为我们的朋友,丰富了我们在卢旺达的体验。对于其他正在考虑计划前往卢旺达旅游的人来说,Francis 和 Go Gisenyi 旅游非常值得推荐,你不会错的。希望卢旺达能像在我们身上一样给你留下深刻的印象。