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In May 2017 we spent 14 days on Holiday in Rwanda with our three children aged just 6, 5 and 5 read on to find out how we got on and why a Holiday in Rwanda is about more than the Gorillas.

Rwanda is also on Rough Guide’s Top Places to Visit in 2019

Most people I have to say when we told them we were going on Holiday in Rwanda thought we were absolutely crazy, however we had an amazing trip and it has shown us that the World is our oyster and adventurous travelling can now commence.

Now this doesn’t mean every trip we take is going to be an adventure, and I will still be planning plenty of beach trips in Europe, but it has taught us that the kids have certainly inherited our love of travelling somewhere slightly different and it’s an exciting realisation that we can pretty much travel anywhere now – Vietnam and South America here we come!

We had decided to have a Holiday in Rwanda to be part of the Friends of Rwandan Rugby tour that they run each year.  Matt had been on a tour in 2013 and we chatted about him heading out again.  Matt’s realisation from his earlier trip was that Rwanda was a beautiful safe country that he wanted to explore more of, so we decided to make it into a family holiday!

Once we had decided to make it happen, it really wasn’t as easy as all that (family Holidays in Rwanda are not all that common) until I found Katina of World Fusion Tours, an Aussie now based in Rwanda.  It was then that our family adventure came together easily; she understood our aims and also our concerns, and we set about creating a trip that was about more than just the gorillas!

I’ve written about most of our Holiday in Rwanda on separate posts and so I’m going to link through to these in this post for those of you who want to find out more detail on what we did but our trip went like this

2 Nights in Kigali – Kigali Marriot

A fabulous and soft introduction to Rwanda. A large air conditioned centrally located hotel that was a very welcome sight after a long flight.  Read more about our stay at the Kigali Marriot here.

Whilst in Kigali we spent the afternoon on a community tour of Kigali visiting firstly the Nyamirambo Women’s Centre, a collective that runs walking tours, hair braiding and basket weaving classes and then the Niyo Cultural Centre who display local art, teach traditional Rwandan dancing and drumming to street kids (and that day to ours!).

If you’re thinking of booking the tour with World Fusion to visit Nyamirambo Women’s Centre and Niyo Cultural Centre, do!  Just click on the links to read the full reviews.

I also visited the Kigali Genocide Memorial with my Sister in Law which is essential to understand Rwanda but not one for the children.

5 nights in Ruhango – Eden Palace Hotel

This week was crazy, difficult, fun, wonderful and enlightening all rolled into one.  I could not be prouder of the girls and how they took on the challenge of interesting accommodation and being the centre of attention as soon as they stepped of the bus.

We spent a week travelling round Ruhango in a  bright yellow school bus and our presence at the local schools with the rugby and the educational supplies we took couldn’t have been more welcomed.  To see more please do take a look at the photos in this post here, and our video of the Schools Adventure is also below!

1 Night in Gisenyi – Inzu Lodge

We were collected for our second week by Jimmy from World Fusion Tours who took us through the winding hills towards Lake Kivu and Inzu Lodge at Gisenyi. Inzu was the perfect antidote to our week in Ruhango and we did a lot of sitting! It felt like our Holiday in Rwanda had started. You can read our review of Inzu Lodge here.

2 Nights in Musanze – Villa Gorilla

We travelled to Musanze to see the incredible Mountain Gorillas.  It was possibly one of the BEST experiences I have ever done.  I can’t think of a parallel. You feel so incredibly honoured to share their place on this earth for a short period of time.  You can see how close we got and get a bit of a feel for how amazing it is in this video:

Find out how we made Gorilla Trekking possible with the kids here.

We also went on a fantastic family canoe trip along the Mukungwa river with Kingfisher Journeys.

1 Night in Kigali – Kigali Marriot

We had a brief overnight stop in Kigali before heading to Akagera Game Park.

2 Nights in Akagera Game Park – Ruzizi Tented Lodge

Our time in Ruzizi was incredibly special and the girls were so excited to stay in a tent on the banks of a river with Hippo and Crocodiles! Taking a trip on the lake (and being the only ones to do that) was another incredible experience. Read more about Akagera and Ruzizi here!

We absolutely LOVED our Holiday in Rwanda and would recommend it to any family who loves adventure and wants to explore a safe African country with their children.

It’s beautiful, its exciting, there is so much to see, and you can now fly direct from Heathrow!

Why not take a look at our video of the whole trip

An eight day Holiday in Rwanda with World Fusion Tours (worldfusiontours.com) including ground transport and accommodation at Kigali Marriott (B&B), Inzu Lodge, Villa Gorilla (Full Board) and Ruzizi Lodge (Full Board) starts from $2415pp min 2 pax

To get involved with Friends of Rwandan Rugby do contact matthew@friendsofrwandanrugby.org.uk

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