Cheweyhead

Is gorilla's nest the lodge of choice for the two night/two day gorilla trek experience?

thit_cho

I don't know if its "THE" choice, but it was "my" choice when I visited PNV.

OnlyMeOirish

Gorillas nest is the closest accomodation to the ORTPN base point. It is basic accomodation with basic food. I just returned from spending one night there. The rooms are large, sparse and cold but otherwise fine. There are other options for accomodation in Kinigi which is further away but I don't know if the actual accomodation is any better. We ate at Muhabura Hotel for lunch the day of our treck and the food was certainly a LOT better than at Gorillas Nest BUT you could always stay at Gorillas Nest and eat in town. Another option is Virunga Lodge which is supposedly set in some fantastic views but it is at least an hours drive from ORTPN and is very expensive.

Hope that helps,
Imelda

waynehazle

There may be nicer places further away: Virunga Lodge. But you are there for gorillas and it is best to be close to them when you start out in the morning.

Gorilla's Nest accomodations are just fine

richardfh

Trust me, with the roads as bad as they are in the area, you want to be close. Gorilla's nest is real close and the accomodations / food are acceptable. We didnt have any complaints.

kumasawa

We recently stayed 3 nights at the Gorillas Nest. If you stay in Ruhengeri, you will spend around 40 more minutes driving to the ORTPN office on the mornings of your treks. When we were there last month, they were doing construction on the road between Kinigi and Ruhengeri so times may vary a bit. They are working on paving the dirt road that is the only access route from town.

Accomodations at the Gorillas Nest are basic but nice enough. Bungalows are detached from the main building, and each bungalow has 2 rooms. Warm showers most of the time. No TV in the room but there is one in the main building, which also has the dining room and bar. Personally, we didn't find the rooms to be cold at all (I turn into a human furnace at night) but you can order extra blankets if you need them. Dinner and breakfast are basic buffet with not too many choices compared to the lodges in Kenya/Tanzania. Friendly staff (especially Monsieur Celestine at the front desk). Grounds are very attractive, safe and quiet (except when the birds start cawing at 5:45am). The lodge is in a small wooded area which is very nice. There is a small group of crowned cranes that live on the grounds that are fun to watch and photograph.

There is not much to do around the lodge and taxis are not readily available, which won't be a problem if you have your own driver. When we weren't trekking, we spent most of our time in town or touring around the wider area. There are several things to do in Ruhengeri: we ate our lunches at the Hotel Muhabura (I agree with Imelda that the food there was better) and took a nice walking tour through town and the local market. So basically, you have to decide WHEN you want to do the extra driving, (1) early in the morning before your trek or (2) in the afternoon and evening after your trek. Unless of course you just plan on resting at the lodge when you aren't trekking.

If you are interested, I've got a few pictures of the Gorillas Nest and one of Hotel Muhabura in my Rwanda set on Flickr:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kumasaw...7594219772581/

Cheers,
Darren

OnlyMeOirish

Sorry - brain on definate meltdown after first day back at work.. I meant Rhuengeri not Kinigi which you have all corrected me on. After re-reading my post I think I phrased it quite badly, it reads worse than it was meant to. The grounds of Gorillas Nest ARE really lovely and I loved how there was so much space which was well manicured. I completely agree that it is definately the most convenient and personally I wouldn't have liked the extra drive in the morning BUT the rooms were very cold, to the point that the bed actually felt damp. We asked for extra blankets though (on Waynes advice.. thanks Wayne!) and once we were actually in the bed we had no problem 'passing out' (our first bed after 36 hours travelling!!). If I had been staying two or more nights I might have flipped a coin if I thought that there was somewhere we could have stayed that actually had heating though.

Hope this time I sound less of a whinge!!

Imelda

waynehazle

OnlyMeOirish,

Welcome Back! Always glad to know my advice worked for someone

And glad to know I am not crazy that the rooms are freezing. Yes even the bed felt damp!

waynehazle

kumasawa,

Great pictures

OnlyMeOirish

Thanks Wayne,
I swear we would have froze if it had not been for those blankets and your advice to ask for them - there was no way you were imagining that cold.... I got a little shock when I felt that damp bed and the guy brought us towels just when we checked in and they were damp too .

Imelda

waynehazle

did you like those little firepot warmers?

they told me they could bring one to our room but I was afraid of them.

they said you had to leave the window open because it sucks out all the oxygen.... no thanks

OnlyMeOirish

Wayne, We actually did ask for one of those little stoves at dinner but no-one ever brought us one . I remembered you had said that you thought about taking yours to your room and I was DEFINATELY going to take one to our room but by the time we had eaten dinner and we hadn't gotten it, we were too tired ask again and have to wait for one.. oh well. I think I would have risked the oxygen depletion for the head had it arrived .

Imelda

kumasawa

Thanks for the compliment, Wayne. Looking at your great photos and video clips a couple months ago really got us excited for our trip.
Darren

OnlyMeOirish

Sorry, brain still not functioning, obviously time for bed =>
head = heat!!