Gorilla Trek Africa

Horrible

We had been wanting to go to Rwanda to see the gorillas for a few years. We chose Rwanda over Uganda due to the conservation efforts of the country. A trip like this costs a lot of money so we had to really plan it out. We have traveled all over the world and have been to Africa many times including Tanzania, Egypt, South Africa, Kenya and Botswana. In March 2019, from online research my husband, Chirag Amin, contacted the company, Gorilla Trek Africa, working with their senior consultant Nelson. Chirag asked them to create a luxury package as we were travelling without our children after many years.
There were some things my husband wanted to do such as go to Congo while we were there. He threw out some ideas but wasn’t really guided one way or another to say whether some of those things are plausible. Eventually we had an itinerary. So comes July and we are ready to go, we confirmed multiple times that this was a luxury package as we were paying luxury package price. We packed everything on the list that was provided by the agency. We flew from Tampa to DC to Brussels to Kigali. Before we had even landed and started our trip we got an email from Nelson saying
We previously told you that the balance can only be paid in in cash in
>
> new USD bills or by card/ bank not later than a week to the start of
> the
> tour. It is very disappointing to hear that you want to pay by card at
>
> this late hour.
We weren’t sure why he was disappointed, I guess they want cash but we wanted to pay by card. It wasn’t even the cash/card issue it was the tone the email took as soon as he learned we were paying by card and we hadn’t even landed yet. I told my husband this does not sound good, so we managed to half the balance in cash and the other half by card not to make HIS disappointment worse.
Night 2, we got to our first hotel which wasn’t bad but were told by multiple people it is a 3 star even for Rwanda. We figured we will address it later, let’s see how things go. The food was to be included in the package so we went for lunch. The menu was extensive and looked pretty good. I asked for a salad, they didn’t have lettuce. Fine, I asked for a sandwich, they didn’t have cheese. Fine, how about some pizza? Again no cheese. That narrowed the choices to soup and meat and rice. This wasn’t an issue as it was one of our first meals. However, by meal 3 we had eaten the same thing 3 times. The shower was slimy but the bed was comfortable.

Our second day we went to go see chimpanzees before we were to leave for Goma/Congo. On our tour we met many people and told them about our plans and where we were staying in Goma. One of the gentle man was from Germany living in Kigali, a journalist that has traveled all over that area. Him and his companion as well as our driver advised us the hotel in Goma is maybe a 2 star. Our friend on the tour said you won’t be able to stay there, its barely $40 a night. Chirag contacted Nelson and expressed his concern, Nelson said he can change the hotel as there are other options but it will cost us 300$ USD to change it. First, a hotel that was 40$ a night was booked for a luxury package while another option was available and then we were charged $300 to change it!! Nelson’s email even said the hotel in Goma is just OK. We also expressed out concerns about the hotel we were currently staying at. In response, Nelson said our expectations and African reality were no matched. He further went on to say

Once you lower your expectations, you will have a great trip experience
just like what others always get

I see you are just being so picky and complicated and this will
compromise your trip experience.
We asked for a luxury package, paid for a luxury package to not only receive sub par accommodations but unprofessional, rude and unacceptable customer service. We were asked to LOWER our expectations. This made Chirag upset as believe me we paid a lot of money for this trip. He told Nelson that this was upsetting in return Nelson said

We are all human!

Just the way you get pissed off, i as well can get pissed off!

Let us not make an issue out of this

We need to cooperate if we are to have a good trip, otherwise threats
won't make any good for any of us

You either enjoy your trip or ruin it, the ball is entirely in your
hands

So my over all review, if you want to pay luxury prices, then receive sub par accommodations and even worse treatment, book with this agency. We encountered many tourists that were staying at nice hotels so it has nothing to do with the African reality. This agency hopes that you are a naïve traveler and won’t know any better so they can charge for a luxury package but then treat you like crap once they get your money. Why book a hotel that $40 a night 2 stars and they say oh there is a better option, it will cost you $300 to change it. Why was booked to begin with? Chirag never gave Nelson a ceiling for the price of the package so he charged A LOT but delivered nothing and then HE was disappointed when we didn’t’ bring cash. The email excerpts are just the tip of the iceberg. He never apologized and even stopped contacting us to fix anything. And if you say anything they will get pissed off and cut off contact. This is highly unprofessional, so forget about the money, book with this agency if you want to be treated badly.