Consider us for a truly Safaris Boutique Company
Hermosa Life Tours and Travel
- Office In:
- Size:
- 10-20 employees (Founded in 2012)
- Member Of:
- ASTA & RTTA & TripAdvisor
- Tour Types:
- Custom mid-range & luxury tours that can start every day
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $150 to $330 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
for a custom tour
Your request will be sent directly to the operator
If preferred, you can contact the operator directly
Reviews
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Email Joseph | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Hermosa Life Tour in Rwanda Changes Lives!
What an amazing experience getting to know Rwanda and her beauty through the eyes of Yves, our dependable guide and driver from Hermosa Travel.
To post this review is not only an honest account of our group’s experience but also a note of special thanks to Oreste, the owner of the agency, and Yves, our trusted guide and friend. They are the heroes of this story.
Our adventure begins with the usual boring story of flight delays, missed connections, overnight layovers in far-off countries, and finally Kigali, the capital of Rwanda. Our traveling companions were not so unlucky and arrived in Kigali on time for a nice stayover in the Radisson Blue Hotel. The following morning, they were met by Yves, who drove them 3 hours to Akagera National Park where we were staying. He returned to Kigali airport and picked us up later that night only to drive back yet again to Akagera. That’s over 12 hours of driving time for one man and all in one day! We arrived at the park late that night after everyone had gone to bed. We were not aware of it at the time but the gates to the National Park were closed for the night and Oreste was able to get someone to let us in and escort us to our lodge. I can’t imagine this was easy. We arrived at the Ruzizi Tented Lodge around 10:30 pm and the lodge served us a hearty and delicious African dinner. We crashed in our luxury bivouac complete with a full shower and facilities to the sound of a cacophony of hippos, monkeys, birds and insects. Our couple of days in Ruzizi and the Akagera park were filled with safaris, where we saw giraffes, lions, zebras, baboons, elephants, antelope, Cape buffalo, rhinos, warthogs and an amazing variety of fowl. Our meals at the lodge were always well prepared and the staff couldn’t be kinder. We didn’t know it yet but this Rwandan kindness was to be our experience everywhere in Rwanda from the first day to the last.
We then travelled to the Volcanoes National Park and after a moderately difficult trek through mountain jungle had a life altering opportunity to personally interact with a large family of Mountain Gorillas. As fate would have it, we were part of a group of a 8 who were taken to see the Pablo Family Group, which are the progeny of Dian Fosse’s original study group in the 60’s. One of the female gorillas even tapped me playfully as she walked inches by me! This highlight experience was followed by many excursions to see Chimpanzees, Golden Monkeys, Veviter monkeys, Colobus monkeys, Mountain monkeys, and baboons. It was a primate paradise! We stayed at many luxury hotels, including the Bishops House which was a fully restored colonial era mansion once inhabited by the Bishop of Kigali (who we actually saw while guests at Serena, a hotel along Lake Kivu) and the Cleo Lake Kivu Hotel, a gorgeous six star resort hotel on south Lake Kivu with stunning views. By this time we are used to the mind blowing beauty of Rwanda, with rolling mountains of verdant green, and people, beautifully dressed, walking everywhere, going about their day and interacting with each other. There were few cell phones with their distractions and little traffic, although traffic jams are ironically common since the roads are single lanes and must accommodate throngs of people carrying supplies and produce up and down mountain roads. We visited coffee and tea cooperatives. We went fishing with local fishermen and hiked up an Island mountain surround by thousands of fruit bats. We met some amazing people, including Sandra, a guide to our fishing experience who has big dreams, speaks English with an American accent and left a mark on our heart. This lovely adventure obviously wouldn’t have been possible without meticulous and careful planning from Oreste or without the steady confidence and alertness of Yves. We can’t begin to thank them enough for one of the best trips of our lifetimes. We learned so much, always felt safe and pampered, and fell in love with Rwanda. We will be your ambassadors for life. P.S. We love our four T-shirts with the cool Hermosa logo. Thank you!
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Email Milton | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Hermosa is professional, dependable, and responsive.
Yves, our guide and friend, picked us up at the airport and drove us for two weeks on a wonderful trip around most of Rwanda. Rwanda is a beautiful, green , mountainous place. We saw gorillas, giraffes, rhinos, hippos, several kinds of monkeys, chimpanzees, zebras and much more. Hermosa and Yves were very responsive to our questions and needs. I was very comfortable and felt safe and secure throughout the trip. We stayed at higher end properties and there are more expensive and less expensive options available. I highly recommend Hermosa Life Tours and Travel.
AE
Email Celine Rosberg | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Very Professional, Caring and accommodating.
We had an awesome stay in Rwanda because that gentleman Oreste stays on emails and WhatsApp 24/7. We have different times zones but we engaged with Oreste any time we wanted him to make adjustments on our trip.
My wife wanted particular places she had searched for on google and she wanted to go in all these corners. This company was so caring and professional because we reached everywhere we wanted and felt very safe.
When you visit Rwanda, request for the Bisoke Hike, we took beautiful photos in this place, mountain gorillas are very gentle creatures, we loved to stay with them a full hour. Lake Kivu is a cool place to relax after your safari and before your departure.
When you think about visiting Rwanda, email these guys, it is a very accommodative team with incredible guides. And ask for David to be your guide.
Email Eric | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Gorilla trekking in Rwanda absolutely amazing!! Highly recommend this agency.
Planning my trip with Yvonne and the Hermosa life tours team in this period of the pandemic was the best choice for me. It seemed hard at first, but she made it even easy.
We exchanged thousands of emails and she took time to understand what I exactly wanted for a gorilla trek experience, this is something I wanted to do growing up and the dream came true. We went on a call to plan the trip even better; she was so patient with me and here I am to tell you about it, of course I did the trek twice, amazing.
I wish everyone could have this rare opportunity to observe the famous Rwandan mountain gorillas. Trekking the gorillas through the forested slopes of the Virunga is a magical experience.
So, any time I wish to see more of Africa, I would definitely go with this company ‘Hermosa life tours and Travel’ again.
Email John Thomas | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Claude our guide was very professional and knowledgeable.
Hermosa Life tours treated us exceptionally well. We decided to go to Africa in February and took a big step to book this trip. We never thought it would work out well, we contacted this company through google and Oreste picked up our email swiftly. He suggested for us different programs to visit Rwanda and we took a five-day safari to the primates of Rwanda.
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Email Moorthy N | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Great stay in Africa…!!
It was not our first time to travel. We've done a trip to Africa before and we can never stop visiting. This time when we looked around, we looked at Hermosa Life Tours and travel. These guys were so hands on with every step of planning. We had our own itinerary in mind which we thought looked great, but this team helped us make it even more beautiful.
Yvonne was a pleasure to work with and was very familiar with all the locations we wanted to visit in Rwanda. The guide Patrick was great; knowledgeable and pleasant; he made the entry/exit process simple, taking care of every detail, etc and is flexible with daily itinerary schedules. Community visits were so wonderful for my children. They usually add some special experiences with the locals to help you in understanding the country you have traveled to.
The accommodation choices were really lovely in all aspects plus the restaurants and food as well. We've already recommended Hermosa Life tours and travel to many of our friends and families.
Email Robert S | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Excellent services!!! Wow
We have just returned from our 11 days signature of Rwanda trip by Hermosa Life tours and travel. Thanks to the team and Yvonne in particular for suggesting for us such a beautiful trip to this nice green country. Yes, we have been on safaris before but this one is going to be in our hearts for so long. We started with a city tour in Kigali city, saw the genocide memorial, traveled to Akagera National Park for game viewing, then to the southern side of the country in Nyungwe forest, relaxed at Lake Kivu and we finished out trip with the mountain gorillas.
Our driver Patrick gave us very beautiful stories about Rwanda and my daughter kept on recording them. The lodges chosen had cozy beds, African touch elements everywhere and these are things we enjoy in Africa most. Everyone involved from hotels, food served, driver guide, rangers at the parks, Hermosa Life Tours our agency, Rwanda as a country, we can say that this was excellent service to my family. We recommend this team.
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Email Steve | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Excellent way to plan your trip to Rwanda.
It was by far the best safari we have had; we have travelled so many times I and my wife, in different countries but Rwanda was indeed something! we planned from last year with Oreste and Patrick, these two were incredible, quick on emails and hands on all the time. We enjoyed all our hotel amenities from Akagera National Park for safaris to Volcanoes the home of the huge gorillas.
Hermosa Life tours and travel is the best agency for your excellent trip planning in Rwanda. We shall keep telling our friends and family about these guys and we shall plan with them again in future. This was exactly what we were looking for when we started planning our Safari one year ago.
Email Rutayisire | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Best way to explore Rwanda
We used Hermosa Life Tours and Travel for three trips now, well planned organized Oreste is able to provide excellent advice, good rates and discount and experienced tour guide who understand the wild and the country.
We highly recommend the company!
Email patrick | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Trip to Nyungwe forest national park
well designed itinerary the experience was so good in the foreste