Bizidanny Tours & Safaris are among the Kigali tour operators recommended in the latest edition of the "Bradt travel guide to Rwanda", and also by some recent visitors to the country:
Susan Fraker<spfraker1@gmail.com> from the US
Hi Danny,
Now that I'm home and recovering from jetlag, I want to thank you for our terrific trip to Rwanda. All three of us had a wonderful time,
especially me, who has always wanted to see the mountain gorillas. I'm sure Simba must have told you about our adventures with the Susa Group.
Speaking of S., he was the best! We so much enjoyed talking to him and traveling with him. I can't imagine a better guide to your country.
Thank you again, many times over, for putting together such a good vacation for us.
All the best, Susan Fraker
I couldn't find a place on Trip Advisor to write a general review of our trip, but I did post the following comments under the Volcanoes National Park attraction. Please feel free to use them on your website.
"I spent 5 days in Rwanda on a trip organized by Bizidanny Tours & Safaris. Our terrific guide was with my two sons (twenty-somethings) and me the entire time. We spent our first night in Kigali, then left early the next morning for Nyungwe Forest. Our guide drove us there and gave us the complete tour enroute. We spent two nights at the spectacular Nyungwe Forest Lodge seeing chimps and monkeys before driving with our guide to National Volcanoes Park for two nights. The gorillas are worth the entire trip. I highly recommend Bizidanny Tours & Safaris. The price was reasonable, and our guide couldn't have been better. Susan NYC"
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Jason Allen < jasonballen@gmail.com> from the US
Danny,
I just wanted to write and thank you for arranging an unforgettable weekend for me in Rwanda. While it was unfortunately a short trip, I leave with memories that will last me a lifetime.
The itinerary was excellent and gave me exactly what I wanted in a short timeframe. Thanks for accommodating the restrictions on my schedule. I loved visiting the gorillas. The city tour and visit to the genocide memorial also were memorable experiences.
The overall performance for you and your company was excellent. Thanks again for a great trip.
Best
Jason
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Melanie Furnell <mel@furnell.com> from the UK
Hello Danny,
We remember our visit to Rwanda with much pleasure and thank you so very much for arranging our trip. Our memories will go on for a long time.
We were very impressed with your beautiful country and can honestly say that our experiences far exceeded our expectations.
We will certainly recommend Bizidanny Tours to any of our friends who might be contemplating a visit to Rwanda.With all good wishes,
David and Melanie Furnell.
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Hello Danny
It’s several months since we flew to Rwanda for our primate tours.We are very grateful for your recommendation to visit Nyungwe forest apart from the mountain gorillas, which were our initial trip intention
In the PNV we enjoyed much our gorilla visit to the Bwenge group, which had 5 adult females with babies, one silverback and a few subadults. Most gorillas were resting or eating a variety of plants, and some mothers were grooming the babies. We were very happy with the peacefulness of these gentle creatures; they appear not to get disturbed by tourist visits. We are very happy knowing that the mountain gorilla population is growing, that gorillas and these mighty mountains and forest are well protected, that this national park has many people in your country make a living out of, that you are proud of it…we hope we can visit soon with you again, Africa and Rwanda have caused important changes in our life and this is a must for us. We would like to visit again the golden monkeys too, this trekking was very interesting – we could see more of the forest close to Visoke volcano and these monkeys are very funny and nice.
Danny we are grateful for your advice on this trip and your work on our itinerary and reservations.
Hugs, Mireia and Carles.
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Jenny Pynt <jennypynt@gmail.com> from Australia
Hello Danny,
I would like to thank you for an absolutely splendid trip to trek the gorillas and the golden monkeys. My group has returned from their adventure buoyed by the optimism of the Rwandan people and the beauty of their children and country. We thank you and your staff for a marvelous experience.
Yours sincerely,
Dr Jenny Pynt
Co-Director StuVac Seminars
PS Please feel free to post this to your website.
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At the end of August I met up with my friend Wendy – who recently finished a Peace Corps Response project in Malawi – to see the gorillas in Rwanda.
We booked our tour through Bizidanny – recommended to me by a former colleague. I would also recommend them. They were very responsive to emails and everything was well organized.
We stayed at the Mountain Gorilla View Lodge in Ruhengeri – just a 5 minute drive from park headquarters.
Our guide, Francois, who has worked for 29 years and worked with Dian Fossey
Sunday was our day for tracking. We purchased our permits in February because July/August are supposed to be the high season. We met a woman who was able to get 2 permits just a few weeks before, but I wouldn’t risk it. Plus it costs the same whether you buy early or buy late. We were picked up by our guide from Bizidanny and taken to the Parc National des Volcans headquarters. We milled around the grounds while he joined the other guides to negotiate a place for us in a group. There are only 64 permits sold each day – so 8 groups of 8 people. We told Tarza to get us in a group with an easy or medium hike.
From the park headquarterswe had to drive 20-30 minutes to the trail head. From there we hiked for about 1.5 hours into the forest to find the gorillas. Before I went to Rwanda many people asked me questions along the lines of “Are you guaranteed to see the gorillas?” and I always told people that they are wild animals – so, no – but that I hadn’t heard any stories of people going and not seeing them. I know enough people – either directly or indirectly – who have been so I figured if that was a possibility I would probably have heard about it. Now I know why that doesn’t happen. There are two men with big guns – called trackers – who stay with each of the gorilla groups 24 hrs/7 days a week. They protect them from poachers, watch their health and let the guides from the park know the groups location on a day-to-day basis.
Speaking of guide, we were really lucky and got someone who is one of the more famous guides – Francois. He’s worked as a guide for 29 years and even worked with Dian Fossey. He was fantastic. Along the hike he stopped several times to show us the various plants that gorillas eat – often eating them himself! He was also great at making sure that everyone was staying with the group.
When we first approached the gorillas they were all up in the trees. You could see fuzzy black hair through little, tiny holes in the leaves. My first thought was, great, this is not what I was expecting. My second thought was, “I hope those bamboo trees can hold hundreds of pounds of gorilla!” It was a little unnerving for them to be climbing directly overhead. In terms of my expectations, I thought that we’d come across the group sitting in a clearing where we’d sit 20 feet away and watch them eat and play for an hour. Our experience was much cooler than that.
After Francois convinced the gorillas to come out of the tree we got to watch them eat and interact with each other. Moving from place to place through the thick forest. If we had been 20 feet away we wouldn’t have been able to see anything. Instead Francois took us within 5 feet of the silverback – Guhonda – the largest silverback in the park. He was ENORMOUS, but totally chill. He mostly just sat on the ground with his arms crossed while we took hundreds of pictures of him. (No, seriously, I took almost 300 pictures in that 1 hour just myself!) There was a baby who came down from the trees and played a little bit. We also saw several females, although they all look the same to me so I lost track of who was who. Altogether I think we saw about 6-7 of the 12 gorillas in the group. (Did you know that gorilla nose prints are all different, like human fingerprints? Not that that’s helpful to me in identifying them.)
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Dear Danny,
We are now back in England and wanted to write to say thank you so much for organising our Rwanda trip for us. We thought Rwanda was an amazing country; it's so green and beautiful and my impression was that there is a real sense of community in the towns and villages. Although obviously it would be impossible to fully understand a country in only six days. We would love to visit again in future and will definitely contact you if we do so and recommend your company to any friends or family who would like to visit Rwanda.With warm regards
Jo and Tom Colley
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ELSPETH BEIDAS <elspethbeidas@hotmail.com>, from the UK
Dear Danny,
I just wanted to email to say thank you for the work that you put into arranging our Rwanda tour for us. We had an absolutely fantastic time and thoroughly enjoyed our trip – it was perfect.
It was great to have the chance to explore your country, and we were impressed by how much we got to see in just two weeks. The scenery was consistently stunning and the wildlife was amazing. Seeing the gorillas in the wild was a highlight that we’ll never forget!
Hopefully we’ll make it back to Rwanda at some point in the future, but in the meantime we’ll definitely be recommending it as a destination to all our friends and family. And of course we’ll be recommending Bizidanny as the best tour operator to go with!
Many thanks again – murakoze!
Very best wishes,
Elspeth and Matt
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Jean-Daniel Macchi <jean-daniel@macchi.name> de Suisse
Cher Monsieur,
de retour en Suisse je tiens par ces lignes à vous dire tout le plaisir que j'ai eu durant le séjour passé dans votre pays, du 5 au 8 juillet. Mon Collègue et moi-même avons particulièrement apprécié le professionnalisme de votre agence. Vos collaborateurs nous ont accompagné avec beaucoup de gentillesse et de compétence.
Notre séjour au Rwanda restera comme un souvenir tout à fait merveilleux. Les logements étaient de bonne qualité et ce que nous avons vu était tout à fait génial. Il est évident que le moment le plus fort fût celui de la rencontre avec les gorilles mais les parcours dans le park d'Akagera étaient également très intéressants. J'étais étonné d'avoir pu voir les animaux d'aussi près. En outre, avec son toit ouvrant, le Land Cruiser était idéal.
Je recommanderai votre agence à mes amis et si j'ai la chance de revenir au Rwanda j'aurais certainement recours à vos services.
Avec mes meilleures salutations.
Jean-Daniel Macchi
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Dear Danny,
I have returned home to Canada with a huge smile on my face! My trip to Rwanda was an amazing experience...one which I will never forget. I am still trying to absorb all the wonderful things I saw and experienced during my 4 day tour.
Your quick email responses were appreciated during the planning stages of my trip. Your advice and recommendations were well received. As you know, I had concerns regarding my safety, but I am happy to say that they were unfounded. I felt perfectly safe and well taken care of at all times.
My city tour of Kigali was very interesting. I really enjoyed the Genocide Memorial - after doing quite a bit of reading on the genocide I found it informative and deeply moving. My visit to Imbabazi orphanage was amazing. I have read about Rosamond Carr and it was like stepping into the story when I met the children, had a tour of the flower gardens, listened to a choir performing there, and even had tea in her beautiful vine-covered home. The gorilla trek was a once in a lifetime experience. To be so close to these magnificent animals was surreal. The next day I had my "trek" to Karisoke to visit the grave of Dian Fossey and see where she used to live and study the mountain gorillas. What breathtaking scenery!
The accommodations at Mountain Gorilla View Lodge were lovely. Food was very nice and staff very friendly. Waking up to that amazing view of the volcanoes each day was incredible. Chez Lando in Kigali was also a good choice of accommodation. Perfectly clean and comfortable with beautiful gardens and a nice restaurant.
As an Air Canada captain, I have had the opportunity to visit many places in the world. I can honestly say that this was one of my most memorable trips and Rwanda is a beautiful country. Thank you to all at Bizidanny Tours who helped make it happen. I look forward to returning one day soon.
Please do not hesitate to pass on my name and email address to future guests if they would like a reference.
Sincerely,
Kelly Hepburn Scott
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Marylin Keating <mkeating@intrahealth.org>, from the US
"I had the pleasure of making my travel arrangements in Rwanda through Bizidanny tours and safaris and I have no regrets! Rwanda is a beautiful country with a lot to offer tourists from all over. I happen to be American and so can share that from my cultural perspective, at first I found it daunting to make arrangements from the US for a future visit to Rwanda. That being said, Danny is a professional and he has built his well established business on providing well organized, safe, and fun tours. I feel that I was well taken care of from the beginning to the end of the process. Rwanda is well worth a destination visit by tourists visiting Africa. I wholly recommend a trip to see the gorillas, the golden monkeys and Lake Kivu if you have the time. Thank you Danny for making my Rwandan adventure a wonderful and memorable experience! I hope to return to your beautiful country and will definitely use Bizidanny tours & safaris for any future tour arrangements in Rwanda."
Marylin
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Kevin Sherman <kevinsherm@gmail.com> , from the UK
"Danny-
….. Deanna and I really just wanted to thank you for all your help in planning our trip.
Knowing almost no one who had previously visited Rwanda and having
really no idea what to expect ourselves, I'm sure you can understand
our fear and desire to make sure we did everything right. Rather than
just taking over yourself and assigning us a pre-planned trip, it was
clear that you listened to our thoughts and took each one into consideration. In your business I'm sure it's easy and more than a
little tempting to re-use itineraries and provide standard responses
to questions, but the obvious personal interest you take in each of
your trips truly does make a difference. And your policy of
responding to emails within 24 hours really did make things easier
(though I'm sure our rapid fire emails tested that policy from time to
time). Having a thought or issue come into our minds and knowing we
could get a prompt, personal answer from you made our lives a whole
lot more relaxed. So thank you.
Overall, we both had unbelievable experiences in Rwanda. As I said we
really did not know what to expect, but the trip far exceeded any
expectation we could have had. The trip itself was a great
combination of seeing the country, understanding the culture, physical
activities, and meeting the people, and all at a great pace -- which
was exactly what we asked for. Beyond the trip, we can't stop talking
about how impressive a country yours is. I'm sure it's readily
apparent to you, but for a people to rise from the troubles Rwanda has
and become what it is today is truly unbelievable. And quite an
experience for us to have.
So thanks again for giving us the opportunity to explore your country
and making the experience as good as could be."
- Kevin and Deanna
Deanna Cettomai <deanna.cettomai@gmail.com> , from the UK
"Hi Danny,
…. First, thank you to you for all of your flexibility, responsiveness, and personal attention in planning our trip. It truly was the perfect combination of physical activities and touristy things (i.e. gorillas, golden monkeys, chimpanzees, etc.) and cultural experiences (i.e. genocide memorials, orphanage, etc.).
I also can't quite put into words what a wonderful and meaningful trip we had. I know it sounds melodramatic to say it was 'life-changing,' but in many ways, I truly think it was. I have never been so impressed or learned so much from a group of people. I feel like I learned a great deal about the atrocities and terrible things humanity is capable of in learning about the unspeakable acts that took place during the genocide, but I also feel I learned even more about the resiliency of the human spirit, the powers of love and forgiveness, and the strength of the Rwandan people to not only persevere but also to move forward in such amazing ways. I was completely impressed by your country and its people, and I loved every minute of my time in Rwanda. Thanks again for everything, and please feel free to forward this email and/or my contact info to people looking for references in the future. It would be my pleasure to provide a reference for Bizidanny Tours."
Sincerely,
Deanna
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Fiona Parry <feparry@googlemail.com> , from the UK
Thank you!
Hi Danny & J.
I am now back in the UK, and I just wanted to thank you for the two tours I did with Bizidanny whilst I was in Rwanda. The tours really made my trip. Rwanda is such a beautiful country, and I was so struck by how much there is to see and do in such a small place. I will be telling all my friends about the country and recommend Bizidanny to be their guides!
Thank you for being so responsive in email and on the phone it is what set you apart from the other tour companies!
Best Wishes
Fiona
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Amy Kindred Bonanno <jbmaxx@nyc.rr.com > , from New York
"Hi Danny -
Sorry we didn't get a chance to meet you in person while we were in Rwanda - we had a wonderful time - the gorillas were just amazing - and as hard as that trek to the Susa Group was in the end I can honestly claim a big personal achievement - had we known the difficulty of the climb and had we also known that those silly gorillas would keep going up as we tracked them we probably wouldn't have pushed so hard to do that group - in the end though it was a great experience that we will remember always.
You did a great job planning our trip and we hope to come back again for a second round - there is also much more to see in Rwanda so we will want to spread out the days a bit more and see other things....thanks again and I am sure we will talk again...."
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Zahra Ramji <zeeramji@yahoo.com> , from Canada
"….I am back in Canada after a very exciting journey. I was sad to leave Rwanda, as I did have a truly terrific time, and I know you are very pleased to hear that. I wanted to thank you for helping to create such a fantastic experience for me in Rwanda. ……..
….. I did have a lovely time in Rwanda and would definitely like to come back and visit. It’s a beautiful country with beautiful people and one that I found very safe and very hospitable.
Cheers, Zahra"
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Dana Kazarsky <danabk414@aol.com> , from the US
Danny,
Greetings.
We have been back from Rwanda and Kenya almost three weeks now, but I am still dreaming of Africa. Our trip really was wonderful, better than I had expected it to be.
I just wanted to thank you once again for helping to make this trip as special as it was for us. Thank you for sharing your beautiful country with us and for being as open and honest as you were with us about what life in Rwanda has been like for the past 15 years. The ability of Rwandans to move forward, politically, socially, economically and emotionally, given the horror of the genocide, is truly a lesson for us all. Clearly it is not easy for anyone, but the national commitment to creating a brighter, peaceful future, full of hope for your generation, for your children and for your children's children is truly remarkable. It is impossible, as a westerner, to not be awed by Rwanda's efforts to heal.
I hope that you are busy with clients. We thought you were a terrific guide and really appreciated all your help and companionship during our visit to Rwanda.
Best wishes,
Dana
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then, off to Butare to see the beautiful national museum presenting the rich history and traditions of the Rwandese people 
and the palace of the former king, the Mwami, at Nyanza
