Chimpanzee Lodge

We were welcome with much warmth. People were lovely. The rooms are very basic, but have a kettle of water and water bottles. The bathroom was good but water pressure was not the best. The Wi-Fi connection was good. The restaurant and the breakfast were very good. The heart is in the middle of the jungle, and I would definitely stay here again. The views are splendid. Thank you!

We had a great 3 nights‘ stay at Chimpanzee Lodge. When planning our self drive vacation in Rwanda we had some difficulties finding accommodation around Nyungwe Forest NP as there seemed to be only very expensive high-end resorts or very low budget options. Chimpanzee lodge proved to be a very fitting place to stay in the medium price range. As others have commented, there are some things to improve upon (eg providing bedside lamps, noise cancelling from the traffic of the nearby main road and neighboring rooms) but we found these issues to be minor. The room was very clean and most importantly, everybody working there was exceptionally friendly. Also, we liked the food a lot (breakfast and dinner, vegetarian options available). One suggestion for improvement would be to speed up breakfast a little - despite pre-ordering the night before it took a lot of time in the morning (considering that one has booked activities in the National Park one has to get to on time). Overall, we can definitely recommend this place to stay near Nyungwe!

There are very few lodging options near Nyungwe but this should not be your first, second or third choice. It's not clean (stains on the duvet and stuff on the sink), there's no bedside lamp, the food is acceptable in some areas but not in others, the ramp up to the dining room and driveway are super slippery in the rain, and it's right on the main road so lots of noise from trucks. Plus, it just has a sad, run down atmosphere. They offered me hot water bottles for my bed the first night (it was freezing and there's no heat), but not the second night even though I asked for them. And the first night after delivering the hot water bottles, the housekeeper held out her hand for a tip. Not a great feeling. I tried to get my tour group to change my accomodation but the manager would not refund the second night's stay so I was stuck. That said, the woman in the dining room was very lovely and helpful.

We were exploring Rwanda, and following the line of Lake Kivu to the south. We wanted to stop off at the Nyungwe National Park, as we had visited previous national parks en route. Chimpanzee Lodge is located near to the park itself. Whilst sitting outside, the views were amazing, and we did manage to spot some monkeys in the trees closeby. The staff were very friendly and helpful. The food was delicious too. The staff bring hot water bottles in the evening to warm the bed, even though these are not needed. Neat touch though. If you want to go Chimpanzee Trekking, you need to book ahead well in advance. We chose to do the Canopy Walkway instead, and this was breath-taking in terms of its experience and of the views themselves. The hotel organised this for us. Chimpanzee Lodge has clearly been impacted by the Covid pandemic, and general maintenance has fallen behind; this is in evidence. There are a couple of issues that need to be attended too: The first is road noise as the main road is very close, and the large HGV lorries pass there all the time. This makes sleeping at night a challenge. The second is more alarming. When we sat outside, in the evening, instead of in the restaurant itself; to enjoy the views, and a glass of wine, we saw a number of rats running along the pipes above us which is totally unacceptable, given the room rate being charged. This issue needs to be attended forthwith.