Umutuzo lodge — Hotel in Boneza

I LOVED staying here. The view, the quiet, the close proximity to cool, clean , safe-to-swim lake Kivu was great. No need to worry about cooking, (and I so dislik cooking) as there’s an attentive experienced chef on hand. As I stayed here for a week we discussed what I’d be eating every day.

So safe! No one will harm you or try to scam you. There were not even dangerous animals about. As a female travelling alone this was a big plus. Its only fair to say that I found all of Rwanda people safe.

Arriving by road feels like a big adventure as the dirt road is very rough terrain, but asphalt and beautifully paved roads are on the way.

The owner has partnered with people in nearby vilkages to create some really interesting local excursions. I was there for seven days and didn’t have time to do them all. Have interests outside of those? I did and they made them happen for me.

The room. This is the beauty of staying at Umotuzo. My room was spacious! It had a balcony and TWO showers, one of them outide! This was my favourite feature. Wifi connection was excellent and reliable. The plug in bug spray really does keep the mosquitoes, and all bugs away. Loved having a fridge, a kitchen sink and counter. It was a comfortable apartment tastefully decorated.

What was missing? A full length mirror and the biggie for me - no fan or a/c. Most people won’t need it, but I really feel the heat easily and never even went under my bedsheet.

Advice- bring a beach towel and reef shoes. I had both.

The staff, particulaly the manager and the chef will afford you personalised service.

I strongly reccommend staying...

The hotel is situated in a green and hilly rural area with magnificient and spectacular views of Lake Kivu which looks like an an awesome inland sea. The accommodation is in wood, swiss style chalets. These are very spacious with extremely comfortable and large beds. There is an excellent kitchen and modern bathroom. You feel you could live there permanently. Above all each chalet as an ample size balcony with chairs and table, again with wonderful views over the lake.||From the moment of our arrival we got great personal service. The workers are very helpful and friendly. The owner Phillippe lives permanently on site. He always has his finger on the pulse, ensuring that everything in the hotel is of the best quality and that his guests have a fantastic and happy experience. ||The meals are excellent. From the breakfast which includes a caffetierre of local coffee, fruit bowl, muesli, eggs of your choice, sausage, crepe, fruit smoothie and toast to the evening meal. There is only one option per evening, but this is prepared with love and care by by an experienced and qualified chel, and consists of three delicious courses, usually including a reallyspecial home made soup, and a brilliant meal dish in a sensational sauce. Philipe often eats with his guests in the evening, and this made us feel really at home.||The access is rough and needs an SUV or 4 wheed drive vehicle. This will soon be tarred. But persevere with your journey, and there is a real gem of a hotel at the end.||Include Umutozo in your Rwandan adventure and you will not be...

|NEVER AGAIN||After a long day and drive, we decided to reward ourselves with an overnight stay at Umutuzo lodge. The photos looked very promising. What I can say is that this overnight stay only caused us stress.||1. The road to the lodge is terrible. Lots of stones and holes. You literally destroy your car. A car that is not a 4x4 cannot handle this road. This was not communicated, which seemed very strange to us. We communicated this to the manager and asked for a solution to get back to the main road. The manager put us in touch with owner Philippe. The owner just laughed at us and said it was our mistake. That he shouldn't communicate this. We received many insults fron Philiooe and we decided to end the conversation.|Then he decided to blame us further through WhatsApp. This is not customer service and we did not feel welcome. Because of this bad experience we decided to leave early the next morning. We were indeed unable to get our car back to the main road, so we had to seek extra help.||2. What you see in the pictures is not what you get. The resort has a lot of potential but is not finished. There are 2 lodges ready, both with a view of a construction site. This construction site obstructed our view of the lake. There were also a lot of people and noise in front of our lodge from 7 am, so we were not able to enjoy our outdoor shower and terrace.||The only positive thing I would say is that Eric and the chef remained very friendly. It's not fair that they have to apologize for their boss's behavior.||Not worth your...