Introduction Had another weekend to stay away from work and enjoy Rwanda's countryside , so i decided to try one of mantis collection properties .While most are in africa , there is also one in the UK , no idea why , maybe london is also a wild jungleThere are 3 in rwandaOne in the southwest near lake kivu in cyangugu (but i skipped this town due to limited time)One in the Akagera National Park (more about it later)One in North (they call the region eastern province) in city of Nyagatare , near Uganda and Tanzania , which we are discussing today Mantis Akagera Game Lodge My orginal plan was to try the hotel inside the national park , but again due to time constraints i couldnt be away from Kigali during weekdays , so i skipped it , but if you are interested here is how it worksIn order to get into the national park , you need to pay a fee , depending on stay lengthHere is price list per january 2023 A stay in the hotel , as far as i know , doesnt include the entrance to the park (and possible fees) . These needs to be paid at the entrance , and you can pay (per january 2023) by card or mobile payment only (MTN Momo Rwanda is a very popular payment system , you register at same time you buy a sim card with your passport , you load money into an account linked to your mobile phone and can use it to pay for almost everything) . But i still recommend you to come with cash , but beware that you can withdraw only 200 000 RWF (rwandan francs) per withdrawal , cause its limited to 40 banknotes and the biggest one in rwanda is 5000 francsThere are several lodging options within the park , ranging from 50$ to 10000$ a night , but hey , rwanda ain't cheapAs i was part of a daily safari tour , means pick-up from kigali in early morning , visit the park (takes around 6h) and then return to kigali the same day , i got an offer to buy lunch on site the park .... and guess where it was ???? You are right = Mantis Akagera Game Lodge The hotel has a swimming pool with view on the Lake Ihema , it looks really nice , i wish i had time to try I haven't seen the rooms by myself but i heard they are nice For the record , this hotel is also part of ALL program . Only one mantis in rwanda is not part of ALL ,out of the 3 and its the one near Kivu lake , at border with DRC . I think i will maybe try this hotel also , one day in near future during next stays in rwanda To save time , we just stayed few minutes , the time to grab the lunch boxes and payAnd no , i didnt give my ALL id to get points on that expense , but i couldI recommend to stay in the park if you want to avoid waking up at 4am + a 4h ride from kigali .Then you can wake up early before sunset to visit the park and see the big 5 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_five_game) , as most predators in this park tend to be active at night and sleep during the dayThere are of course bunch of activities possible , ask the hotel before coming about all details (time , requirements , prices and so on ......) Check In So , here i am at the epic hotel and suites , after a few hours ride in early morning from kigali during UmugandaMore on that here = https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umuganda Not that i dont want to participate , cause even foreigners can , but i completely forgot it was last weekend of the month when i booked my stayThe hotel is located near the highway before entry to the city center , but far away from everything , so you only hear birds singingIf you drive few kiometers more you can reach border with uganda or tanzania Pictures of the lobby taken later in the evening My fresh welcome drink (in addition to the mandatory voucher we usually receive) I had chance to meet the operations manager , but neither the GM or deputy GMI was able to adress few requests i had , and they were all fullfilled , so the staff here is very helpfulBooked a standard room and got upgraded to a suite , it was a nice gesture . The butler took me to my room and explained everything to me about the hotel Here was my welcome gift + card Near the gifts was a book , about recent history of rwanda and all changes it went through and many new upcoming projects As an AV geek and FTer , my eyes i couldnt miss WBSo in summary a very good start Room So , here is what a suite looks like in this hotel Its very big , probably one of the biggest rooms where i have been , if not the biggestHere is the bathroomThen the corridor with closets and everything needed for a stayOne thing to mention, the door takes a long time to close itself , i am used to hotels doors , so i know what i am talking about but in this case the door takes 19 seconds to closeI made a test , by fully opening the door , it took 24 seconds in total , so it was funny to hear voices or noise from outside while i was already in the roomHere is the balcony and you and you have a view over the pool + tennis/basket court and the countryside . I was alone so a tennis match was out of question and for basketball i had no proper shoes + clothes Few details to mention , slippers and TVlip i got very nice slippers , they are made from recycled materials by local community Thats a good initiativeThe only thing i didnt really like was the lack of TV channels , there were 8 in total , 2 rwandan channels , BBC news , NBA TV and the rest from canal + africa . No idea why so little , so i used my phone to listen to music , especially amapiano Pool Before going to the pool , lets visit the hotel a bitAs i said , the hotel is not in the city center but already in the countryside This is why it is very quiet , the hotel is located near the northern exit of akagera national parkIn the building you can find lot of paintings , i assume they are from rwandan artists Sorry in advance , there are bunch of services offered in this hotel i had no time to test , like massage or sauna , due to lack of time , will give a try maybe next time They also have gym and meeting rooms Then i finally reached the ppol , not the biggest i have seen but its more than enough for me , most of the time i was alone There are two pools , one behind me (forgot to take pics) for kids and the one you see here , which is divived into two parts = First is 1 meter (3 feet) deep and the next is 2meters (6 feet) deep Dining As hotel is not within the city and most likely everything there close early (or maybe i am wrong and i should check by myself) , i stayed in the hotel for dinner They have a restaurant bar , same location where you also take breakfast Will show you the menu later . I decided to use my voucher in the same time = i could get 2 beers or 1 glass of wine , i went for the wine , as beer is cheap in rwanda If you read someone complaining that accor has 45 brands , tell him/her he knows nothing , its already even more than 50 When i arrived i was alone but other people joined later Some information about items find in the menu As well as ikinyarwanda 101 = first lesson of national rwandan language Here is the menu to give you an idea , prices ar elisted in rwandan francs (RWF) , and to get an estimation of the price in dollars or euros , just divide by 1000 As you can see , local beers are 4 times cheaper than glass of wine , so better go with the wine , periodFast forward few hours later for the breakfast The breakfast is in buffet mode , with lot of local veggies and fruits , plus some european items , like croissant . I enjoy when i can try something different and not just the lavish cholesterol party called breakfast in hilton (dont get me wrong i like it also) You can have your breakfast with a really nice view , keeping in mind that January is winter in nothern hemisphere Next time i will go sit outside to get my breakfast Check-out Time went too fast , i just stayed for one night in this hotel but i should come back for longerThey can , like Akagera game lodge , organise activities for you in the region You should ask for all details before you arriveOne last detail to mention , as it is common in high-end hotels in africa , the payment of the stay is in USD , however the rest (food , activities , etc... is in RWF)For me no differences , i could pay by card in USD or RWF , but then the staff anticipated my request and asked if i wanted to pay in RWF , and i said yesAs it was more convenient for me to avoid exchange fees , i paid in RWF On the right the original billl in US dollars , and on the left the new one after conversion in Rwandan francsHere is a quote done the same day (of course this is the mid-market exchange rate)What i was about to pay in USD Versus what i paid in local currency and you can easily notice the difference which was positive in my case Enough to pay myself a glass of South African white Chardonnay in this hotel + give a tip to waiter Overall I recommend this hotel if you , for instance do they day tour of the park , but dont want to stay inside the park overnight , or want to avoid the ride back to Kigali after such a long day or want to be free to visit the region around by yourself Staff was nice , hotel is brand new and well maintained , and food was good. I will for sure return there