Mantis EPIC Hotel & Suites Nyagatare (Rwanda)

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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 , apparently there is also one in the UK , no idea why , maybe london is also a wild jungle

There are 3 in rwanda

One in the southwest near lake kivu in cyangugu (but i skipped this town due to limited time) at border with the DRC

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 now

To make your life simple and help understand the prices in dollars or euros , just divide the prices in rwandan francs by 1000 , altough the real rate is slightly different

My original plan was to try the hotel inside the national park , but again due to time constraints i couldn't be away from Kigali during weekdays , so i skipped it , but if you are interested here is a short introduction about how it works

In order to get into the national park , you first need to pay a fee , depending on stay length + other details

Here 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 francs

There are several lodging options within the park , ranging from 25$ to 1000$ a night , but hey , rwanda ain't cheap

If you want to see gorillas in rwanda , you should book way in advance and prices are even higher , accomdotation can go up to 10k$ a night

As i was part of a daily safari tour , means pick-up from kigali in early morning , visit the park (takes around 6h) in a real 4WD with driver/guide 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

The mountains on the other side of the park are in Tanzania , and the park takes his name from the river Kagera , that separate both countries

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 pay

And no , i didnt give my ALL id to get points on that expense , but i could

I 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 day

There are of course bunch of activities possible , ask the hotel before coming about all details (time , requirements , prices and so on ......)

Fun fact = here what i got from the hotel as a "lunch box" for 15$

So , here i am at the epic hotel and suites , after a few hours ride in early morning from kigali during Umuganda

More 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 stay

The hotel is located near the highway before entry to the city center , but far away from everything , so you only hear birds singing

If you drive few kiometers more you can reach border with uganda or tanzania

Everywhere you go in rwanda , kagame is not far away

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 GM

I was able to adress few requests i had , and they were all fullfilled , so the staff here is very helpful

Booked 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 WB . I hope by next time i come to rwanda the new airport will be finished

So in summary a very good start

So , here is what a suite looks like in this hotel

It's very big , probably one of the biggest rooms where i have been , if not the biggest , from my recent experiences it is almost as big as the suite i got in  Majlis Grand Mercure Residence Abu Dhabi

Here is the bathroom

Then the corridor with closets containing everything needed for a stay

One 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 close , which is way more than what i have seen around the world

I made a test , by fully opening the door , it took 24 seconds in total to close , so it was funny to hear voices or noise from outside while i was already in the room

Here is the balcony

From there you have a view over the pool , the tennis + basketball courts 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 , about slippers and TV

i got very nice slippers , they are made from recycled materials by local community

Thats a good initiative

The 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 to get in "almost" local mood

Before going to the pool , let's visit the hotel a bit

As 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 park

In 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 divided into two parts = First is 1 meter (3 feet) deep and the next is 2meters (6 feet) deep

As hotel is not within the city and i assumed most likely everything there close early (or maybe i am wrong and i should check by myself next time) , 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 (at least local brands) 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 (i do not count properties as brands)

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 are listed in rwandan francs (RWF) , remember to divide by 1000 to get prices in USD or EUR

As you can see , local beers are 4 times cheaper than glass of wine , so better go with the wine , period

Fast 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  but it is what it is)

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

Of course it will be out of rainy season

Time went too fast , i just stayed for one night in this hotel but i should come back for longer

They can , like Akagera game lodge , organise activities for you in the region , and of course a tour of Akagera national park

You should ask for all details before you arrive , so you can arrange everything and optimize your time

One 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 yes

As 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 francs

Here 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

As said earlier , its not just here but many , if not all luxury hotels in africa do it ,

Marriott for sure , no idea about radisson but i might check as i gave up on hilton , i did a status match with them during covid it was really fun

And in many cases you get forced to accept DCC unless you use amex or you are ready to argue with front desk for 10 minutes

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 next time i pass by rwanda and have enough free time to visit