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Orchids' Safari Club Bukavu, Lake Kivu Congo Democratic Republic (formerly Zaire) Email: OrchidsILA@ila-chateau.com
Bujumbura (Burundi) International Airport 120 km
Goma 140 km • Kigali (Rwanda) International Airport 300 km
Owners: Marc Moreau (Founder) & Associate Partners
Number of Rooms / Suites: 22 / 2 Rates: from US$110 Sorry, we have no facilities to accept Credit Cards Restaurant: menus Open all year round |
 
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~ General view of Bukavu quietly set along lake Kivu ~
~ The Dining Room ~
Set in a flamboyant garden, the friendly Orchids' Safari Club waterside hotel has the most spectacular views over
the Lake Kivu. This is the starting point for an exciting safari : rafting on the Luhoho river, visiting a tea plantation
or trekking through the dense rain forest of Kahuzi-Biega in search of lowland gorillas who despite their formidable
strength are gentle and rare patriarchs. To spend a little moment (maximum an hour by local rule) with one of nature's
great endangered species and also one of our closest relatives is definitely .....The experience of a lifetime !
"I got down on my hands and knees and pretended to be a gorilla"
In a land of beauty, wonder and danger, the scientist Dian Fossey was the first person to have been documented interacting with families of gorillas. She came first in Zaire (now DRC) in 1967 to study the vanishing mountain gorillas but soon moved to Rwanda where she lived for almost 18 years among them, gaining their complete trust. After one of her favourite gorillas was killed, she started a media campaign against gorilla poaching before being murdered herself the day after Xmas 1985 at the age of 53 by poachers in Rwanda's Virunga Mountains. Her book "Gorillas in the Mist" earned her so much acclaim that it was eventually turned into a movie of the same name (1988), starring Sigourney Weaver as Fossey (the film was nominated for 5 Oscars).
Gorilla tourism depends primarily on the conservation of these magnificent animals. There are only about 650 left in the wild jungles of the National Park bordering Uganda, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Some rules have been developed to protect them and the mountain rangers will brief you adequately. Binoculars are highly recommended but flash photography is strictly forbidden when tracking the gorillas.
Vous êtes-vous déjà assis à côté d'un gorille ?
Une expérience inoubliable face à ces géants respectables pour lesquels vous resterez toujours un « invité » ... à la seule condition
que les « présentations » préliminaires aient été respectées. Sage précaution !
Dian Fossey avait su, en son temps, comprendre les moeurs de ces rares survivants pour vivre à leurs côtés pendant 18 ans. Mais en ce qui vous concerne, il ne vous sera accordé qu'une heure, une heure seulement auprès d'eux, afin de ne pas les stresser inutilement.
Quant à l'Afrique, celle de vos rêves, celle restée vierge, elle est toute à Vous au départ de cet excellent hôtel magnifiquement situé en surplomb du lac Kivu.
Haben Sie schon einmal einen Gorilla aus nächster Nähe gesehen ? ILA macht es
möglich, denn auch der Gorilla gehört jetzt mit zu ILA ! Ein Gefühl der
Sensation wird Sie überkommen und welch unvergessliches Erlebnis, das Ihnen im
ORCHID'S geboten wird. Dian Fossey hat hier die Sitten dieser respektablen Riesen 18
Jahre studiert. Aber Sie können nur 1 Stunde in ihrer Nähe bleiben, sofern Sie als
Gast entsprechend “vorgestellt” worden sind, denn sie vertragen keinen Stress.
Ausflüge und Safaris in die nähere Umgebung bietet das Hotel, in dem Sie einen
einmalig herzlichen Empfang finden, an. ORCHID'S liegt in wunderschöner Landschaft
über den Höhen des Sees Kivu.
~ The lounge with an extensive view onto the garden and the lake Kivu ~
~ View of the hotel garden going onto lake Kivu ~
~ Tea fields to visit in M'Bayo (40km from Orchids' Hotel) ~
~ Orchids' partner Michel Defays introducing his tea plantation in M'Bayo ~
~ A male eastern lowland gorilla in the Kahuzi-Biega National Park ~
~ View of Bukavu city ~
