Policies & Privacy

These terms apply to every reservation made with Mwiko Lodge, whether through our website, by email, or by phone, and set out our rates, what a stay includes, and our terms for booking, payment and cancellation. By making a booking you accept them. Check-in is from 14:00 (2:00 PM), check-out is by 11:00 (11:00 AM), and a 20% deposit is required at booking.

Property

Five rooms — four Standard Double rooms and one Ikaze Deluxe Cottage. Intimate and exclusive.

Full Board

Breakfast crafted with care, served without rush, with drinks included.

Lunch and dinner included, each with one complimentary drink. Drinks between meals are not included.

Activities

Included: guided hiking trail, guided birdwatching trail, evening campfire (igitaramo), and a 30-minute boat ride.

• Standard Double — single occupancy: $250 per night. Double occupancy: $350 per night.
• Ikaze Deluxe Cottage — single occupancy: $350 per night. Double occupancy: $400 per night.

All room rates and fees are in United States Dollars (USD) and include 18% VAT. Rates, inclusions, and room occupancies are as stated in your confirmation, and rates may be subject to change at any time without notice.

At the time of reservation, a valid credit card guarantee is required. Your reservation will be confirmed once payment has been processed in line with the terms below. If a deposit is not received on time, we reserve the right to release and cancel the booking without prior notice.

Full names for all guests must be provided for a reservation to be confirmed, especially where multiple rooms are booked under one reservation.

Payment can be made by credit card or bank transfer. The card used for booking must be presented by the cardholder at check-in, along with photo ID (passport or national ID).

Deposit & Final Payment — Arrivals 1 June to 24 December 2026

• 20% deposit of total room charges is required at the time of booking.
• Full and final payment is due at check-out.

Cancellation fees may apply if you’re unable to arrive as reserved. This may include accommodation, services, and activities, depending on your original booking.

You may request changes to your dates or length of stay, subject to availability. Such changes may affect your rate, and a reduction in nights will be treated as a cancellation for those nights. Any credit card surcharge or exchange fluctuation cannot be refunded if a deposit is returned.

You, as our guest, are responsible for all cancellation, early departure, and no-show fees, charged as follows:

Travel 1 June to 24 December 2026

• A 20% deposit confirms your booking. It can be credited toward another booking if changes are made 60 days or more prior to arrival. Between 30–60 days prior to arrival, the deposit cannot be transferred to another booking.
• Bookings cancelled 30 days or less prior to arrival incur a cancellation fee of 100% of total room charges.

Early Departures or No-Shows

An early checkout incurs a fee equivalent to 100% per night, plus taxes, for the remainder of the originally booked stay. A no-show incurs a fee equivalent to the full value of the stay. This includes inclement weather, unless travel is forbidden by local law.

Travel Insurance

We recommend purchasing adequate travel insurance prior to confirming your booking and accepting these terms. Mwiko Lodge does not offer exemptions from its cancellation policy for medical or personal matters, inclement weather, or other circumstances.

Children are accommodated sharing a room with one or two fully paying adults, as follows:

• Up to 3 years — Free, sharing with 1–2 adults.
• 4–12 years — 50 USD, sharing with 1–2 adults.
• 13–16 years — 75 USD, sharing with 1–2 adults.

Check-in — 14:00 / 2:00 PM

Earlier access is subject to availability on the day of arrival. Please contact us on the morning of your arrival to enquire.

Check-out — 11:00 / 11:00 AM

For a later check-out, a fee of 20% of the room rate applies up to 18:00 / 6:00 PM; a full night’s rate applies after this time.

Group Bookings

Subject to availability, a maximum of five rooms may be booked through our website. Please provide full names for each room, or email hello@mwikolodge.com to reserve directly.

Smoking

All indoor areas, public areas, and the restaurant are strictly non-smoking.

Other

Service charges, fees, and taxes are subject to change at any time without prior notice. Mwiko Lodge reserves the right to introduce these in accordance with law, and the prevailing tax rates at the time of your stay will apply, along with any new fees or taxes introduced.

If you’re a tour operator or agent, slightly different terms apply under our STO contract offering. Please get in touch at hello@mwikolodge.com if you’d like to work with us.

• Website: mwikolodge.com
• Email: hello@mwikolodge.com
• Phone: +250 799 538 770
• TIN: 110372133

This policy explains what personal information Mwiko Lodge collects when you use this website, why we collect it, who we share it with, and the rights you have over it. It is written to meet Rwanda’s Law N° 058/2021 relating to the protection of personal data and privacy.

The data controller is [REGISTERED LEGAL ENTITY NAME], trading as Mwiko Lodge, TIN 110372133, of Lake Burera, Northern Province, Rwanda.

For any question about this policy, or to exercise any of the rights described below, write to hello@mwikolodge.com or call +250 799 538 770.

When you book a room

We collect your first and last name, email address, phone number, nationality, your chosen dates and room, the number of guests, and any special requests you write. We need this to hold your reservation, prepare for your stay, and contact you about it. Without it we cannot accept a booking.

When you pay

Payments are handled on RSwitch’s own secure pages. We never see or store your full card number, expiry date or security code. We receive only the outcome of the payment, the amount, and a gateway reference so we can reconcile your booking.

When you reserve a table

We collect your name, contact details, the date and time you want, and your party size, so we can hold the table.

When you write to us

The contact form collects your name, email address, subject and message, so we can reply.

When you subscribe to the journal

We store your email address and the page you subscribed from, so we can send you our occasional journal letter. You can unsubscribe at any time using the link at the bottom of every letter.

When you leave feedback after your stay

Our post-stay survey collects your name, your email address, six star ratings, and anything you choose to write. We publish your first name, your overall rating and your words on this website only if you tick the consent box on the survey. If you do not tick it, your feedback is read only by our team and is never published. You can withdraw that consent at any time by writing to us.

• Performance of a contract — to take and honour your booking, and to serve you during your stay.
• Consent — for the journal newsletter, and for publishing your feedback on this website. You may withdraw consent at any time.
• Legal obligation — to keep accounting, tax and tourism records that Rwandan law requires us to keep.
• Legitimate interests — to secure our website, prevent fraud, and improve the lodge, balanced against your rights.

We do not sell your personal information, and we do not share it for anyone else’s marketing. We do rely on a small number of service providers who process data on our instructions:

• Supabase — the database that stores bookings, guests, reservations and feedback.
• Railway — hosting for this website and our booking system.
• Cloudinary — storage and delivery of photographs used on the site.
• Resend — sending booking confirmations, check-out notes and the journal letter.
• RSwitch — Rwanda’s national payment switch, which processes your card or mobile money payment.

We also disclose information where the law requires it, for example to the Rwanda Revenue Authority, the Rwanda Development Board, or a competent court or authority.

Our database and hosting are currently operated from data centres in the European Union (Ireland), which is outside Rwanda. Rwandan law permits storing personal data abroad only where the controller holds a valid registration certificate from the National Cyber Security Authority authorising it, and where appropriate safeguards are in place. [CONFIRM NCSA REGISTRATION AND OFFSHORE STORAGE AUTHORISATION STATUS BEFORE PUBLISHING THIS PAGE.]

• Booking, guest and payment records — [7] years after your stay, to satisfy accounting and tax obligations.
• Restaurant reservations — [24] months.
• Contact form messages — [24] months after the conversation ends.
• Newsletter subscriptions — until you unsubscribe.
• Feedback — [3] years, or until you ask us to erase it. Published feedback is removed from the site as soon as you withdraw consent.

Under Rwandan data protection law you may ask us to:

• Give you a copy of the personal information we hold about you.
• Correct anything that is wrong or incomplete.
• Erase your information where we no longer have a reason to keep it.
• Restrict or object to how we use it.
• Withdraw consent you previously gave, including for the newsletter and for published feedback.
• Receive your information in a portable, machine-readable form.

Write to hello@mwikolodge.com and we will respond within the period the law allows. If you are not satisfied with our answer, you may complain to Rwanda’s National Cyber Security Authority (NCSA), which supervises data protection.

This website does not use advertising cookies, analytics cookies, or any third-party tracking. The only cookie we set is a session cookie for staff signing in to our private administration area. Because it is strictly necessary for that service to work, it does not require your consent.

Access to guest records is restricted to authorised staff accounts protected by passwords. Traffic between your browser and this site is encrypted. Payment card details never reach our systems. No system is perfectly secure, but we take reasonable steps to protect your information and will notify you and the authority of a breach where the law requires it.

This website is not directed at children, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from a child other than the guest details a parent or guardian supplies when booking a family stay.