Meet Sylvie: The Rwandan Woman Turning Every Journey Into a Story Worth Telling

There's a particular kind of person who can turn a six-hour drive through the Rwandan countryside into the highlight of your entire trip — not because of the scenery alone, but because of who's sitting next to you, narrating it. Sylvie is that person. Ask anyone who has traveled with her, and they won't start by telling you about the gorillas they saw or the lake they swam in. They'll start by telling you about her.

Sylvie is a Rwandan-born, licensed tour guide and the founder of Treks & Tales Safaris, a travel company built around personalized wildlife, primate, and cultural journeys across Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania. She's also part of a small but growing group of women reshaping what leadership looks like in East Africa's tourism industry — an industry that, for a long time, didn't picture women out front, leading the way up a volcano.

A Backpack, a Border Crossing, and the Trip That Changed Everything

Every great guide has an origin story, and Sylvie's starts on the road. Not long after finishing high school in Rwanda, she backpacked through Uganda and Kenya, chasing curiosity rather than a checklist.

What she found out there wasn't just beautiful landscapes — it was a feeling. The thrill of crossing into a new country without quite knowing what the day would bring. The strange intimacy of a bus seat shared with a stranger who, hours later, feels like an old friend. The realization that East Africa isn't one story, but dozens of overlapping ones — Rwandan, Ugandan, Kenyan, Tanzanian — each with its own rhythm and way of welcoming a guest.

That trip left her with a plan. Sylvie came home and enrolled in Tourism and Travel Management at university, turning a personal passion into a professional path.

From Freelance Guide to Storyteller-in-Chief

After university, Sylvie started the way most great guides do — freelance, building relationships one traveler at a time. It's easy to think of tour guiding as a job about logistics: permits, pickup times, park fees. And it is that. But somewhere along the way, Sylvie noticed what the spreadsheets never captured. It wasn't the itinerary travelers remembered most — it was the conversation on the drive between destinations.

Travelers arrived from every corner of the world, carrying entirely different lives, and on a dirt road in the Rwandan hills, those lives intersected with hers. Some of the stories she heard were funny, some unbelievable, some stayed with her long after the traveler flew home. More than a few became genuine, lasting friendships. That's the idea she eventually built a company around.

Where the Name Comes From: Treks & Tales

Ask Sylvie why her company is called Treks & Tales Safaris, and the answer is simple: it's what happens on every trip. There's the trek — the gorilla hike through Volcanoes National Park, the game drive across the Maasai Mara. And there's the tale — the story that comes out of it, the one you'll tell for the next decade.

For Sylvie, a safari was never just about ticking a wildlife sighting off a list. It's about what happens in between — the roadside conversations, the unplanned stop at a local market. Treks & Tales is her way of building a company around one philosophy: the journey and the story are inseparable.

What Sylvie Specializes In

Sylvie has built real, specific expertise across four countries:

• Gorilla trekking in Rwanda — hiking into Volcanoes National Park for a life-changing hour with a wild mountain gorilla family.
• Chimpanzee trekking in Uganda — tracking our closest living relatives through Kibale or Bwindi.
• Wildlife safaris across Kenya and Tanzania — the Maasai Mara's plains, the Serengeti's horizon, and seasonal encounters with the Great Migration.
• Cultural experiences — visits with local communities and artisans that go beyond a photo opportunity.
• Personalized, multi-country itineraries — waking up in Kigali, crossing into Uganda by midweek, and ending the journey watching the sun set over the Serengeti, stitched together by someone who actually knows the roads and the people.

As a licensed Rwandan tour guide, Sylvie brings a level of credibility that's hard to replicate — the kind that comes from years on the ground. Because Treks & Tales specializes in personalized, largely all-inclusive journeys, travelers aren't left piecing together permits and transport on their own.

Being a Woman in a Male-Dominated Industry — And Owning the Room Anyway

Here's the part of Sylvie's story that deserves more than a footnote: East Africa's guiding world has historically been dominated by men, especially in gorilla trekking. Sylvie stepped into that space and, by her own account, had to prove herself in ways her male peers rarely did.

It wasn't one dramatic moment. It was quieter than that — building confidence trip after trip, until the doubt started to fade. What she gained on the other side wasn't just experience. It was certainty: she knows this landscape, these borders, these communities. She belongs here, fully.

That matters beyond her own career. Every traveler who books with a female Rwandan guide instead of assuming the role is reserved for men shifts what's possible for the next woman considering this path. If you're specifically looking to support women in tourism across Africa, booking with guides like Sylvie is one of the most direct ways to do it.

More Than a Guide — A Connector of Stories and People

Ask Sylvie what she loves most about the work, and she won't lead with scenery. She'll tell you it's the conversations, the unexpected detours, the friendships that outlast the trip itself.

A guide who's only in it for the paycheck gets you to the gorillas and back. A guide like Sylvie notices what you mention in passing on day two, and by day four, has arranged a stop that turns it into a memory. This is the difference between a transaction and a relationship — and it's why travelers rarely think of Sylvie as "our guide" by the end. They think of her as a friend who happened to know exactly where the gorillas were hiding.

Why This Matters for Community-Based Tourism

Every booking made directly with an independent, locally rooted guide like Sylvie keeps tourism income in the community, rather than routing it through layers of international operators. It's the difference between tourism that extracts and tourism that empowers.

When you book a trip built around real local knowledge, your money funds far more than a permit and a hotel room — it funds a livelihood, a small business, and a woman's continued ability to lead in a field that still needs more women at the front of the group.

What a Trip With Sylvie Could Look Like

Rwanda: Start in Kigali, then head north to Volcanoes National Park for a gorilla trek, with cultural visits along the way. Uganda: Cross the border for chimpanzee trekking in Kibale or Bwindi, plus a boat safari on the Kazinga Channel. Kenya: The Maasai Mara for big-cat safaris and, depending on timing, the Great Migration. Tanzania: The Serengeti or Ngorongoro Crater to close things out.

Every leg can be shortened, extended, or rearranged — because that's the point of working with a guide who builds personalized itineraries instead of selling a package off a shelf.

Book Your Journey — And Support the Story Behind It

Sylvie's story is still being written, one trek and one tale at a time. Every traveler who books with her gets a knowledgeable, licensed guide with real experience across four countries — and a front-row seat to the kind of human-centered travel that's harder and harder to find.

Ready to plan your journey? Visit Treks & Tales Safaris to start building your own trek — and your own tale — with Sylvie.