When and where to go in Nairobi. My trip to Nairobi, Kenya


My trip to Nairobi, Kenya.

Once in a while, I have to go for a seminar or a conference. This year conference was in Kenya; timing was good- October. El Ninjo (the rainy season )did not start yet, but animals started to migrate.

Kenya is a world capital of safari . A lot of tourists are going there to see “the real Africa”. Of course it was interesting to go there, not to mention that after I started to blog more and met with some bloggers on travel chats on Internet, I got to know the most experienced, “seasoned” travellers were in Kenya several times.

So, I am going to Kenya.

I went to travel clinic and had vaccination against yellow fever and tablets for prophylaxis from malaria well in advance before my trip.

Applied for a single entry visa; it was possible to do it electronically; made my life much easier.

Currently all medical services are on high alert because of several cases of people who had Ebola fever in South Africa and Guinea, so custom services check for sick people quite thoroughly, and health precautions are quite important.

We arrived in Nairobi in the morning . I went to the local bank to draw money in Kenyan shillings. Hired a taxi and arrived to Boma Inn Hotel. Boma and Boma Inn hotel are 2 hotels, which were funded by Red Cross, and proceeds go to that organization.

Nairobi is a big city with the population of 3 million people and growing rapidly. It has two airports- Jomo Kenyatta International airport and Wilsom Aerodrom, which is serving mostly local flights.

National currency- Kenyan shilling, the course was in early October 103K/shl= $1. There were no problems with exchanging currency. Forex bereaus are everywhere. Banks (Barkley, Standard Bank, Kenyan Commercial Bank) are able to exchange currency at best rate for tourists. Credit cards are also accepted, with 5% extra fee. Internet is fairly good quality. Internet Cafés are everywhere, Wi-Fi in hotels. The best Internet provider is Safaricom.

To finish with Internet... Kenyans have great respect to Internet. Each and every hotel, lodge or Guest house offers Wi-Fi .In Kenyan International airport I saw a station to recharge cell phones, laptops, tablets. Not so many airports are able to provide service like that.

Traffic in Nairobi only good when there is no traffic jam. To travel during weekdays early mornings and afternoons is a nightmare. You will stay in traffic for hours. Streets are very narrow, cars on streets are packed like sardines in a tin. How Kenyans are driving in conditions like that and without accidents? We did not see accidents in a city.

By the way,it is very normal to try to reduce the fee for taxi services, or souvenirs on the market. The asking price is usually much higher than the real price. So, try to negotiate.

What to do and what to see in Nairobi?

Plenty cafés and restaurants .The best and very famous is restaurant “Carnivore”, where they are able to offer you crocodile and game meat.

The best is to book in advance, because this restaurant is very popular.

Night life is in Westlands with its clubs and restaurants. The most popular is “Treehouse” Club.

Don’t forget local markets, especially if you want to buy souvenirs.

There are several animal centres in Nairobi: Elephant Orphanage, Giraffe Centre and Mamba Village. In Elephant orphanage tourists are able to see elephant calves and rhinos, in Giraffe Centre to see and even to receive a kiss from giraffe. This park is known as Kissing Giraffe Park. In Mamba Village you will be able to see crocodiles and ostriches.

(To be continued)

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The leaves feel like rain.

Image
          The leaves feel like rain outside of the window.      I made a mistake and realised that, probably, I changed the word fell for feel for a reason. May be it is me, may be we all, women, the same. We feel first, then we act. How we feel would influence our decisions.       If I don’t FEEL IT , nothing good will come out of it, take it or leave it. You can call it six sense, you can call it intuition, you can call it whatever, but if my inner barometer not happy, then I will procrastinate, become very slow. There are many reasons for that.       Previous experience? Yes, definitely. Was once there, broke and lonely. I did try to do something by inspiration only. Things don’t work like that, unfortunately. Don’t want to go there again. I decided for myself- will do anything to be independent, but has to play safe.      I am not alone, neither of us, and that’s not only that. There are days, hours, weeks when you know: the time has come. You know everything
Read more

Ghosts of Johannesburg, part II . Hazel Crane

Image
One of the beautiful socialites and businesswomen of Johannesburg was Hazel Crane. She was a firm favourite of A-list personalities after she became close friend of Winnie Madikizela-Mandela. Hazel was present at most of charity events and she was known for her exceptional generosity. Hazel Crane made headlines of Johannesburg newspapers once again on the 10th of November 2003 after she was shot on her way to the court to testify against a man, who was accused in murdering her estranged husband, and who she helped to arrest. Hazel died shortly afterwards in Millpark Hospital. Hazel was a self-made millionaire, businesswoman and socialite. Hazel was born in Northern Ireland, Belfast. Later on she became a nurse in Zimbabwe, she had to care for her family after her first husband died at the age 25. At that time she was pregnant with her second child. She emigrated to South Africa with two children and nevertheless was able to make a fortune for herself. She was adventurous, lo
Read more

Would you like to try different type of holidays? Try Horse safari!

Image
Subscribe in a reader Never knew that I am actually staying in a wonderful place. Not so far away from me is Hartbeespoort Dam and everything what comes with this place: endless possibilities to explore South African nature and wild life. Surprisingly I did not read too much about it in blogs. People just don’t do horse riding anymore? And it never occurred to me I can’t ride on a horse, I never did. Never in my life. That thought, however, came later when I saw my horse and was invited to climb on it. Well, good for me, there were no other people, and the program in Groot Verlange Driving Academy was able to foresee the situation like that. Yes, they cater for complete beginners. Interesting enough, when I googled places for horse riding I found Groot Verlange in Hartbeespoort and other place La WiiDA in Hennopsriver Valley, also not far from Hartbeespoort Dam area. Both cater for beginners. Both have game reserve adjacent to their stables. I started from Groot Verlange and w
Read more