From: elof@uni-paderborn.de (Elof Frank)
Newsgroups: rec.travel
Subject: Re:Kenya and Tanzania
Date: 17 Nov 1992 11:01:31 GMT
Organization: Uni-GH Paderborn, Germany
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: flores.uni-paderborn.de


I've been to Kenya twice in the last two years,
both times I had three weeks to spend. It is just about
the minimum time you HAVE to spend there, if you
want to get a glance of the country and the people.

I bought a return ticket here in Germany
and everything else I organized down there.
(Ok, I was born down there and lived there for twelve
years, so maybe I was familiar to more or less of the
place, but I assume you've done this kind of travelling
before. Nevertheless it is a good country for travelling)

A good address for a photo safari is 
EXOTIC TOURS AND TRAVEL. I went with them for 7 resp.
5 days and can recommend them. We had some minor breakdowns,
but nearly every of the lower priced, local tour operators
have these kind of problems. 
Accomodation is on a fixed tent site in the parks (Massai Mara,
Amboseli), or in a low priced hotel in Nakuru. You need your
own sleeping bagg in the tents, but can also rent them down there.
If you happen
to be in Nakuru, insist on a room to the rear, there is a loud 
disco on the opposite side of the street. I spent
Christmas Eve there and didn't manage to fall asleep.
They've got good cooks (nearly everywhere in 
Kenya) and plenty of food and beer (you have to pay for the beer).
You can travel for nearly any amount of days and they go, when
the minibus is nearly full. Before you make a deal, ask how many
others are on the trip yet. Never be the first one, you  might
wait quite a long time.

Price per day: approx. US$ 60 per day, payable in local currency.
I managed to get it for 50US$ per day, but this was because I 
travelled with them one year before.
Anyway, you really have to get down to bargaining hard with these
guys. 
I suggest you travel to Nairobi, have a look at the town for two days
and at  the same time organize the travel. 
When you are in Nairobi, a lot of people on the roads will 
offer you the best
and cheapest safari in town. They all want to have a little piece
of the big cake of tourism and earn a living on it. Just follow one
or two of them, they will take you to some of the tour operators
and you will find out about the current prices per day. 
Don't do any of this business at night, and before you go into any
building, convince yourself, that you see a signboard outside the
building somewhere. (I never had one bad experience at any time in
Kenya, but still be careful)
You don't
have to tip these guys, they will be payed about 40 KSh. by the
company, if you get into business with them.  And don't be to
quick in making a deal. There are many of these tour operators
all over the town. 

You must go to the Massai Mara, maybe the Amboseli, if you want
to see the Kilimanjaro, but otherwise this park is quite dead,
and urgently needs a regeneration for about ten years. 
(I don't think anybody will close the park for even one year.
There are so many people earnng a living on it.)
If you go to
Tanzania, you will see the Kili anyway. If you are interested in  Birds
they will try and take you to Nakuru. You'll see lots of
smaller pelicans, maybe some flamingos and some waterbuck
and a lot of baboons. There are supposed to be some 
rhinoceros and some leopards in the park, as it is one of the
few with an electric fence around it (to keep the poachers out),
but I never saw any.

The big amount of birds is supposed to be at 
Lake Bogoria and Lake Baringo. But you  need
nearly an extra day to get there.

Hotels: Lots and lots of them.
A middle price hotel(200Ksh) is the Sunset Inn and
it is safe and clean.
I now of many travellers, who stayed at the low  budget
hotels and they were satisfied. Don't expect hot water
except in luxury hotels, but have a look at the rooms before
you sign in and check if it's clean and  if they have got
water at all. If there is no water, when you open the tap,
don't believe them, when they tell you it's beeing fixed.
Look for another hotel, you'll find one for sure.

Travel  Guides:
I thing there is a book on Kenya in the Rough Guide's Series.

I had a really good book by Stefan Loose: Traveller's Guide
to Kenya. (I had the german edition, so I don't know if
the title is OK, but I can look it up at home. Ask me
if you need the title or if you wan't more specific information
or addresses in Kenya.

You have to go to Lamu, but don't go there at the beginning
of your stay, maybe you'll never get to see anything else --
it's so relaxing and pleasant.

I can't give you any information on Tanzania, but I know
that EXOTIC TRAVEL has got connections to Tanzanian Tour
Operators and they also organize meeting points at the border
to Tanzania. They take you there and the others will be
waiting there.

Go to the Thorn Tree Cafe at the New Stanley Hotel
in the evening (5 - 7 pm), you'll
meet a lot of travellers, if you want to meet them.

Good trip, you'll enjoy it for sure.



=========================================================
Elof Frank
Warburgerstr. 100
University of Paderborn
D - W4790 Paderborn
Germany
email: elof@uni-paderborn.de
=========================================================
Newsgroups: rec.travel,aus.general,soc.culture.australian