Travelling is Fun

Accommodation: Fish Eagle Inn (fish@africaonline.co.ke), camped at their campsite on the lake shore for three nights in our own tent, had access to shower with hot water from a boiler (in the evening water ran out quickly), paid Ksh220 per person per night (last night Ksh200 after complaining about unavailable hot water). Fish Eagle Inn campsite offers the same as the neighbouring Fisherman's Camp for about the same price - we have chosen it as it offered acces to hotel facilities including swimming pool (never used it anyway) and because it was more empty and quiet when we arrived; on the third day a sort of local christian youth camp arrived and it ruined things out (kids have obviously never encountered hot water and they made sure there was none available any time along the day) and there were also some local golden youth drunkars making a lot of noise - it is question of luck which of the two camps is better but I would pick Fisherman's next time. The nights there were pleasantly cool and mostly quiet - you could hear hippos grazing just behind the security fence on the lake shore.

Food: There are several shops and some restaurants in a neighbouring village (more just a crossroad on the main road); we ate at the bar/restaurant on the southeast corner where they have been able to prepare some custom-made vegetarian food. 

Mount Kenya

We have done a five-day trek in the Mount Kenya NP without using any guides or porters, going up along the Chogoria route and down along the Sirimon route and sleeping in our own tent - we have chosen the Chogoria route for ascent as it was the best for acclimatization and the Chogoria-Sirimon routes as they were supposed to be best regarding landscape, vegetation and wildlife. We had no intention to climb any of the Mt. Kenya summits, our goal was to see the unique landscape and vegetation of the place. There are several vegetation zones on Mt. Kenya and the heath zone and esp. the alpine zone feature unique plants endemic to the African high mountains, namely lobelias and groundsels. The trek was a highlight of our Kenya trip and our definite advice would be not to skip it when in Kenya - yet allow enough time for proper acclimatization, otherwise it would be more a struggle than joy (the safe rate of ascent is not to sleep more than 500 m higher than previous night when not used to the given altitude before).

Trek itinerary:
Day 1. We started from Chogoria village at about 9:30 - there had been some touts there offering guiding and portering but they had not been too pushy and even offered some free advices when convinced that we were not going to give them any job. It took us whole day of slow continuous climbing along the dirt road to reach the Park gate next the Meru Mt. Kenya Lodge (3000 m asl). The initial 6-km walk to the Park boundary led through rather nice farmland with tea and other crop fields, then we were passing trough mountain rainforest (lots of rather big trees overgrown with ferns at first and then with moss and lichen) and in the end trough bamboo forest (strange atmosphere full of cracking noise) - nice hike allowing to meet and enjoy the forest. It was rather long, tough day but manageable after previous acclimatization in the highlands (Kakamega has the altitude of 1800 m, Nakuru and Naivasha 1900 m asl). Camped at a very good campsite next the Park ranger's office.
Day 2. With the aim to ensure proper acclimatization we did not climbed just to the normally used campsite at the roadhead (3300 m asl) but continued on to the Lake Ellis (3500 m asl). The original plan was to fork from the main trail and go along the side trail directly to the Lake Ellis, but right after the short-rain season the trails became overegrown and we missed the side trail and reached unexpectedly the roadhead campsite - from there we used a compass and found our way to the lake trough grassland along round ridges. The hike took a good part of the day. We were passing through zone of small and giant heathers at first and then reached the alpine zone with short grasses and first tree groundsels (some of them just have been in flowers - very nice). Yet, the lake Ellis itself we did not found especially scenic. Camped next the lake on a rather rough surface full of grass clusters.
Day 3. We went southwest along usually well visible trail till reaching the main trail and then continued along it to the Minto's Hut (4300m asl). We were passing through the alpine zone with short grasses, occasional low heathers and lots of groundsels and lobelias. We were getting higher above the plateau surrounding the Meru Mt. Kenya Lodge and had nice views down and around. At the end of the day some heavy clouds gathered and it started raining for the first time of our trek; the rain became rather heavy and we reached the camp in a thick fog. Camped next a small lake near the hut on barren surface among huge grass clusters. The rain continued with interruptions all the night.
Day 4. We started up in an occasional drizzle and thick fog, visibility was mostly very low, and before we got to the highest point of our trek at Simba Col (4620 m asl) touches of snow appeared. Fortunately our route was relatively straightforward and we could also follow footprints of some people coming from their sunrise excursions to Point Lenana; it would have been quite difficult to go along any other trail - the fork to the Austrian hut and Naro Moru route was indicated but we did not notice any other of the forks sketched in our map, not even the fork to Point Lenana summit. This part was mostly barren with no vegetation and we were glad to start down along the Sirimon route; almost right below Simba Col first lobelias and then also groundsels started to appear again, and lots of hyraxes too (they have been rather scarce along the Chogoria route); the rain stopped as well. We went down along a broad and nice valley rather densely overgown with lobelias and groundsels, past the Shipton's hut and camp. At the point where the trail started to traverse to the right over the ridge (at some some 3800m asl) we camped on the deposit on the bank of a stream. Once again there were some showers of rain during the night and in the morning we could see snow lying up on the mountain (so we had been lucky to get over just before it came).
Day 5. We went steadily down all the way to just ahead of the Park boundary near Sirimon village. The clearly visible trail went through heathers first to the ridge and then down along a broad swampy plateau to the Old Moses hut. From there we went down along a dirt road going down along a ridge trough rainforest - rounded valleys and slopes on the road sides made possible views of distant trees and forest canopy, we also saw quite a few birds. We reached the Park gate at about 16 just shortly after start of heavy tropical rainstorm only to find that the Park ranger's office was deserted - we had to wait for about 1.5 hours for a ranger to show up and sign us off (she was explaining shamelessly that it was too cold for her to work and so she went to sleep to nearby barracks ??!). After that we passed about half of the 4 km remaining to the park boundary and found a campsite in the forest.

Park visit tips: The Park fees are US$70 per person per first three days and US$20 per person per each additional day, the fee paid is valid for 24 hours from the time of payment indicated on the ticket (check correctness of the record), there is no fee for camping; it is possible to pay just the initial minimum 3-day fee when entering the Park and pay the rest when leaving - better take advantage of this possibility as nobody is going to give you anything back if you are leaving sooner. When going up along the Chogoria route the Park gate and fee payment place is about 29 km and 1500 m up from Chogoria village ( the place you arrive by public transport) while the Park boundary is just 6 km from there; many people rent a jeep for this trip and so even if you walk you can always say to ranger that you have arrived on car and save yourself paying fee for whole day in the park (we arrived at 19 and had this time noted on the tickets while passing the Park boundary at about 11) - on other routes this distance between the Park boundary and gate is much shorter. Parties of two are a minimum on the mountain and so if you are alone you are requested to hire a guide; everybody going in has to sign in at the gate and indicate his/her general plan - if not leaving at around the expected time the search is started (better do not try to slip out without paying the remaining fee as there are rumours of thorough searches for the culprits who had been chased all the way to Nairobi and rewarded with a very heavy penalty to pay for the search). All the guidebooks maintain that the eastern and southern slopes of Mt. Kenya are much more humid than the northern and western slopes but we have witnessed a complete opposite - the Chogoria route was rather dry with water available usually just in lakes, the Sirimon route was quite humid and often even swampy and there was no shortage of water almost anywhere along the route.

Transport:
1. Our goal was to get to Embu. First leg of the transfer was obvious and easy and we took one of the frequent matatus leaving from the crossroad near the Fish Eagle Inn for Naivasha town. To get to Embu or Meru from there you can either go to Nakuru and take a direct matatu from there, or go trough Nairobi and Thika. There were lots of touts in Naivasha and it appeared quite difficult to find the best way - in the end we opted for a just-leaving matatu which - as they kept assuring us - was going directly to Thika; sure as hell, it went just to Nairobi and we were hearded to another matatu going for Thika thus being stucked in Nairobi traffic jam twice; from Thika there was then no problem to get another matatu for Embu and Meru. After experiencing that I believe now that we should go back to Nakuru and get that direct matatu from there to Embu and Meru (it goes the other way via Nyahururu so we would be spared of Nairobi zoo and even saw some new parts of Kenya). Other better option would be to take matatu from Naivasha to Nairobi and from there a direct matatu to Embu and Meru. Anyway, even the way we have taken was feasible and we got to Embu around 16.
2. Our reason for going to Embu was that we needed to find a place to leave our spare things before starting our climb - Embu looked as a good spot in our original plan which included going down from Mt. Kenya along the Naro Moru route (we changed that plan after some discussion with locals at Chogoria village and never regretted that) as it seemed to be easier to get from Naro Moru to Embu than to Meru. When taking down the Sirimon route, it would be naturally much more convenient to leave our stuff at Meru. Anyway, it was easy to get from Embu to Chogoria as there are frequent matatus running along the route from Embu to Meru where Chogoria is a stop in about middle way (so it would be as easy to get to Chogoria from Meru). When going back after getting down from the mountain we first had to take matatu to Meru (quite frequent as well) and from there another matatu to Embu.
3. When going up, it is possible to hire a jeep at Chogoria village and got a ride up to the Meru Mt. Kenya Lodge (but be warned that it would not be do you any good regarding acclimatization). Also when going down you may found car available at the Old Moses hut or phone for one.
4. Another good reason for choosing Embu as a base was that there were direct buses running from there to Mombasa as our next goal was the coast (still, these buses originated at Meru). There are about four different companies serving the route from Embu (Meru) to Mombasa, all the buses go overnight. After some exploration we chose company named Autobus which used big Scania buses which we considered better for an overnight travel on Kenyan potholed roads - price was Ksh1000 per person, the bus was supposed to leave at 19:30 (due to heavy rain it arrived and left about an hour late) and got to its Mombasa office at 7:30 (a rather unpleasant surprise was that the bus served as a truck and had a huge pile of sacks on its roof - when we got to Mombasa the bus went first to the city market to unload its cargo which took about an hour from 6:30).

Accommodation:
1. Kwiremia Rest House at Embu (right in the city center on the corner of Mama Ngina and Kubukubu Rd.), a reasonable room with two beds, attached bathroom and hot water shower, only Ksh400 per day. Very friendly place where there was no problem to leave our spare stuff at their office for no fee - when we arrived six days later we have no problem to collect it again. As we were leaving the same evening we hired a single room (for Ksh250 per night) for several hours to repack and get a shower after our trek - they might have been willing to give us a discount but we did not ask for that as we liked the place and were grateful for their looking after our stuff. Before finding the Kwiremia Rest House we checked the Eden Guesthouse recommended in our LP Guide but their rooms were small and with shared bathroom only and they even asked for a fee Ksh100 per day to store our stuff.
2. When trekking on Mt. Kenya we slept in our own tent - it was OK, cold at night had not been too bad even for our tent built rather for a good ventilation in the tropics than for high mountains with temperature droping close to zero. By Park regulation, it is allowed to camp just about anywhere but it is not always easy to find a good place to camp especially on the Chogoria route where availability of water is limited to known camps and high lying lakes. Besides the overpriced Meru Mt. Kenya Lodge there is no accomodation on the Chogoria route. Rather different situation is on the Sirimon route where there are three huts well spread along the route and run by a private company; the huts are supposed to be well equipped and offering - for reputedly still reasonable rate - some rooms and beds in dormitories (but we have never tried them).

Food:
1. There is quite a few restaurants in Embu and some of them offer even one or two vegetarian dishes. We have eaten at the restaurants of the Morning Glory Hotel and the Highway Court Hotel and been reasonanbly satisfied; the former one is slightly better and even offers take-away packaging (we used it for bus overnight trip and it was OK too). Embu apeared to be surprisingly lively and well organized town - it has that authentic feel of the town rarely visited by tourists and we quite liked it.
2. We have used our own camping stove when on the mountain and it was quite necessary especially on the Chogoria route. Of course, you may get some food on the Meru Mt. Kenya Lodge and the lodges along the Sirimon route but I am sure it would not be cheap. 

Watamu

We have spent 9 days there and mostly had a good time - besides enjoying the sea we have visited Gede ruins, Mida Creek, and Arabuko-Sokoke NP.

Watamu village tips: Watamu village comprises two different parts - developing, rather unfriendly resort area and still surviving original fishing village; both parts have quite different feel. The place is slowly being overrun by package tourists (but they typically stay at their resorts and beaches) and especially by rather wealthy expatriates who built their villas all along the coast (for some reason mostly Italians). These expatriates behave as if they own all the village including the locals and try to enjoy life of the long-past colonists setting the life norms there - you can see all the typical signs: elderly white ladies trailing behind their black servant laden with groceries, pensioners fighting the time with very substantially younger local partners, and especially general atmosphere of rudeness and disrespect to any local customs - quite disgusting and depressive spectacle; and this kind of visitors naturally attracts the worst of the locals who are especially pushy and quite rude when not getting what they want, i.e. your money. But do not let yourself to be driven away by all this - just next but separated as though by an invisible border there still is a lively fishing village with friendly locals going about their normal life. You can see fishermen seeing about their small dhows and returning from the sea every evening with big fish, and their wives taking care about their households - they do not bother you when you walk by and do not try to overcharge you for everything. Concentrate on this friendly part and ignore the other and you will have a good time.

Watamu sea and marine-life tips: There is a barrier reef all along the coast around Watamu not too far from the shore, corals there are alive and nice and attract a lot of fish. Several kilometers long stretch of the shelf to the south from Watamu up to the Mida Creek estuary composes the Watamu Marine NP where you are supposed to pay a daily entry fee of US$10 per person whenever you take a look under the water surface (swimming is free); yet the shelf directly in front the village and up north is out of the park boundaries and completely free. There are three beaches near Watamu, from north to south: Watamu Beach, Blue Bay, and Turtle Bay beaches. The difference between low and high tides at Watamu is more than three meters (there are two cycles of low and high tides during the day) and the currents are quite strong in the middle of tide changes and so you need to give care to them - it is very usefull to get the tide table and plan your time (try to find it on the internet or ask at the Park office or any of the resorts). Seawater temperature is quite pleasant and it is quite possible to swim for an hour or two without getting cold through.
1. Swimming: At the low tide it is rather difficult to enjoy swimming at the Watamu Beach (long walk to the sea on top of dead sharp coral) and Blue Bay (virtually without water), it is better at the Turtle Bay and OK to the south of it. Be carefull after the high tide as the seaward current is quite strong.
2. Exploring during low tide: Around the low-tide time the sea retracts substantially and leave behind large areas of very shallow water and some tidal pools. It is quite interesting to wander around and observe marine life at close range. You can see star fish, sea cucumbers, all kinds of small fish and even occasional moray eels (there are at least two families of moray eels staying permanently at certain holes on the southern side of the Turtle Bay - local touts will show you these places in their effort to get you sign for their snorkelling trips).
3. Snorkelling: There are several places to go - usual way is to be taken by boat for a fee straight to some good spot (hopefully) but it puts you at the mercy of boatsmen which are difficult to control. There are organized snorkelling trips to the place called Coral Gardens in the Watamu Marine NP which put together as many people as possible to the so called "glass-bottom" boats (normal motor boats with a very small and ridiculously untransparent glass plate at their bottom) - you can join either by signing in in any of the local resorts (for a fixed fee) or try to haggle a better price (not too easy) with one of many touts approaching you on the Turtle Bay beach; the price includes a Park fee and you get some 1.5 hour of snorkelling (of course, for a rather high fee you can get a trip all by yourself and about anywhere). The other, less passive way is to hire a local fisherman and get to the reef on a dhow, local sailing boat - you probably get a better price and a sailing trip on the dhow is nice experience by itself. We haggled about the first option but gave up after finding it overpriced and over-organized; then we settled for the second option and went to a reef outside the Park; and this way we have found a rather good spot for snorkelling quite close to the shore where we could swim to straight from the beach. You can find this spot just south of the two small islets northernmost from the Watamu Beach - just walk there along the exposed beach prior to the low tide and swim straight to the sea; a quite large coral-garden area with small coral pillars and coral boulders is not more that some hundred meters from the shore and not too deep, you can find there several different kinds of coral and observe lots of various fish. Also those famous Coral Gardens in the Watamu Marine NP can be visited without a boat, by simply swimming from the beach - it is a large 2-km long strip about 200 to 300 meters from the shore south the Turtle Bay starting just opposite the huge rock standing on the beach; there are usually some boats full of snorkellers hanging about there; the Coral Gardens again consist in coral pillars and coral boulders but these are little bigger and also the fish living there are bigger - especially big coral fish you can see at the spot marked by a banch of buoys about 300 meters from the shore (shoal of fish living there is often feeded by snorkellers and the fish venture right to your nose). When going there on your own you can also avoid paying the Park fee - it is highly unlikely any ranger would bother to check along beaches and if he comes you can always pay him. Another good spot for snorkelling is inside the Blue Bay just in front of the huge rock in the bay entry during the high tide; the Bay is rather shallow and you do not see much fish there but there is this small area where a bunch of fish lives including a lion fish, grouper, and big moray eel - we were visiting them every day and they were always on the same place and let us come very close. When snorkelling, do not forget to take at least a T-shirt and better some trousers too as it is very easy to get thoroughly sunburnt.
4. Diving: There are four diving centers at Watamu all attached to the local resorts. The prices for diving trips are quite high there in comparison to what I have encountered in South Asia or the Caribbean; all the centers generally accept walk-in divers but as they are focused on resident divers they typically ask lots of money for equipment rental. I did a 2-dive trip with the Upinde Diving Center attached to the Aquarius Resort for EUR70 including equipment rental cost and that was the cheapest deal to get at Watamu (their equipment looked OK but my 2-nd stage was slightly leaking which cut both my dives by about 15 minutes - very annoying !!). The dives were OK but nothing special - the corals there are in a relatively good shape (mostly hard, almost no soft corals there) and you can see usual variety of reef fish and some scarcer creatures too (seen e.g. turtle, stone fish, big moray). Considering the cost I would say that diving at Watamu is not really worth it.

Gede ruins visit tips: We have spent half a day wandering around the ruins of long deserted Swahili town of Gede. The ruins themselves are not too exciting but they are located within the forest and the visit is quite interesting - lots of baobabs there and you can watch some monkeys and lots of nice butterflies; the fee is Ksh400 per person (if I remember correctly). The ruins are just next a little village of Gede which is interesting by itself - being just 10 minutes by matatu from Watamu it is a typical African poor village without any visible influence of tourist hordes dwelling so close to it.

Mida Creek visit tips: We went for a short trip to Mida Creek, actually a sea gulf featuring a lush mangove forest. It is rather interesting place where you can observe lots of waterfowl. We got to its shore along the trail from the main Mombasa-Malindi road but you can see it just as well just next the road going south from the Watamu village.

Arabuko-Sokoke NP visit tips: We have spent just about an hour in this park which can be visited on foot or bicycle and the daily entry fee should be US$20 per person (we have just ventured in along one of many roads passing through it and accessible from the main Mombasa-Malindi road and thus avoided paying the fee). The Park features a large area of the coastal forest which we had not found especially spectacular after seeing the rainforest in Kakamega or on Mt. Kenya - the trees there were not too tall and we did not see almost any wildlife.

Transport: It was fairly easy to get to Watamu from Mombasa and back. The Autobus bus from Embu to Mombasa terminated on Abdel Nasser Rd., a main Mombasa hub of cheaper bus companies, and we almost immediately got seats on a Tahmeed Coach bus heading for Malindi for Ksh200 per person; there are several companies serving that route. We got off at Gede junction, several kilometres before Malindi, and took a matatu from there to Watamu for Ksh40 (they run very frequently). When going back, take matatu from Watamu to Gede junction; from there to Mombasa you can either take another matatu or flag down any of passing buses (more comfortable option).

Accommodation: We arrived to Watamu at the end of December and so finding a room turned out to be rather difficult. There are three cheap hotels on the main road at Watamu and we have found none of them especially friendly and attractive. At first I got a promise of a room at the Malog Guesthouse but till we arrived there with our luggage (in some 10 minutes) they just gave the room to another guy who probably agreed to pay more (!!?). After that we settled for a room at the Dante hotel (a double room with attached bathroom and fan for Ksh700 per night) but we have not been too happy there - the hotel had rather nice yard but the staff was not too friendly and every-evening power outages were quickly changing the room to a sauna; when we were awaken in the middle of night by a receptionist who rather rudely demanded payment for that night, which she forgot to ask for during the day, we had enough. We moved out of that tourist area to the Marijani resort which was situated at the unspoilt part of the village and we were quite happy there - the resort were offering only rather expensive rooms but they let us camp at their nice garden and provided us with an access to our own bathroom for Ksh400 per night; it was very friendly and secure place (there was a guard at the gate who opened only to people staying there) close to our favourite Watamu Beach and I would like to recommend it as the most pleasant accomodation at Watamu; we could often observe several 20-cm long colorful lizards at our corner of the garden and quickly started to call Marijani "the place where even lizards are friendly".

Food: There is a well equipped and friendly supermaket called Mama Lucy's in the middle of Watamu where you can buy all the supplys. Often, we have eaten at a rather good restaurant called the Roasters just behind the Mama Lucy's supermarket which offered reasonably prices and mostly cooked quite good food - especially fish and some vegetarian food. They were also opened to preparing some custom-made vegetarian food (but sometimes they had problem not to forget to do the changes agreed on). 

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Mombasa

We have spent two days there and found the city interesting and relatively friendly - yet, we have not ventured too far beyond the centre and the Old Town. The Old Town still kept the unique atmosphere of Swahili seaport and we had a good time there wandering around in narrow tortuous streets.

Transport: see Watamu description

Accommodation: New People's Hotel, double room with a fan and a bathroom attached for Ksh700 per night; chosen mainly because of its proximity to bus depots on Abdel Nasser Rd. - it was OK and good enough for the price.

Food: There are quite a few of cheap restaurants in Mombasa Old Town and in the adjoining area and many can present some sort of a written menu. We can recommend a restaurant at the basement of the Ocean Crown Hotel on Abdel Nasser Rd., nearly opposite to the New People's Hotel; they offer a rather extensive menu and cook their meals real well. 

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Nairobi

We have spent two days there and found the city a quite dull conglomerate of rather disparate parts without atmosphere and common expression. It does not feel unsafe during a day but it is good idea to stay alert - at Taveta Rd., a small street between Accra and Latema Rd., my wife suddenly found an alien hand in its pocket in full daylight. We spent our time wandering around the River Rd. area (lively transport hub) and saw also the centre around Kenyatta Ave and City Hall Way (banks and expensive hotels district) and ventured to the Westlands area too (a would-be American suburb area without any spirit whatsoever). Regarding the last minute shopping (we have been interested mainly in wood carvings) I can recommend the souvenir market at the Westlands area where you will likely be the only shopper and so be able to bargain for a good price; there are some things to buy at the City Market too but it is much more difficult to get a good price there as you have difficult competition from wealthy package tourist capable to go for the first asking price.

Transport:
1. There are about ten companies offering bus transport from Mombasa to Nairobi just on Abdel Nasser Rd. - just walk around, compare the asking prices, and try to bargain the price down; the buses are about the same and it is difficult to find any other reliable feature to distinguish the best one. We have chosen the Exciting Coach (no too fitting name) and got the tickets for Ksh650 each. My recommendation is to take a daylight bus as you get a chance to have a look at the scenery and possibly some wildlife at the Tsavo NP, which the road is passing through (we have been lucky to see not only some zebras but also a lioness just trying to hunt down a zebra colt). The journey takes about 9 hours and feels really long.
2. Airport transport: From the airport you can always take a taxi for some price Ksh 1000-1500 depending on the daytime and your bargaining skill; other option is to arrange an airport pick-up deal with some hotel prior coming (we have done that with the Hotel Greton for US$20, i.e. about Ksh1400, and been glad to save some nerves at the beginning of our trip). When going home well-seasoned after your trip you may feel ready for an adventure - then you may consider taking the infamous bus No. 34 - we did that and it was real fun. The bus (run by Nairobi municipal bus company called City Hoppa) leaves from the bus stops in front of Ambassadeur Hotel on Moi Ave - there are many buses leaving from there. If you go on Saturday and esp. Sunday it is a piece of cake - there are several No.-34 buses waiting there empty and you just board the first one and go (nice and easy). The situation is dramatically different on weekdays: there are some six or so very orderly queues standing there leading from nowhere to nowhere; you need to ask people in the queues which one is for your bus No. 34 as there is absolutely no sign. When you solve this puzzle you just go to the end of your queue and wait - in the evening you typically do not get into the first bus No. 34 and probably not even to the second; just move on and wait, there is a bus every half an hour. When you finally get in you are fine (the bus takes only as many passengers as there are seats available for them); its Ksh40 per person to the airport (when there are two of you with big luggage you are asked to pay for the third seat which is very fair as you really use it) and it takes about an hour to get to the airport in usual Nairobi evening traffic jam.

Accommodation:
1. Hotel Greton (gretonreservation@hotmail.com), double room with a bathroom attached and hot water for US$20 with breakfasts. We used this hotel for the first night of our Kenya trip because of a possibility to contact it by email and their willingness to book for us the Akamba bus tickets from Nairobi to Kakamega (Akamba depot is very close to this hotel); they also offered to pick us up at the airport at midnight for another US$20. The room was OK (although nothing special considering the price) and the bus ticket booking and airport pick-up were carried out as agreed.
2. Nawas Hotel (on the corner of Latema Rd. and River Rd.), single room with a bed wide enough for two, bathroom attached and hot water for Ksh700 per night with a single breakfast; room was nothing special but OK for two nights, no problem with storing our luggage after check-out time. We checked the Iqbal Hotel before and found out that it was closed for good; then we checked the New Kenya Lodge that looked OK but was full.

Food: There are a lot of cheap restaurants in Nairobi; we have been satisfied, both by menu and quality, at the G&R Restaurant at Biashara St. near the City Market, and at the Middland Restaurant (if I still remember the name correctly) at River Rd. near Gaberone Rd. 

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When preparing for my trips I always gather from the internet information about each place to be visited and before I go I put it unsorted into a single document that I print out and use it during the trip. I still have these documents prepared for my Kenya trip and I can send them to you. If anybody is interested please see the information on my Introductory Page.

© 2007