Kenya/Tanzania

[shedite]

Anyone been? Going for 3 weeks in September. We're flying to Nairobi, spending a week climbing Kilimanjaro, then going on safari for 4/5 days and have a week to spare. Anyone have any suggestions for something to do?

Options at the moment are to stay around Nairobi (is there that much to do?), go to some remote villages/towns, or fly to the Ocean and sit on a beach for a week.

[superfrank]

My step-dad just got back from there. He was on safari. He said the best thing was the helpings in the ranches. You'd get a three course meal for breakfast, lunch and dinner. You'll spend loadsa time in the jeeps going around the reserves though. It's really long hours.

He said Nairobi is very dangerous. A few days before he went there was a car-bombing. He spent the whole time in his hotel. He was in Mauritius too if you're looking for a beach resort but I think it's four hours by plane, iirc.

[theworm2345]

Anyone been? Going for 3 weeks in September. We're flying to Nairobi, spending a week climbing Kilimanjaro, then going on safari for 4/5 days and have a week to spare. Anyone have any suggestions for something to do?

Options at the moment are to stay around Nairobi (is there that much to do?), go to some remote villages/towns, or fly to the Ocean and sit on a beach for a week.
I was there a few weeks ago, (June 12th-30th) its a great place and the people there are wonderful. I have tons of video if you want to see it. I don't know if you have but you need to talk to a company to go on safari with. We went with Hippo Creek/Tandala. This too was great, the guy who runs it, Aziz is really nice and he is from France originally. Our guide Bariki was also great. We won some of our tickets in a raffle so it wasn't as pricey so I'm not sure how much you are willing to pay. (Also, if you are using airline miles like we did sometimes you can get a long layover somewhere like France (like we did) for no extra charge).

My advice is do not go to the ocean and don't go to Nairobi, stick with a safari. You can chill on the beach anywhere and with the elections in Kenya it is very unstable. With a week extra you can probably see 3 more parks and have some time to spend in Arusha. I bought a Tanzania national jersey for $15. In my opnion, there are 3 different things you can do, safari (see animals), Oldupai Gorge (fossils), and tribes (people). We did all of them and they were all great. Safariing is great because you can see animals you've never seen before and you can visit more parks (all of them have different things to see). We got to go down into the Gorge and visit the archeologists (I'm not sure we were supposed to) and we visited 3 tribes, Masai, Hadzabe, and Datoga, all of which were really interesting as well. If you really want to see the Serengeti it is very far from Kilimanjaro so unless you are making stops along the way (like we did at Ngorongoro, Tarangire, Lake Manyara, and Lake Eyasi) you should fly. Also, if you want to see the chimpanzees you will have to fly to the southwest. We did not fly because my mom was scared of the small planes. You do not want to visit Jane Goodall's chimps because they are so used to humans I guess they are bad tempered (so I heard from a guy who is a pilot there, I did not go there) There is another park right near there that I think starts with an M where it is more natural. It is alot of info, so sorry about that, but if you want to email me or MSN me with questions...
email: svoboda323@yahoo.com
MSN: theworm2345@yahoo.com

[SkStu]

http://www.giraffemanor.com/index.html

anyone been can recommend? Looks like great craic.


http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_rAgTr5eO33w/S0P4gYH9h7I/AAAAAAAAAIg/hWR-FZxZsSU/s320/home1.jpg

http://www.kenyasafaris.co.ke/images/giraffe-manor.jpg