Rima_Henrik

We are currently planning our wonderful 3 week trip to Kenya. This seems to be the perfect place to get alot of useful advice.

We will arrive in Nairobi the 26th of nowember and there we will stay for two days with our kenyan friends. On the 28th nowember we would like to depart on a safari.

The first problem that has accured is that we don´t know which tour operator to use. We are down to four after a million internet visits:

Sana Trekking Expiditions(lonely planet)
Amicabre travel
Mount Safaris
Afican Jacana Safaris (Kato)

Has anyone heard anything about these operators or perhaps can recommend another. We our looking for a budget camping (7days).

Should we book the safari on the internet or wait until we arrive in Nairobi?

After the safari we were planning on going to Mombasa. Can anyone recommend a nice budget hotel?

The last week we will spend back in Nairobi with our kenyan friends again.

I would be happy for all the advice we could get!

Rima

santharamhari

Rima,

Safaris are booked well in advance....difficult to get what you want after you land at Nairobi (or, perhaps i dont know how that works).

If you hv friends in Nairobi, maybe you can send them an email asking for some planning help/advice?

If not, there are plenty of ppl on these boards who have great Kenya knowlege....

Hari

wambui

I agree with hari at least do have an idea where to travel
among the list you have you can add
Cruzeiro safaris, olive adventures, an other there are soo many but my sister

Nyamera

Hello Rima,
Here on Fodor’s most people are millionaires who don’t do budget safaris. On LP’s Thorn Tree there are consistently good reviews of Nairobi Backpackers http://www.nairobibackpackers.com/ and Gametrackers http://www.gametrackersafaris.com/
There are people who book safaris on arrival in Nairobi and who are very happy with that, but to be sure to get what you want it’d be better to book now.
In Mombasa Town I can recommend the New Palm Tree. It’s not really budget, but good value at 1044 shillings (aprox. $14) for a single B & B in 2004. According to the LP guide from this year, it’s now 1160 shillings for a single and 1740 shillings for a double.

atravelynn

While some Fodorites may be millionaires, that is not the case for many of us. Being a billionaire, I do not take kindly to being lumped in with those lowly millionaires!

Nyamera

Lynn, Leely is a zillionaire, so she would not like to be lumped together with you!

Leely

Exactement!

And Rima_Henrik, I'd probably go with a company listed on KATO or licensed with the Kenyan tourist board (different in Kenya than Tanzania? I'm not sure what it's called).

Despite my zillionaire status, I have been camping for a few days in Tanzania and it is a thrilling experience. Especially if you have to use the loo in the middle of the night.

I like to book ahead and then second-guess myself. More fun that way.

Good luck and enjoy. Please post more about your itinerary--and of course a trip report when you return.

Rima_Henrik

I am so impressed with your quick responses. We are so happy for all the help we can get. It seems that you all know each other. Have you all been to Kenya?

I feel kind of poor now after your input Nyamera Just kidding, we are actually engineers but we haven´t worked for that long so our savings are limited

This is our(Rima(girl) & Henrik (boyfriend)) first trip to Africa, the best part is that we are going to visit our friends in Nairobi. I met them when they lived in Sweden and studied at the same university as I (I´m swedish). Now they have moved back so it has been a year since we saw them last.

We will try to spend a little over a week with them and also go on a safari for seven days and visit Mombasa for a couple of days. Anything else we should try to do during the three weeks?

Have to go and sleep, work tomorrow!
Bye bye
Rima

Nyamera

Rima, all Fodorites grew up together and I went to Kenya 3 times when I was a zillionaire. I really should be in bed as you hopefully already are. Lala salama.

atravelynn

Nyamera,
You are right, I've been outclassed by Leely. So what, she is probably one of those PTs that I just learned about.

eddiemuniu

Hi am affiliated to a tour operator hence the worst judge of who to use. But I can send u links to parts of our site which may enlighten you of places you may go.

www.TravellersSquare.com
U will find different safaris from a day, a day and a half to weeks...

We are also on chat (online) as from 0500H -1400H & 1600H - 2100H GMT.. for any more assistance.

Cheers

aby

hi rima c& Henrik

first - Homework: read from LyndaS "NEW EAST AFRICA Trip Report Index"
http://www.fodors.com/forums/pgMessa...searchText=New

do remember that as Nyamera noted, many Fodorites r using expensive accomodation. the parks r still the same: Mara, Samburu/Meru, Nakuru, Tsavo Amboseli & lakes like Naivasha, Baringo Turkana...

for budget camping i'd recommend GameTrackers http://www.gametrackersafaris.com/
They are reputable, i know them for about 20 years and they r not expensive
Read about their Turkana trip for exaple (you'll find that many experienced fodorites have been there)

give us more info (tell us what u like aspire & dream of) & u shall get all the recommendations u need

aby

aby

sorry for the mistake
(you'll find that many experienced fodorites have <font color="gray">not</font> been there)

climbhighsleeplow

Wow, I am not so poor after all!

Acoording to the richlist Carol and I are the 43,497,897 richest persons in the world!

globalrichlist dot com

cybor

Rema;
Please ignore those mill/zill/kachillinaire rumors that Nyamera is speading about us. She's delusional you know, she thinks she's a Topi, shhhh, don't tell her though :-&quot;
Most of us are so poor we eat dirt.

Eben;
I'm not going to look, as it will be to depressing to realise that I'll be sharing dog food with my pup all too soon. Perhaps I'll be too delusional to care.
Sherry



Eben,
I'm afraid to look

divewop

I looked and it looks like I may give up my peanut butter and jelly and start sharing cat food with my cats and/or maybe eat some of the bird food too.

Nyamera

When I was a zillionaire I was the 527,873,564 richest person in the world. Now my ranking is considerably lower and I can hardly afford any of my “basic necessities”, <b>BUT</b> I’m still among the richest 14.6 % in the world. I think the point of that website is to look at the percentage and read what it says below “Richer than you think?”.

Sherry, delusional? If you could see my horns right now you’d be running.

Rima, “Anything else we should try to do during the three weeks?” It depends on what your friends have planned for you. If you’re staying more than a week with them, less than a week in Mombasa and a week on safari you won’t have much time for anything else.
According to the book, what you have to do now is to present your safari itinerary and we’ll have opinions. Or, we could suggest itineraries like 2 nights Samburu, 1 night L. Nakuru and 4 nights the Mara. Or, Nakuru and the Mara and then Tsavo East on your way to the coast. Even better would be to skip the coast and have a longer safari. Kevin “Stakerk” should tell you to go to Lamu instead of Mombasa and then I would agree etc. etc. A Turkana expedition would be very helpful, as we don’t have any Turkana trip reports.

atravelynn

That globalrichlist.com is a great site for perspectives.

Rima_Henrik

Thank you guys for the responses. I´m just sad that I didn´t find you earlier.Whera are you all from?

The safari stops that we have been discussing are Samburu, Nakuru, Mara and perhaps Mt Kenya. The problem is that the tour operators often have set tours and if we want it tailor made instead it will exceed our budget. One of the tour companies include a visit to the Miu Miu caves, is this a nice stop?

These are the reasons for our trip:

We love meeting people and experiencing new cultures.

I love beatiful scenaries(?) and nature more than museums.

We love food, and looking forward to experiencing the Kenyan food. HAs anyone heard of any cookery classes i Nairobi or Mombasa. We took one in thailand and it was so much fun.

We really need to relax a bit so a few days on the beach is needed. How is the beach outside of Mombasa?

There many more reasons but my fingers are starting to cramp

We don´t know how much our friends have planned for us. I don´t want to expect to much cause they have to work.

Does everybody agree that we should do Lamu instead of Mombasa?

Got to go, work is starting!

Thanks again!

cybor

I wish I could help you more but if you keep this thread active by posting ttt on occasion, some of those who live or go to Kenya more often may be able to help. Dlo (?) and a few others have spoke about Luma and Mombasa in the trip reports.

I'm from Rhode Island, USA btw. close to Newport.
Good luck!
Sherry