Amsterdam/Nairobi
August 2, 2007
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Arriving to Africa
August 2, 2007
-MacBook
-Canon 30D
-Two lenses: Canon 17-85 IS and a Canon 100-400 IS L
-Compact Flash: 4 Gbytes and 1 Gbyte
-JBL speakers
-30GB iPod with a camera adapter to download pictures
-3 international adapters
-Cleaning Kit for my camera
-Battery chargers
-Manfrotto tripod
-Manfrotto monopod
I woke up at 3:30am and drove to Barajas (Madrid´s airport) at 4am. The flight was at 6 am so I thought that being there around 4:20 I would have enough to do everything… damn! I was wrong. Since all these new airport regulations people get to the airport 2 and ½ hours before the time, so I arrived quite late. There was a big line to do the check in but it was even worst the line to go through the security line. Next time I will leave three hours in advance!
From Madrid I flu to Amsterdam with KLM and from there to Nairobi. The flight from Madrid to Amsterdam was almost two hours, and from Amsterdam to Nairobi 7 and ½ hours. The service at KLM was good although the food served in the flight was awful!
Once we got out of the plane in Nairobi we went through customs. It was plenty of security people all around! Walking along the corridors I saw some muslims praying in small rooms all along the aiport. It seems to be that muslims are predominant in the country. Once we got to customs we showed out passports and paid 50$ as airport fees. If you are coming from the European Community you have to fill out an orange form and a white form. It is for a VISA. Once we passed customs we went to pick up our luggage. There was so many people waiting for it and it went so slow. For a moment I thought they lost my luggage. Didn´t take much clothing, as all my camera equipment was already very heavy.
Once out of the airport, there was our tour guide waiting for us. Temperature was suprisingly low (17 degrees)! So i had to put my jacket on. On the way to the hotel (The Saratova Stanley) he gave us some relevant information. In Kenia you have 3.000.000 people, like in Barcelona and the country overall 33 million. Very close from the airport you find one of the oldest reservartions in Kenya. It is surrounded by electrical fences so animals don´t start walking along the city :) To get to the hotel we had to take the Transafrican highway! Quite bumpy to tell you the truth! On the way we saw big birds sleeping on trees. By the way, it seems to be that in most of the lodges, they dont have power from 12am to 5 am, so you have to recharge all your batteries before 12! I bought 3 international adapters so i can charge them all at once.
Once we got to the hotel we had dinner! And if you are expecting me to say we ate lion or any other kind of animal you are wrong, we had spaghetti and lassagna :) the only thing they had left as we got there late and the kitchen was not working 100%.
This was a 5 star hotel and I believe we had the most expensive spaghetti i have ever had in my life! Almost 30 dollars for plain pasta in Africa! :(
I am putting my alarm clock at 6am… tomorrow we are doing a safari in Ambosseli. I am quite exicted!!!
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This is one of the best hotels in Nairobi. This city is quite dangerous, so it is recommendable to go to a nice hotel. It is a 5 star hotel, although do not expect it to be so good. There are security guys with machine guns at the entrance of the hotel, so imagine the level of security. Expect to wait some time doing your check-in as everything here goes slow! :) Dinner is not too good and forget to order breakfast in the room. They charge 15 euros to do that even if breakfast was included in the rate. The room is ok and in every floor there is a security guy. Ohhh last day I was there I realized there was a swimming pool in the top floor! it is cool!
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. I would say that to buy souvenirs in Tanzania is like a sport! It is fun as hell. One tourist explained to me that once he was buying some souvenirs and they gave him a price. He accepted and then the guy got all pissed off saying he had to bargain. And he explained to him how to do it. I do not know wether that is true or not, but I swear, it is fun once you get into it.
Normally they start with a price which is 10 times higher, let´s say 100 dollars. Although many times they tell you to give a price before starting the negotiation. You have to go very low, as low as 5 dollars. Then, if it is totally out of range, then they just laugh at you. Then he gives you the new price, lets say 50 dollars. From there you can give 15 and if you are lucky you can close the deal at 20-25 dollars.
Also if you are thinking of buying more than one thing, just negotiate things separetely, and once you have finished negotiating, just give a total offer for the whole set of things. Try to get close to him/her, put on his hands what you want to pay and try to close the deal that way! Well good luck! Today is my last round in stores in Tanzania. Just looking forward to it! hahah
Normally they start with a price which is 10 times higher, let´s say 100 dollars. Although many times they tell you to give a price before starting the negotiation. You have to go very low, as low as 5 dollars. Then, if it is totally out of range, then they just laugh at you. Then he gives you the new price, lets say 50 dollars. From there you can give 15 and if you are lucky you can close the deal at 20-25 dollars.
Also if you are thinking of buying more than one thing, just negotiate things separetely, and once you have finished negotiating, just give a total offer for the whole set of things. Try to get close to him/her, put on his hands what you want to pay and try to close the deal that way! Well good luck! Today is my last round in stores in Tanzania. Just looking forward to it! hahah
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I usually organize all my trips by my own, buying the plane tickets through the Internet and booking all hotels directly. This time I just thought it was too risky, but now that I know how everything goes I would encourage you to avoid travel agencies. They are not 100% bullet proof when problems arise. For example, the second day we had a reservation in a beautiful hotel in Amboseli and because the hotel overbooked we did not have a room. I called my agency (retail), Katai (wholesale) and Kobo (local agency) and none of them could solve the problem. We had to sleep with the employees from the hotel.
The way it works is the following. You get the ticket from a travel agency, for example Viajes Iberia. The travel agency buys the package from a wholesaler (in our case Katai). Katai at the same time bought the package from Kobo (local agency in Kenia), which at the same time was buying the Tanzania Tours from Leopard Tours (local agency in Tanzania). If you add up all the different agents on the process you end up paying more than 50% in commissions. And, as I said, if a problem arises, you dont have everything guaranteed.
Talking to our tour guide he told me that if I want to come back it is not necesarry to do it through an agency, we can contact him directly and avoid all these comissions. If I knew that before i would have done it this way. Actually, before getting everything in Katai, I called a couple of local travel agencies, but they just did not give me enough confidence. I will give you the name of my tour guide. He work from April to September for a local agency, but the rest of the year he can organize you everything. His name is David, and he speaks English, Swahili and Spanish. He is very professional and very responsible, it is the only tour guide that made me feel comfortable. He would not do the typical tour, he knows how to make the tour much more attractive, like spending the night with a tribe in Nnongoro. He will book the hotels for you, organize the transportation, parks and he will be your guide at all times. Highly recommendable.
I am attaching his contact information:
David A. Mganga
P.O.Box 4057
Arusha (Tanzania)
Telephone# 255 786-267794
devidmganga@yahoo.com
The way it works is the following. You get the ticket from a travel agency, for example Viajes Iberia. The travel agency buys the package from a wholesaler (in our case Katai). Katai at the same time bought the package from Kobo (local agency in Kenia), which at the same time was buying the Tanzania Tours from Leopard Tours (local agency in Tanzania). If you add up all the different agents on the process you end up paying more than 50% in commissions. And, as I said, if a problem arises, you dont have everything guaranteed.
Talking to our tour guide he told me that if I want to come back it is not necesarry to do it through an agency, we can contact him directly and avoid all these comissions. If I knew that before i would have done it this way. Actually, before getting everything in Katai, I called a couple of local travel agencies, but they just did not give me enough confidence. I will give you the name of my tour guide. He work from April to September for a local agency, but the rest of the year he can organize you everything. His name is David, and he speaks English, Swahili and Spanish. He is very professional and very responsible, it is the only tour guide that made me feel comfortable. He would not do the typical tour, he knows how to make the tour much more attractive, like spending the night with a tribe in Nnongoro. He will book the hotels for you, organize the transportation, parks and he will be your guide at all times. Highly recommendable.
I am attaching his contact information:
David A. Mganga
P.O.Box 4057
Arusha (Tanzania)
Telephone# 255 786-267794
devidmganga@yahoo.com
Most electrical appliances have a converter that ranges from 110 to 240 wats, so you dont need anything but an adapter. I always travel with 2 international adapters but this time they did not work. You need an adapter with three pins and if you have expensive equipment (computer, labtobs…) be careful, as the light comes and goes often, even in 5 star hotels. I am attaching a couple of pictures showing you an adapter that works and a typical plug. If you don´t have one don´t worry, in most of the airports you can buy them. I bought mine at the Ámsterdam Airport.
-In regards to Shillings. Tanzanian chillings are quite easy to understand, as 10US$ is like 12 Tanzanian Chillings. In Kenya works different. You have to divide the amount times 60 and then you have it in dollars.
-Airports have good exchange rate! although sometimes hotels are not bad either.
-Remember, when you fly to Tanzania you pay 50$ in taxes at the airport and if you go from Tanzania to Kenya you will also pay an extra 50$. It is a VISA for 3 months what you pay.
-If you went to Zanzibar, they also have a 30$ fee. Damn so many fees I did not count with :)
-We exchange the money in every country... bringing dollars you will not have a problem whatsover...
-Bring many 1 dollar bills or get many 500 tanzania chilling bills. You have to tip for everything :)
-By the way, DONT FORGET TO TAKE WITH YOU A BIG CASE OF BALLPENS. Kids are always asking for them!!!! take them! that way you will not have problems taking photos!
-Airports have good exchange rate! although sometimes hotels are not bad either.
-Remember, when you fly to Tanzania you pay 50$ in taxes at the airport and if you go from Tanzania to Kenya you will also pay an extra 50$. It is a VISA for 3 months what you pay.
-If you went to Zanzibar, they also have a 30$ fee. Damn so many fees I did not count with :)
-We exchange the money in every country... bringing dollars you will not have a problem whatsover...
-Bring many 1 dollar bills or get many 500 tanzania chilling bills. You have to tip for everything :)
-By the way, DONT FORGET TO TAKE WITH YOU A BIG CASE OF BALLPENS. Kids are always asking for them!!!! take them! that way you will not have problems taking photos!
