Your Security is utmost important when traveling alone especially for women and children. When going through metal detectors at airports, do not put your laptop on the conveyer belt immediately, wait until there is no one in front of you. there have been scams where you put your lap to on the conveyer belt and the person in-front of you has a metal object on them causing a delay for you and other behind you while his accomplice at the other side whisks you laptop away. Also when on vacation don't let you brain go to sleep. You may in a beautiful area but sometimes evil minded people are looking for vulnerable people to steal from.

Leaving cameras and valuables in plain sight is not a good idea. Also do ot carry cameras and other equipment in branded bags, try to conceal such items in a regular backpack or in any other less obvious way.

While in big cities try to keep your windows up and doors locked, and valuables out of sight. Travel on well lit, busy routes.

When checking into a hotel never take a room whose number has been announced out loud. Make the clerk at the desk write it down.

In conservative countries do as the natives do wear a veil if the women do. It will protect you from the sun and from unwanted attention. You do not need to be concerned how you look like ( so what if you are having a bad hair day) and it shows respect for the culture.

Enjoy your travel

 

Economic Indicators in 2006 show that the country registered a 6.1% growth with in tourism being one of the the largest contributors. There is no doubt that conference tourism in Kenya is growing at a very rapid rate. This year alone the country has been privileged to host major conference and meetings such as the youth Entrepreneurship Summit , Africities 4th Summit, the IDP Forum for the blind in Nairobi while Mombasa had the opportunity to host the World Cross Country Championships that saw most major hotels in the area booked for the period. In fact Conference tourism is the fastest growing segment in the tourism sector contributing millions of shillings to the Kenyan Economy. The Kenyatta International COnference Center (KICC) has undertaken a total overhaul of conference facilities, and the United Nations Complex at Gigiri having international conference facilities Kenya is the leading conference tourism state within the East African Region. The Sarova Hotels group in light of this has also undertaken major rehabilitation and refurbishments and acquired additional properties which will enable it to attract and retain conference tourism clientele. Hotels in response to increasing tourist numbers are increasing their bed capacity, improving on service delivery and providing back up services. Sarova has increased it's bed capacity from 900 to over 1000 in all its properties in Kenya.

finally today Kenya is ranked th in Africa as a conference tourism destination after South Africa, Egypt and Morocco. This is credited not only to perfect weather conditions but also to the conferencing facilities of international standards available in the country. The country will only progress forward with the large hotels ensuring that they provide products and services for clients to enjoy. 

 

I recently posted an article with a picture of a giraffe. Later on as i was talking to a close friend who is well read in the area of tourism. I decided to ask her about the giraffe in the picture and wheather it was a Maasai or Rothschild giraffe as i had heard about the tow giraffe species over and over again She quickly told me that it was a maasai giraffe. I was keen to know how she was able to identify the giraffe with such ease and she said that the patterns are different and after working in the tourism sector she now is able to recognize lots of wildlife animals in many of Kenya's National Parks. She said that most of the good tour guided are able to tell different species of the same animal apart even when the differences are minute and this is a very key factor in a tour. So any one with a picture of the Rothschild giraffe and where it can be seen in Kenya. Also if you could please outline the differences i Will appreciate. 

 

The baobab tree is a common phenomena in Kenya. I remember as a young child I came across it on the way to the coastal Town Mombasa. It is popular around the Tsavo Park Region and the coastal Strip. It has a large fruit with a hard outer cover. Inside it is filled with seeds that are coated with a cream coloured powder. The swahili people usually colour and sweeten the powder and seeds and repackage. This packs are then sold on the streets to children.

According to the Kenya Wildlife Service official guide it say's that the Baobab is one of the world's longest lived trees. th (Adansonia digitata) can grow up to 20m in height, 5m in diameter and live to be hundreds of years old.

As children we were often told that the trunk held alot of water and elephants would usually fell them so as to be able to drink it's sweet water. Other African legends are also told such as: the baobab was cursed by the Creator because once upon a time it used to hold a lot of water in it's trunk, but because it was too mean to share it's water with other living things, especially in the hot season, it was punished by being forced to live upside down.

As a child i remember visiting the park that was near the Likoni ferry which is no more now as i recently discovered. This park was covered with numerous baobab trees and we would always seek refuge from the sweltering sun during lunch hour. It is during this time my parents, brothers and sisters would gather for a bag of chips or Mukimo

 

The Meru National Park has in the past five years been alive with plenty of activity. Some donor funding has come in from the french Development Agency and the Iternational Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW). All the activities have been directed towards the revivial of the park. I recently saw a short clip on the news on how the Kenya Wildlife Service was trying to relocate a number of animals to the said park. A 43 Kilometer fence has also been put up to reduce the human wildlife conflict in the area. The park had been in the past the premier destination for visitors who wanted to experience the true "African Wilderness". It however experience a down turn in the 1970s due to rampant banditry and poaching in the area and later fell to negelect. It was made popular in the 1950s by George and Joy Adamson and their escapades with a famous liones named ELsa. Joy Admason acquired the lioness after George shot it mother in self defence. For two years, George and Koy trained Elsa for return to the wild.

In 1960, the two wrote the book "Born Free" about Elsa, which was an instant international success. the couple separated in the 1970s and on January 3rd 1980 Joy was found murdered in Northern Kenya under mysterious circumstances. 

Efforts to revive the park have seen a massive trans-location programme in place. 

 

This year during my family vacation we had chance to visit Haller Park in Mombasa one to the most famous showcases of ecologiacal rehabilitation. i used to know it as Bamburi Nature Trail. It seems they re-baptized it sometime back, but nevertheless there were a variety of animals to see like the two hippos munching up the grass on the picture. This is a former limestone quarry that has been rehabilitated to ensure that gaping holes where the excavation was done are not left that way. Trees that shed plenty of leaves were planted and some wildlife brought into the place later on other wildlife came in and now there is a thriving eco-system in this forest so close to the beaches of Mombasa on the North coastline.

Some of the other animals that we saw other than the rescued orphaned baby hippopotamus was the giant aldabra tortoise named Mzee, water bucks the snake park the fish rearing/farming center, the crocodiles. Infact we caught a glimpse of the croc feeding session at 4.30pm. We all enjoyed taking pictures and trying to capture the moment a crock would jump up to get a chunk of meat. The forest trails were also very cool for the Mombasa climate and good for jogging or cycling. This is a must see next time you are in Mombasa. By the number of people that were visiting the place i could not help mentioning this " Hallar park generates more income than the income it got from the limestone excavation in the past" It is a good show of how mother nature rewards if you work with her. 

 

If you thought you could watch the great wildebeest migration in the Mara forget it was the title of the article that appeared in the Business Daily. Nowhere does the last minute booking syndrome come true than it comes to planning for a holiday. The tendency is to wake up and and decide Mara here i Come but to the disappointment of many the reserve has no space for you till late October. The Maasai Mara lodges are fully booked. Bookings began as early as last year. More and more locals are also beginning to show interest in the spectacular home of one of the new seven wonders of the world. There also has been a significant growth in domestic tourism and travel by local Kenyans is contributing 25% of the total earnings in the sector. However for those who will not be going to the Mara this season all is not lost for the famed reserve still offers many sights to behold way after the wildebeests have moved to the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania. One can be sure to see a whole range of wildlife at the reserve from elusive rhino's to cheetahs and lions. A good tour guide can be able to help one spot a whole range of animals. It all depends on how well they communicate with other guides. This is one reserve that is blessed with abundant wildlife.

 

Hi all this site is getting very interesting especialy the safari stories but where are the pictures?????????????????
 

Kieth Dixon in his article “ Family holiday to the Jade Sea” is an inspiring experience worth noting. He describes it as follows: Forty eight cans of baked beans, six boxes of oranges, twenty five kegs of Tusker bear, thirty cases of UHT milk four 4* 4s, one trailer, three rubber duck boats, one speed boat, three wind surfers, two kayaks and a monster ten ton truck, two drums of diesel and fifteen drums of petrol, four families that is twenty people, one cook, three handy men one truck driver and a major expedition.  Three dusty days from Nairobi and months of planning and preparation they reach the refreshing shores of Lake Turkana. They launch the speedboat and a small party goes north by water as the rest continue the 2hr drive past Loyangalani to ‘our’ beach. Hours are spent digging and pushing out the vehicles out of the sand and finally exhausted they rest watching the sun setting down hill. The camp is well organized fruit and vegetables are hung up in hammocks the keg is chilled and they relax into easy days of fishing, water skiing, swimming, walking, reading and sleeping out under the stars, hanging grimly to their sleeping bags in a windy tug of war and raising each morning with the early sun. An afternoon trip of volcanically sculpted south islands the thrill of catching a 30kg Nile Perch a total of 800 kg is caught most is given to the local Turkana people. Packing up is done in an afternoon, the lorry driven up the sand dunes in the cool of the evening. A final swim of yellow rocks and then homeward bound up the sun burned blackend steppe through Horr valley across the deserted Baragoi plains climbing uphill into Maralal and so back into civilization. This is definitely worth a try.

 

According to Athman Amran a Daily Nation correspondent if Vasco Da Gama were to resurrect in Lamu East constituency he would be forgiven for thinking he was in the 15th century. Da Gama who made the first sea voyage from Europe to India and established the route that enabled Africa to trade with the Far East arrived in Malindi in 1498 after a hostile reception in Mombasa.
The six islands that make up Lamu East are Pate, Faza Ndau, Kui, Kiwayu and Sima Mbae still stand six centuries later.
The villagers source of livelihood have been the same for centuries that is fishing and a bit of farming here and there. Villagers go about their lives as they still use canoes and residents move their cargo around the islands on donkeys. Yet 500 years ago, some of the islands were more developed than Mombasa, the largest town along the Coast.
With a population of about 40,000 people Lamu East has only one secondary school another one was destroyed during the Somali wars in 1982. It takes about six hours by motorized dhow to travel from Kiwayu to Lamu Islands and more than 12 hours on a sailing boat. Ndau with a population of between 2000 to 3000 people has no public boat transport to the island, to hire a motor boat from Lamu costs between ksh 20,000 to ksh 30,000 one way. Pate village is also not accessible by the dhow, as it has no jetty or foot bridge. Those going to Pate alight at Mtangawanda and walk for about one hour on foot to reach the village. When it rains travelers take refuge in Mtangawanda at a shelter.
Most houses in Lamu East are made of palm tree thatch or ‘Makuti’ in the local dialect and anchored by mangrove polls. The streets are dark and narrow and the main mode of transport is sailboat.

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