Sat - Sun Dec25
You'd probably arrive in the evening, that seems to be when a lot of flights come in. So you could go right to bed, which is nice!
Mon Dec 26
Recoup. We could do some short things around town, to try to keep you a bit awake and started adjusting to the time. This is boxing day, so virtually everything is closed in the country. The nice thing about Christmas holiday, through after New Year's, is that Nairobi traffic is much less than usual. So I'm afraid you won't get the "authentic" Nairobi experience on that! Anyway, relax and recover.
There are a few options close to us. The brothers guesthouse is the cheapest at $20/night, and is basic but clean and nice. You might consider just staying at the "old Menno guesthouse", Amani Gardens Inn, also around the corner. They have beautiful gardens, etc., a very comfortable and soothing place to be!
Tues Dec 27
Can do another day in Nairobi, some tourists things will open, but traffic will still not exist, so that's nice. The elephant and giraffe orphanages are great fun. Karen Blixen house is a good historical thing to do, out in the interesting "white settler" area of Nairobi by Ngong hills. There are some artist places out that way that are interesting too. Maybe not up to the standard of Matfield Green, but the best we can do in East Africa! (Actually, so pretty amazing stuff around here I'm told)
There are great tea plantations nearby which are gorgeous, close to overlooks across the rift valley, which is quite spectacular.
The national museum is internationally known, have quite nice historical sections, plus amazing human "pre-history" stuff (all those pre-homo sapiens hominid fossils, as you might expect given our location in the "cradle of mankind").
Wed Dec 28
Leave on safari. Can go down to Amboseli National Park, we're quite excited to go there sometime as it is supposed to be quite stunning. The road there is uncharacteristically good (for Kenya) good with little traffic, so an easy and comfortable drive, probably about 4 hours or so. It goes through Maasai rural area, so very interesting to watch the people and landscape while driving.
KWS has a guest house there we could stay at, looks like it would have nice views of Kili. We stayed at similar ones with the Grabers. It's sort of like when we stay in cabins at Douthat - basically a house to stay in for a few days. So it's nice to have a kitchen, sitting room, nice porch to hang out on.
Thurs Dec 29
Hang out in Amboseli. The usual thing to do is game drives, basically drive around slowly and watch all the wildlife. Usually that's best in the morning and evening, so often go in the morning for a few hours, come relax at the house during the day, then do some hours in the evening. So not a taxing activity at all.
I just saw again that Kili snow may be gone by 2020 or so, so count this as a bittersweet chance to see a disappearing iconic African sight!
Fri Dec 30
Sometime during the day drive to Tsavo West Natl Park. Also a place at the top of our Kenya bucket list, but have not been there yet. It's known as more of a wilderness park, by virtual of its huge area, plus again some stunning scenery with old lava flows, beautiful springs, etc. Also some interesting history to the area, like the famous "man-eating lions" from when the railway was built (a la the movie).
This isn't too far by distance, but I think dirt road so maybe 3 hours in backwoods Kenya (I'm guessing). We have all day, so can take it slow.
Again, a guest house is there, we could stay in if I reserve early enough.
Sat - Sun Jan 1
Could stay one or two nights in Tsavo. Again, doing game/scenery drives and generally relaxing.
Leave then for the coast on the 1st, I'm thinking to Malindi or Watamu area. We hit the Mombasa highway, which is a busy one and will be a bit slow going (a more usual Kenyan highway). All of Kenya travels at holiday time (usually to their "home-homes", so I anticipate plenty of traffic. But the scenery is good, as usual, and mostly it's just a bit tiring for the driver (me...!). Probably would be 6-8 hours to Malindi area on paved roads.
Most likely I can find a rental house in the area, probably would be along the beach or close by.
Mon Jan 2-Wed Jan 4
The area has some good things to see. The beach of course is a draw for most people. We're not exactly beach bums like some people, but it is beautiful, with camels walking along and interesting coral reef offshore. Lots of things just to watch along the coast. There are marine parks for snorkeling, or cruising on glass-bottom boats.
Malindi area is known as very swahili, the town has an old section I'm told is interesting. It is also the "Italian" area - there will be more European tourists there, but I don't think overwhelming, and bodes well for food and coffee!
Gede ruins are close by, some old Swahili structures. And the last large remaining area of coastal forest, the Arabuko-Sokoko, which is on Evan's bucket list because it is the place to see the unique golden elephant shrews (ok, they're on by list too!).
As with Amboseli and Tsavo, we can adjust how many activities to do - some can stay back and relax if some others want to go out and see things.
Wed - Thurs Jan 5
Head back to Nairobi. We can either do a long haul in one day, on the Mombasa highway would be something like 12 hours. Or more likely stop along the way for night. Machakos is off the Mombasa highway, it might be possible to go over to see where we work, and see a sand dam.
Fri - Jan 6
Can do whatever more in Nairobi area. Cristina and I may get a day of work in while you hang out with the boys. We'll want to be back in Nairobi at least a day before your flight, so if you need to fly Friday, we could adjust to get back a day earlier.
You'd probably arrive in the evening, that seems to be when a lot of flights come in. So you could go right to bed, which is nice!
Mon Dec 26
Recoup. We could do some short things around town, to try to keep you a bit awake and started adjusting to the time. This is boxing day, so virtually everything is closed in the country. The nice thing about Christmas holiday, through after New Year's, is that Nairobi traffic is much less than usual. So I'm afraid you won't get the "authentic" Nairobi experience on that! Anyway, relax and recover.
There are a few options close to us. The brothers guesthouse is the cheapest at $20/night, and is basic but clean and nice. You might consider just staying at the "old Menno guesthouse", Amani Gardens Inn, also around the corner. They have beautiful gardens, etc., a very comfortable and soothing place to be!
Tues Dec 27
Can do another day in Nairobi, some tourists things will open, but traffic will still not exist, so that's nice. The elephant and giraffe orphanages are great fun. Karen Blixen house is a good historical thing to do, out in the interesting "white settler" area of Nairobi by Ngong hills. There are some artist places out that way that are interesting too. Maybe not up to the standard of Matfield Green, but the best we can do in East Africa! (Actually, so pretty amazing stuff around here I'm told)
There are great tea plantations nearby which are gorgeous, close to overlooks across the rift valley, which is quite spectacular.
The national museum is internationally known, have quite nice historical sections, plus amazing human "pre-history" stuff (all those pre-homo sapiens hominid fossils, as you might expect given our location in the "cradle of mankind").
Wed Dec 28
Leave on safari. Can go down to Amboseli National Park, we're quite excited to go there sometime as it is supposed to be quite stunning. The road there is uncharacteristically good (for Kenya) good with little traffic, so an easy and comfortable drive, probably about 4 hours or so. It goes through Maasai rural area, so very interesting to watch the people and landscape while driving.
KWS has a guest house there we could stay at, looks like it would have nice views of Kili. We stayed at similar ones with the Grabers. It's sort of like when we stay in cabins at Douthat - basically a house to stay in for a few days. So it's nice to have a kitchen, sitting room, nice porch to hang out on.
Thurs Dec 29
Hang out in Amboseli. The usual thing to do is game drives, basically drive around slowly and watch all the wildlife. Usually that's best in the morning and evening, so often go in the morning for a few hours, come relax at the house during the day, then do some hours in the evening. So not a taxing activity at all.
I just saw again that Kili snow may be gone by 2020 or so, so count this as a bittersweet chance to see a disappearing iconic African sight!
Fri Dec 30
Sometime during the day drive to Tsavo West Natl Park. Also a place at the top of our Kenya bucket list, but have not been there yet. It's known as more of a wilderness park, by virtual of its huge area, plus again some stunning scenery with old lava flows, beautiful springs, etc. Also some interesting history to the area, like the famous "man-eating lions" from when the railway was built (a la the movie).
This isn't too far by distance, but I think dirt road so maybe 3 hours in backwoods Kenya (I'm guessing). We have all day, so can take it slow.
Again, a guest house is there, we could stay in if I reserve early enough.
Sat - Sun Jan 1
Could stay one or two nights in Tsavo. Again, doing game/scenery drives and generally relaxing.
Leave then for the coast on the 1st, I'm thinking to Malindi or Watamu area. We hit the Mombasa highway, which is a busy one and will be a bit slow going (a more usual Kenyan highway). All of Kenya travels at holiday time (usually to their "home-homes", so I anticipate plenty of traffic. But the scenery is good, as usual, and mostly it's just a bit tiring for the driver (me...!). Probably would be 6-8 hours to Malindi area on paved roads.
Most likely I can find a rental house in the area, probably would be along the beach or close by.
Mon Jan 2-Wed Jan 4
The area has some good things to see. The beach of course is a draw for most people. We're not exactly beach bums like some people, but it is beautiful, with camels walking along and interesting coral reef offshore. Lots of things just to watch along the coast. There are marine parks for snorkeling, or cruising on glass-bottom boats.
Malindi area is known as very swahili, the town has an old section I'm told is interesting. It is also the "Italian" area - there will be more European tourists there, but I don't think overwhelming, and bodes well for food and coffee!
Gede ruins are close by, some old Swahili structures. And the last large remaining area of coastal forest, the Arabuko-Sokoko, which is on Evan's bucket list because it is the place to see the unique golden elephant shrews (ok, they're on by list too!).
As with Amboseli and Tsavo, we can adjust how many activities to do - some can stay back and relax if some others want to go out and see things.
Wed - Thurs Jan 5
Head back to Nairobi. We can either do a long haul in one day, on the Mombasa highway would be something like 12 hours. Or more likely stop along the way for night. Machakos is off the Mombasa highway, it might be possible to go over to see where we work, and see a sand dam.
Fri - Jan 6
Can do whatever more in Nairobi area. Cristina and I may get a day of work in while you hang out with the boys. We'll want to be back in Nairobi at least a day before your flight, so if you need to fly Friday, we could adjust to get back a day earlier.
No comments:
Post a Comment