<p>My college senior daughter is planning to go to Kenya over her winter break for a few weeks. She’ll stay with a college friend who is from Kenya and will be going home for her annual visit. They will not be traveling together as the break is 7 weeks (week before Thanksgiving until 2nd of Jan.) and my daughter is planning a week layover in England to visit two friends who are doing study abroads there.</p>
<p>Daughter has traveled abroad before, and just did a study abroad in Peru this past Spring, but Africa just seems so far away and unknown that I thought I would post just to ask for any travel tips unique to Africa, and specifically Kenya. Anything that she should be packing that she would not be able to buy there? Any must see places?</p>
<p>I was there in 1992 and needed several vaccines and malaria tablets. Stayed mostly in Nairobi but had a chance to visit the Masai Mara and the Rift Valley. It was a trip of a lifetime, but fellow faculty member came down with malaria who stayed at the same camp on the Masai Mara game reserve and was taking malaria tablets. I learned never again to eat “Nile Perch.” I think the crime in Nairobi has increased. I remember the shop keepers mostly Indians rolling down their metal windows way before dusk even in '92. It is a heads up sort of place. That said, I would do it all over again. I’ll never forget driving out of Nairobi and reaching a view of the Rift Valley on a road with so many pot holes and baboons I don’t know if you could call it a road…and getting stuck with the van’s axle deep in the ground right next to a pride of lions. Up close and personal so to speak. I am sure staying with locals, she will get the lowdown on what to do and buy.</p>
<p>If she can swing it, she MUST see Ol Doinyo Lengai. It is pretty much the only volcano in the world that erupts a carbonate lava (most are silicates) and is a mystery to geologists worldwide. It is part of the East African Rift, also a very unique thing to experience, a rift vally in the middle of a continent (they are usually reserved for the ocean floor). It is in northeastern Tanzania, not too far from Nairobi and is a very safe volcano (fresh lava is typically only about 950F as opposed to 2000F of most volcanoes) and you can even walk on fresh lava with proper attire.</p>
<p>Check these websites out…I’d just love to visit someday!</p>
<p>My 17 year old son travelled through Kenya on a low budget camping safari–after a six week stay in a village on the side of Mount Kilamanjaro. My husband was in Nairobi with him.</p>
<p>She will probably be well-cossetted by the family but …</p>
<p>Get the shots as advised. Get the malaria tablets as advised. Get them now as some need multiples as I recall. Did she get yellow fever shot for Peru? She will need to carry that document. Be prepared to be asked for money wherever you go. That is just the custom. Be very very careful at night. Keep a small amount of money on hand to hand over to muggers and your valuables strapped inside your clothing somewhere.</p>
<p>S was mugged in one night Moshe while walking with a group fo five. He didn’t lose much but the project leader lost thousands.</p>
<p>kathie, one of my Ds spent 6 weeks in Kenya in 2005 and absolutely loved her experience there. As others have said, be sure your D gets the recommended immunizations, there are several. If I remember correctly, my D had to start them about two months prior to leaving, so check for a travel health clinic near you, if your family physician is not one to frequently do this type of thing. The malaria medication is a must.</p>
<p>My D spent time in Nairobi and Mombasa but the bulk of the time she was far inland in a remote village with the Maasai. It is a beautiful and fascinating country, but not without its share of dangers, both two and four legged. A money belt is essential, and being out after dark is not advised whether in Nairobi or out in a village.</p>
<p>I have been twice to Tanzania, safari-ing along the northern national parks, so actually quite close to Kenya. I concur with those who say to get the advice of a good tropical diseases/travel medicine specialist. Our recommended yellow fever, Hep A, Hep B, typhoid, typhus, polio, and tetanus update, plus threw in some Japanese meningitis (although it’s not common in that area) “because that way if you get something weird we can eliminate that possibility.” We were given Cipro and other drugs to carry as well. Imodium was the only thing we actually used while there although my son got something bizarre–high fever and aversion to light–that we treated with the Cipro once we were home (first trip).</p>
<p>As for anti-malarial drugs, DO NOT TAKE LARIAM! It’s far and away the cheapest drug, BUT it causes psychotic dreams and actual psychosis in up to 25% of those who take it. Doctors may tell you that such side effects show up early, but our travel specialist noted that in some people they get worse over time. I had to stop taking Lariam early after our first trip when I became convinced that our cat was actually an African wildcat and was trying to kill me while I was sleeping. (I wouldn’t stop screaming when it jumped on our bed, among other things.) Malarone is much more expensive but also much safer.</p>
<p>Note that I went BACK to Tanzania despite these things happening on the FIRST trip there. It is truly and amazing place and I plan to go back again to East Africa.</p>
<p>It’s a beautiful country with a lot to see; I visited there in the eighties. Just have her be careful of street crime. Don’t carry anything of value out in the open, etc. Do let us know about her trip after she gets back!</p>
<p>What an opportunity for your daughter! Will she be staying in Nairobi with this family or in a smaller town/village? Is her Kenyan friend willing to travel to Tanzania or elsewhere or do you think they plan to stay closer to her friend’s home? Suggestions and cautions really depend on whether she will be traveling with her friend, a native of the country, or as a single woman by herself (not really a good idea IMO). As far as recommendations of what to see, well, you don’t go to East Africa to see the cities. You go to see nature and it is magnificent. Within a day’s drive of Nairobi, she can go to Lake Naivasha and stay in the Naivasha Hotel. Take a boat ride on what my three-year-old used to call “the hippo lake” because hippos lurking underneath would suddenly surface just as the boat glided past. The road to Naivasha gives a breath-taking view of the Great Rift Valley in all its undeveloped vastness. Lake Nakuru is a bit further, probably not a day trip, but you know that scene in “Out of Africa” where the thousands of flamingos glide over the water with not a building in sight? That’s Nakuru. </p>
<p>There are several game parks in Kenya, all with different qualities, but if someone is limited to one visit then the Masai Mara is the one. DH and I stayed in Little Governor’s Camp with S1 and his ayah (nanny) and had a blast. But it’s expensive and I don’t know if that’s the trip she and her hostess are contemplating. Far less expensive is the Nairobi National Park, within the city limits, where you can drive through and see wildlife with a view of the city skyline in the background. That park has most of the big game animals except for elephants. (One should never, ever, get out of the car and walk around in a game park to take pictures or whatever, btw. ) She can easily get to Karen and visit the home of Isak Dinesen and there’s a giraffe park in Nairobi where expats bring their children and there’s a place for a snack and tea (of course) there. </p>
<p>I hope that someone is meeting your daughter at the Nairobi airport and that once in Africa, she will be traveling with friends and not alone. An American woman alone would stand out and become a magnet for beggars, pickpockets, pursesnatchers, earring or neck chain snatchers (happened to me once), con artists (offerring to help carry luggage and then luggage disappears) etc. </p>
<p>Of course, she should get all the inoculations and follow all medical advice, but I will admit that when we were living there we didn’t take malaria prophylactics unless we were planning a trip to Mombasa (the coast) or to Masai Mara because Nairobi is higher altitude and less of a mosquito threat. (It was nearly impossible to get my son to take malaria medication. Even buried in ice cream or coated in honey, he would spit it out each and every time. We just kept him under netting at night and used bug repellent.)</p>
<p>She will have an amazing trip. Tell her to have her picture taken standing on the equator.</p>
<p>What great suggestions! My daughter will be staying with her friends family who are native Kenyans. I think my daughter said that her friend will be working a part time internship at a wildlife preserve while she is there. I’m going to send this thread over to her and bold font the safety suggestions. While she doesn’t have blonde hair, she will most likely stand out as a tourist. She said the saddest part of visiting Peru was children begging when they visited the cities, so I guess she has experienced that. The plane ticket is going to eat up most of her savings so she will probably have to limit the pricey attractions. However, we know this is a once in a lifetime experience so will help out with that a bit.</p>
<p>As long as I’ve got some experienced travelers here… It’s time to get new Verizon phones for both of us but last time I checked they did not have one for international travel. Anyone have a verizon attached phone that can be used out of North America?</p>
<p>Her early Christmas present will be a new camera to replace her duct-taped old Nikon. She’s a wonderful photographer and I would like her to be able to take more pictures including video shorts with sound, which her old camera doesn’t have. I love the idea of an equator shot!</p>
<p>The camera is the perfect gift for a trip like this. My D took 1500 photos while in Kenya! The beauty of some of the shots is breathtaking, I can imagine what it was like in person. I think the Equator shot is a requirement, my D and all the people she was travelling with have one! Sorry I can’t answer about the phones. On the trip my D was on, they were told not to bother bringing phones because they wouldn’t work in the villages where they were spending most of their time. Their group had a satellite type phone for emergencies but that was it. She has hundreds of fond memories but one of the fondest is lying in bed at night and listening to the elephants walk by just outside their compound. Another night-time memory is that of the ‘bush baby’ running across the roof of their tent-cabins. They never actually saw one and I remember when she got home, she checked online to see what they looked like.</p>
<p>She found the people wonderful, friendly, interesting, kind, and extremely generous. These were the people they were working with in the villages. Her group’s bodyguard was an 18 year old Maasai warrior. Sitting and talking to this young man about his life, and contrasting it with hers, was fascinating. Her experiences in Kenya were life-changing in many ways, and I’m so happy that she had the chance to go there. I’m sure your D’s friend will be a wonderful guide. If she has the chance, tell her to visit the market in Nairobi. The bartering and negotiating that go on there are amazing, and there are beautiful and inexpensive mementos which can be purchased. She’ll have a wonderful time!</p>
A money belt is essential, and being out after dark is not advised whether in Nairobi or out in a village.</p>