Traveller's Guide to... East Africa: Kenya, Tanzania & Zanzibar
- Amy Lewins and Ed Sheehan
- Mar 6, 2018
- 8 min read
We have now been travelling in East Africa for two months. We’ve picked up lots of tips and tricks along the way and thought we would share them on here for anyone planning a similar trip. All of our bits of advice are, of course, just suggestions! Everyone has different styles of travelling, this is just all the useful info we could think of for you guys! Best places to visit: This is a list of our top places to visit! 9. Arusha, Tanzania
Mt Meru Waterfall
Top things to do: Mt Meru Waterfall (for more info see blog) Recommended for: safari-goers who have a few days to spare. Top tip: head to The Blue Heron restaurant - delicious food in a lovely garden restaurant. Our overall rating: 6/10
8. Diani Beach, Kenya
Palm trees lining Diani Beach
Top things to do: laze on the beach, visit the colobus monkey sanctuary.
Recommended for: beach-lovers, backpackers Top tip: take the colobus monkey conservation tour! The tour guide is so enthusiastic and dedicated! Our overall rating: 7/10
7. Moshi, Tanzania
Union cafe coffee tour
Top things to do: Kilimanjaro coffee tour & a visit to the gorgeous hot springs. (And of course, if you have the money, to climb Kilimanjaro itself!) Recommended for: trekkers. Top tip: wake up early to get the best view of Kilimanjaro, as it towers over the small town. Our overall rating: 7/10
6. Kilifi, Kenya
Dhows in Kilifi creek
Top things to do: Kilifi creek sunset tour (book through ‘Rasta Steve’ or
through ‘Distant Relatives Eco Lodge’). For more info see blog Recommended for: sociable backpackers. Top tip: stay at Distant Relatives Ecolodge! Perfect accommodation with a really friendly atmosphere. Our overall rating: 7.5/10
5. Nungwi, Zanzibar
Mnemba Island snorkelling trip
Top things to do: lazing on the picturesque, white, powdery beaches and feeling as if you’re in paradise! Taking a snorkelling trip out to Mnemba island to see all the tropical fish! Recommended for: beach-lovers, party-goers (so many happy hour cocktails!!) Top tip: life here is aimed at the holiday-maker, not the back-packer, so it might be worth budgeting a little bit more for here Our overall rating: 7.5/10
4. Lushoto, Usambara Mountains, Tanzania
Trekking in Lushoto
Top things to do: Irente viewpoint trek- this walk is easy to navigate on your own, without the need for a guide. Entrance to the viewpoint costs 2000 Tsh (under £1) and the views are spectacular. Wandering through the main market is also lots of fun, especially on a Thursday when the market doubles in size, with vendors coming from all around to sell their goods. Recommended for: travellers seeking excellent trekking and beautiful scenery. Perfect for those wanting to see the ‘real’ Africa! Top tip: book any day treks through ‘Friends of Usumbara’: profits help to build and support the local community. Our overall rating: 8/10
3. Northern Circuit, Tanzania
Elephants bathing in Tarangire National Park
Top things to do: Ngorongoro Crater, Lake Manyara National Park and Tarangire National Park safari! For more info read blog. Recommended for: elephant-lovers, adventurous travellers. Top tip: book your safari in advance! Bring binoculars. Overall rating: 9/10
2. Stone Town, Zanzibar
Selling fruit at Darajani Market
Man cycling through the streets of Stone Town
Top things to do: wandering through the winding streets getting lost, visiting the rooftop bars & watching the mesmerising sunset . Recommended for: history & culture buffs Top tip(s): Lukmann’s Restaurant is delicious, reasonably priced and a great place to mingle with the locals. Watch out for the city tax (which is $9 per person, per night!) - try to book accommodation where the price includes the tax to avoid unwelcome costs! Our overall rating: 9/10
1. Masai Mara, Kenya
Lioness on lookout
Giraffe in Masai Mara
Top things to do: three or four day safari! For more info read blog. Recommended for: adventurous travellers, nature lovers, pretty much everyone! Top tip: book your safari in advance through safaribookings.com! Our overall rating: 10/10
Budget Tips: It can be incredibly difficult to know how much money you’ll need when travelling. There’s a lot of advice out there and it can be confusing at times. Ed and I spent quite some time figuring this out before we left in January. We found that our budget worked really well, and we were perfectly comfortable all the time. On average we worked on a daily budget of £50 for the both of us, but would recomaccmend £30 for a solo traveller. This covered accommodation costs (£20/night), food, transport (not including flights!) and activities. We stayed mostly in budget (but nice!) hostels and cooked for ourselves occasionally to keep costs down. Our top three budget-saving tips are:
1. Take local transport. It’s incredibly cheap and not as scary as it may seem at first!
2. Don’t be afraid to haggle! Most prices quoted to you (from taxi drivers, shop owners, tour operators) are negotiable. Personally, I tend to start by halfing the price they quote initially and working my way up. 3. Don’t pre-book day excursions/tours online, it’s easier to get a good price in person. Online offers (for excursions such as: coffee tours, spice tours, etc.) are normally over-priced. The exception for this is for multiple day safaris, which are best booked in advance! 4. If you’re using a travel debit/credit card, use DTB and CBA ATMs. Neither of these banks have charges for cash withdrawals. Accommodation: Backpackers accommodation is not as easily available in east Africa, when compared to south east Asia or other more backpacker-friendly locations. However, there are still some really lovely places to stay! Our favourite three places: 1. Distant Relatives Ecolodge, Kilifi
Pool and outside space at Distant Relatives, Kilifi
2. Lawns Hotel, Lushoto
View from the veranda at Lawns Hotel, Lushoto
3. Secret Garden Hotel, Moshi
View from Secret Garden Hotel, Moshi
How to book: We always tend to book through booking.com, with free cancellations and date changes it’s an excellent tool for travellers who want some flexibility! We can also definitely recommend Airbnb as an alternative when the options are a sparse on booking.com (which sometimes they are in Africa!). Safety Tips: Overall, we found east Africa to be perfectly safe. You're confronted with touts, taxi drivers and women selling jewellery a lot, which can get annoying but they pose no real threat at all. To be on the safe side: wear a money belt (and try to avoid showing all the cash you have when paying for things) and keep your valuables in your bag. Bribery isn't uncommon and we've been stopped by traffic police while on the road a couple of times... Best thing to do is to give them a small amount of money without showing all your cash. Although bribery like this is frustrating, it's best not to get angry or confrontational in this situation. Apart from that, just use your common sense! Transport: By far the easiest and the cheapest form of transport is public mini-bus, otherwise known as ‘matatus’ (Kenya) or Dallas-dallas (Tanzania). Matatus and Dalla Dallas run very regularly and pretty much go everywhere. Top tip: have the small change ready before you get on! The ride is cramped, hot and sweaty, so you don’t want to be fumbling around for money when the conductor works his way around to you asking for the fare! Top tip: the conductor will be very keen to get you on his bus (more passengers = more money!), so if you ask “are you going to this destination?” he will most likely say yes, even if the bus is going the opposite way! The easiest way to avoid this is to ask the conductor for the matatu route, without telling them where you’re going initially.
Dalla Dallas in Stone Town, Zanzibar
There are a handful of examples in Kenya and Tanzania of more established/regulated transport systems (with timetables, tickets and everything), e.g. the Chinese built SGR railway, which links Nairobi with the Indian Coast, Mombassa. Seat61 (very useful website!) has all the details on this train route.
There are also a couple of comfortable coach companies for long distances, for example EasyCoach (western Kenya), Dar Express (Nairobi to Arusha to Moshi to Dar) and Riverside Shuttle (Nairobi to Arusha to Moshi)- you can get off at any place along the route. These are comfortable and have boot space for your luggage (sometimes they will strap your bags to the roof! Don’t worry, they never fall off!).
Boda boda: a cheap, easy and good transport option short distances. Just hail down anyone you see on a motorbike and negotiate a price . Wouldn’t recommend using boda bodas with big backpacks on.
Boda bodas waiting for customers in Arusha
Tuk tuk: very easy and comfortable way to get around larger towns. Slightly more expensive than boda bodas, but still dirt cheap! A good option if you have heavy backpacks and are completely lost. Top tip: sometimes drivers may not know where they’re going exactly! So it’s best to have a few landmarks in mind which are close to your desired destination.
Taxi: of course this will always be the more expensive method. In some cities (Nairobi, Dar Es Salaam) Uber is available and is reasonably priced. Only really need to use taxis when going to airport etc.
Food & Drink: Honestly, you don’t go to Africa for the food! If you’re looking for fine dining, you’ll be disappointed! However! There are very delicious curries, dals and biriyanis on offer in most of east Africa. You can find some western options in most of the big cities, however they will always be more expensive.
Green gram, chapati and traditional greens
Visas:
Visas are quite expensive in this part of the world!
You can pick up a Kenyan visa before you travel for $51 (£37). You can do this online through the embassy website, use the gov.uk website for info. Alternatively you can buy it on entry, however the queue is always ginormous so we would advise getting it prior to travel. One less hassle! You can also get a three country inclusive visa, which covers: Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda. This costs £65.
You can pick up a Tanzanian visa in advance also. This costs £40 and you will need to send your visa off through the post to the embassy/visit the nearest embassy. You also NEED to have a yellow fever vaccination certificate. This covers Zanzibar also.
Female travellers: Safety:
Personally, I haven’t had any trouble with safety whatsoever. The times I’ve been out and about without Ed, I have received a few more looks and comments from men. However, it’s never been more than this. Clothing:
You can pretty much wear whatever you want: Nairobi and Arusha are busy, modern cities used to western style clothing. In the other places, you’ll be stared at equally whether you’re wearing skimpy clothes or covered head-to-toe. So it doesn’t make too much difference to be honest. I would, however, advise wearing long trousers/skirts in Dar Es Salaam and Stone Town, simply because Islam is the dominant religion in these cities and the culture is far more traditional. It may just help you to feel more comfortable. So, take home message: you can wear whatever you like(!) just be aware that you’re naturally going to stand out as a female tourist and you will attract some attention. I suggest you just go with it and pretend like you’re a local celebrity! Useful phrases: Poli poli: Literally meaning ‘slowly slowly’. A frequently heard phrase, used by many locals! Asante (sana): Thank you (very much) Karibu (sana): [you’re] Welcome (very) Jambo: Hello - to the tourists Mambo: (informal) Hey!
Poa: Cool! (response to ‘Mambo’) Sawa sawa: ok/thanks/bye (pretty much means everything in Kenya!) Habari: How are you? Nzuri: Good! (Response to ‘habari’) Things we will miss about Africa:
Our new favourite pop singer, ‘Diamond’, whose music videos are played (loudly and repeatedly) on all long distance bus journeys.
Children giving us high fives and shouting ‘muzungu’ (meaning ‘white skin’) at us cheerfully.
Delicious fresh mango, pineapple and avocado!
Thanks east Africa, it's been fab!
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