To Nkoroi with Gladys

Back to Nairobi I had to meet Gladys again (see post "How I met Gladys). And I did!

We celebrated the New Year's Eve together in the club K1 in Westland. Being in Nairobi it's a good option for partying.
On the next day, and my last day in Nairobi and Africa at all, she invited me to meet her family. We took a matatu and headed to Nkoroi in the outskirts of Nairobi, where her mum lives.

In the matatu on the way to Nkoroi.

I was most welcome and invited for lunch. Then I got to know "mukimo", kind of mashed potato with beans, corn and green leaves, and "kachumbari", a tomato and onions salad. And "capati" couldn't miss. Really tasty!

Capati bread and mukimo. Hmm!

All family was very friendly and welcoming. Gladys showed me all the stuff her mum grows on her backyard and introduced me to her sisters, with whom I had a good talk. Oh! They also helped me out with the transport from Nairobi to the airport.

Gladys' mum.

... and the whole family.

... not without me.

Gladys Ndung'u Wangari.

Happy day!

Lovely people! Thank you so much.

Cheers everyone!

Back in Nairobi

In a small bus we left Moshi in Tanzania and headed back to Nairobi after crossing the border. With the "one entry" visa I got at the Nairobi as I first entered the country was possible to re-enter without any problem, as they informed previously at the airport.

The whole journey all the way from Moshi took around 7 hours, including 2 or 3 stops and the time at the border. The bus ticket costed 30,000 tsh (approx. 15€) per person.

I had 3 full days available to explore Nairobi, meet Gladys, the crazy girl who helped me out as I first landed in the country, to buy some presents for the friends and, last but not least, celebrate the upcoming New Year's Eve.

Hints:
-Nairobi National Museum is worth visiting. Locals and foreigners residents pay 100 ksh (less than 1€) entrance fee. For us wazungu (foreigners non residents) it costs 800 ksh (7€)
-For shopping and partying the best places are in Westland Land. A few shopping malls and night clubs are concentrated in the area. Costs are generally lower than in Europe.
-For African stuff like carvings, colorful fabrics and souvenirs in general the best place is the "Maasai market". Check out on the Internet for the locations. It is in different places depending on the week day.
-Try the park: giraffe center and the Nairobi National Park. I still didn't manage to see them and can give more detail.

As usual, a few shots follow! Enjoy a bit of Nairobi.
Cheers!

Kibo for Kilimanjaro

After crossing the National Parks Job and I spent a night in Arusha, Tanzania, and headed in the next morning to Moshi. We wanted to see the mountain Kilimanjaro in the Kilimanjaro National Park.

Moshi is a very touristic small town and you feel it in the prizes. A good and cheap option to stay is the Kilimanjaro Backpackers in the main street. There one kann meet people and get good hints about where to go and what to do. The breakfast is not the highlight of the place! :(

Being there we had a little Problem. In this period of the year it's quite difficult to have a good view the Kilimanjaro, due to the bad weather conditions. Most of the time it's very cloudy around the mountain. According to the locals the best period to have a good view are the months of February and March.

The only chance was to wake up very early the next morning and try to get a good view before the clouds are formed. And YEEEEES! For a few minutes we could see the Kibo and the Mawenzi, which are two of the three peaks of the Kilimanjaro. All the effort was worthy. Awesome view of the second highest mountain in the world!

Of course, there are many kinds of tours to get to the mountain and to visit the park around it. All of them start at the main gate in Marangu, around 40km from Moshi. A matatu can get one to the center of Marangu, leaving from the bus station in Moshi, for 1,500 tsh. A taxi from center of Marangu to the gate will cost another 5,000 tsh (4,000 tsh if you bargain hardly).
The entrance fee for the park costs 60US$ for foreigners, 1,500 tsh (less than 1€) for East Africans. Count on additional costs for a guide and probably some fee for a vehicle.

Guys! Don't think that one can get a good view from the gate! There are some tracks outside the park, from which you can get a good view of the Kibo, but not from the gate. The locals charge 20US$ to take one to any those tracks. Since that was a bad day for tourism, I got someone that took me along one of those tracks for 10,000 tsh (5€). Ill try to publish a picture of the track soon.

To climb the Kilimanjaro one will need at least 6 days and spend around 1,000 US$ with fees, guide, etc.

Some pics from Moshi and the mountain below!

Mum, I saw a Maasai!

The Maasai can be seen from the Ngorongoro National Park, towards the border between Tanzania and Kenya, and along all the way to Nairobi. Most of the time they are trading in their markets or looking after their goats or cattle along the road.

Such an interesting folk! Wrapped in their red blankets (shuka in Kiswahili), bold headed, men as well as women, wearing colorful beads and tire rubber sandals (the akala shoes) and holding their shepard sticks these guys look like out of a comic book.

I had the pleasure to meet some of them and take some pictures.
Cheers!