Carnivore

Lots of people have asked about Carnivore and the locals here seem to think it's a fun place to go so we have decided that we will go to Carnivore tomorrow night (and NOT Trattoria as previously planned) - we've made a booking for 7pm. The cost of the meal is 2180 Ksh for an all-you can eat meat buffet which is about £19 at current rates (plus drinks) but you can't come to Nairobi and not go to Carnivore! It will be a bit less for veggies :)

We'll get cabs over there, it should be about 1000 Ksh for a four seater cab from the hotels. I am not arranging these cabs so please just jump in one from the Panafric / Stanley! For those at the Panafric, I can give you some numbers of 6 and 9 seater cabs once you're here.

Hope that's ok with everyone.

Weather is beautiful and sunny - have a good flight and see you soon! Al and I will be at the airport to meet you in our safari truck xx

Music

We are currently sitting in our room sorting out a playlist for the wedding night (good old iTunes). So far we have ten and a half hours to work down to maybe three so we'll have no complaints even from the notoriously sonically picky best man.

Al

Hotel Kipepeo

We arrived at the Hotel Kipepeo yesterday and thought we should give it some time to make a proper impression before we told you about it!

So far, it seems to be clean - nothing with more than two legs in our room! It also seems secure, there is a guard outside and one at the first floor to check you are a legit guest of the hotel. The rooms have a safe and, although a bit tired looking, aren't too bad really for the price. The water is hot but don't expect any other luxury! There is also free wifi. I have my computer but I do have a Kensington lock so would encourage you not to bother bringing a computer unless you have one.

The area around the hotel isn't the best - although we have had no trouble walking around during the day. We haven't really walked around this area at night and don't intend to. The rule is basically after dark (about 18.30hrs), get a cab. Also, make sure you keep a close eye and hand on your bags and don't wear anything valuable like jewellery. Don't carry around more cash then you need to and split up cash in different pockets if you can. Also, don't carry too many cards around, just one will be fine. If people offer you safaris on the street etc politely but firmly say no thanks and DO NOT under any circumstances give people money, even if they give you a sob story about helping a school etc.

I don't want to scare anyone and we haven't had any problems but we don't want anything to happen to you so just be careful!!

There is a restaurant out at the hotel that we hung out at last night - we didn't really eat but the staff were friendly, the place was packed and drinks were cheap (120Ksh for a beer, 70Ksh for a soda) so it's a good place to hang out and play some cards if you don't want to leave the hotel. There is also a taxi rank outside so you can pick up a cab easily if you want to go elsewhere.

Village Market

Well, we're sitting in our hotel room, putting together the wedding playlist but the music has been completely drowned out by the torrential rain outside. I thought we had been lucky so far, it's not really rained at all, even though the sky has looked thunderous. It's extremely hot when the sun's out so the cloud is actually quite good.

Rain has calmed down a bit now.

We went to the village market this afternoon - it's basically a mall and is a good place to while away a couple of hours in Nairobi. It's easily reachable by matatu (40Ksh) from the Latemar Road matatu stand just near the Hotel Kipepeo or you can get a cab for around 1000 Ksh.

There are lots of little (overpriced) curio shops and some nice food places too. You won't get bothered by anyone and it seems very safe. Full of expats! They also had a good mini golf course (!) for 150 Ksh per person, as well as 10 pin bowling for 250 Ksh but don't forget to take some socks for the shoe hire! Alex won the mini golf but only by 1 point.

If you want a nice easy afternoon, this is probably quite a good place to go. It takes about 30 minutes from the city but maybe longer if the traffic is bad.

NOTE: The Village Market is actually out of town in a suburb called Gigiri, and NOT where it is marked on the map I sent you (sorry!). The place on the map is actually City Market, which is quite good for curios and souvenirs especially if you're a dab hand at bargaining. Around City Market, off to the east, there are lots of small shops and stalls for browsing on the side streets.

Money

So we've scoped out a lot of ATMs, it looks like the ones that accept UK cards seem to be the bigger banks for example Barclays, Stanbic etc which are ones that generally tend to have larger branches than just the kiosks, so if you find your card doesn't work, just try somewhere else. They are on every street corner.

It also appears to be fairly easy to change UK sterling and I have seen rates of between 113 KSH to 121 KSH per pound at various forex bureaux in the city.  The dollar is getting around 69 or 70 shillings.

Here's some idea of cost so far:

Soft drink from kiosk - anything from 30 - 50 KSH
donut - 30 KSH
ice cream - 80-150 KSH
Latte and breakfast at Java - 400 - 500 KSH
Main course at hotel (not the fancy restaurant) - 800 - 1000 KSH
Taxis around town - 300-400 KSH depending on how hard you bargain


The Porterhouse
We went to the Porterhouse on Mama Ngina Street (near the Hilton) for dinner last night. It's a steak place described in the Lonely Planet as 'discreetly swish'. The swish is very discreet indeed. The food was slightly dubious looking but it all tasted very good and service was excellent as always. We had tempura mushrooms to start and then each had steak which was served with salad, vegetables and mash / chips. I had the peppercorn one and except for the absence of any peppercorns in the sauce, it was really nice. The meal cost just under 2000 KSH for both of us, including  a tip and some Tusker for Al.

A visit to the Registrar

Well it’s good to see beaurocracy in Kenya is alive and well!

We went to get our marriage license today – usually you need to give 21 days notice but for foreign people you can get a special exception and it only takes three days.

We arrived at the Government buildings and were made to wait in a queue on a C-shaped bench. Every time someone was called up we all shuffled round a little bit. Finally we got to the front and while Milka, the rep from Sarova registered at the counter, we were shepherded through the entrance to the building, only to be asked on the other side what we were doing there without having registered!

Anyway, up we went to the second floor and went into room 210 to collect a form. We were instructed then, to go to the next room along, room 209, to fill it in. Why this couldn’t have been done in the original room or even in one of the chairs in the corridor, I’m not sure. It wasn’t a big room and we didn’t even talk to anyone ‘official’ while we were in there. Perhaps it was just in case you didn’t bring your own pen. You had to specify your status (Widowed, Divorced, Bachelor, and wait for it, Spinster) on the form. It was a proud moment(!)

Then we were sent downstairs to have the form signed. The old guy downstairs was clearly not usually responsible for marriages didn’t worry about checking our original documents, he just signed the form and sent us on our way, back up to room 209. We had to queue up again to pay our fee (10,050 KSH for non resident couples, 200 KSH for Kenyans!) and when we eventually got to the front, the guy looked at our form and said “It needs to say ‘Approved’ followed by today’s date in the top left hand corner.” Not that there was a particular space for that so how were we supposed to know?! So back Milka traipsed to the room downstairs to ask the man who couldn’t care less to write ‘Approved’ on our form. And back we went to room 209 which was starting to feel really familiar. Once our fee had been paid and the documents handed in, we were given a reciept and told to report back to room 210 to find out when we could collect it.

The lady in room 210, who was not unlike Mma Makutsi with her typewriter, then duly informed us that there was only one person in the office authorised to sign our license and they were on holiday so we could collect our license on Monday. Even when we explained the wedding was on Tuesday and we were leaving Nairobi on Sunday, nothing doing.  Someone else would have been able to sign it on the official person’s behalf but only if we planned to get married this week…………

So Milka is going to have to go collect it on Monday and email it through to the Mara. Fingers crossed it all works out!!

Karibu Kenya!

What a wonderful day! The flight from London was uneventful - except for a brief lightening storm which actually looks really amazing from the air - the whole sky lights up. We were very pleased we didn't get electrocuted.

Arrived in Nairobi and getting through immigration was pretty easy. There are lots of queues depending on what type of passport you have and whether or not you have a visa but evidently none of the signposting mattered because it was basically free for all. Seemed very easy to get the visa sorted at the airport. Also, there was a sign at the airport to say that you don't need to show a yellow fever certificate so if you got it, all the better and if you haven't, then you probably don't need to worry about it as Kenya itself isn't a YF zone.

We collected our bags and were delighted that none of the champagne had exploded en route and nothing got lost either - so we now have three bottles safe and ready for chilling.

It was really a beautiful day today, it rained for about five minutes this morning and then it cleared up. There was a scattering of clouds but this was very welcome because the African sun is HOT! We had to be careful not to stay out by the pool too long so we didn't get burnt on the first day. Our hotel is lovely and we wandered into town in the morning and again in the evening. It seems very safe during the day but we did get a taxi back after dark although walking around the very central area in the dark was fine and there are plenty of people about. The taxi to the Fairview / Panafric charged us 400 KSH but we didn't bargain very hard. I suspect you could get this down to 300. The evening was cooler than the day but a cardigan kept me warm enough.

We had a very relaxing day with good food, good weather if moderate company and are now exhausted and ready to crash out. Will update with things to do and places to go tomorrow.

We're off to see the registrar to get the marriage license tomorrow! xx

Happy memories

Landed early and greeted by a beautiful sunrise. Walking around
Nairobi and both shocked by how much is still so familiar even after
seven years. Now we are having breakfast at a little coffee shop where
we had one of our first dates! X

Sent from a device with a tiny keyboard - please excuse any
typos!

We've arrived in Nairobi and have sought coffee to get over the jet-
lag and non-plastic food at the Java House Coffee Shop that we used to
come to seven years ago. It's weirdly familiar.

jambo!

greetings from your kenya correspondent! natasha here, reporting from makutano in western kenya. it's another beautiful day in this fair country, we're just resting with a soda baridi (cold soda) for 20 shillings after a long walk into the hills. it's a peaceful change from the busy towns of nairobi and nakuru. the people have been lovely, just want to say hi and walk with you. i'm so excited you'll all be out here soon to experience it too. it's impossible to put into words how it feels to be back here! kwaheri hadi tutakapoonana - bye for now!

A text from Tasha

Tasha, who some of you will know as 'the one who went travelling with me' is already out in Kenya. She left on Tuesday and arrived Wednesday morning. Here's her first report on Nairobi:

"Well, it's been warm and sunny the past two days in two cities for me. It rained for about an hour max her this evening. It's lovely, I walked around Nakuru for a while today just taking it all in. Below avarage hassle and all quite unthreatening.

Oh, and I know we're talking about less than a quid here but found some Safaricom sim cards for 20 KSH or free with 100 KSH credit. Mobile internet also seems to be really cheap."

I might pick up some sim cards so that we can all call each other easily while we're there. And that gives you an idea of how cheap it is. Local texts cost 3.50 KSH so your 100 KSH (or 90p) of credit can go a long way!!

Just for clarity, not hassle in a bad way but hassle as in people trying to sell you things etc.

The Rains

It looks like the November rains have started - early by what I thought would happen and late by what Kenya was hoping for. However, it looks like the Mara will still be pretty dry which is excellent. Kenya does need the rains really badly so I won't hold a grudge if it's a bit damp while we're over there.

Anyway, I found a website which has live webcams in various areas of Kenya, so you can see what the weather is like!

Gorgeous day all over Kenya yesterday. Bit cloudy today but looks fairly dry for the most part.

I'd still bring a brolly though and also a waterproof jacket if you have one.

Foreign Currency

The dollar is getting weaker again which is good news for us! Currently the best exchange rate on foreign currency I've seen is the Post Office at $1.588 to the pound, followed closely by M&S and Nationwide at $1.574.

If you have other good tips for where to buy currency, please post them below in the comments section to help out any others who don't have their cash yet.

Thanks!

UPDATE: It's much cheaper to buy currency online and have it delivered - you still have time so order away!!

Hotel Kipepeo in Nairobi

We have booked the following people into the Hotel Kipepeo on River Road with us in Nairobi:

30 & 31 October:
Merlin, Marie, Mike, Tasha

31 October:
Emily, Helen, Shanaz, Alex, Chris, Joe, Sarah

05 November:
Merlin, Marie, Mike

05 & 06 November:
Emily, Chris, Joe, Sarah

13 November:
Alex, Shanaz, Helen, Tasha

Where possible you're in double / twin rooms @ $50 per room per night and those in single rooms will be @ $40 per night.

http://www.hotelkipepeo.com/

Kenyan Duty Free Allowances

As some of you are aware, we have asked you to be our "Champagne Mules" to transport some of the 23 (we drank one!) bottles of champagne we have sat in our hallway to Kenya. I would, however, suggest that you don't mention the word "mule" to the check-in staff.

If you are able to take a bottle for us we will be providing you with the champagne, in a polystyrene, protective case and most likely a zip-lock bag - just in case.

As you are no longer allowed liquids in your carry-on luggage this will have to go in your hold-baggage.

After some extensive research I have discovered that the duty free allowances for Kenya is either one 1 litre bottle of spirits or 2 1 litre bottles of wine.

So if you would like to buy something at duty free please let us know and we will not give you one of the bottles of fizz.

If you are happy to take one we strongly recommend packing it in the middle of your luggage, wrapped in a towel or similar.

Thanks,

Alex (See I did post something)

Don't forget your swimsuit!

There is a pool at the Mara so don't forget your bikini / board shorts. I make no apology for the gratuitous photo. :)