Karibu Kenya!!!!

Hey guys!, how are you doing?. It’s October already, is it me or 2022 flew by so fast. Omo, it will soon be time to pay another house rent o. Anyways, I got another sweet babe to share her Kenya travel experience with us. Kenya seems to be on everyone’s travel list. I will tell this story in a first person narrative so it is easy for you to follow. So anywhere you see I, I am referring to the sweet babe that volunteered to share her story with us.

Why are the ladies the only ones reaching out to share their travel experiences? Is it that Nigerian men dont’ travel or they are not romantic enough to relieve the experience, okay o.

Now that the narrating style is out of the way (Chimamanda was found shaking), let us get to the gist.

Flight

I booked my flight directly with Kenya Airways at the return rate of NGN301,000. It could have been cheaper if I booked months ahead. I eventually upgraded to business class for $300. Kenya Airways will typically send an email for an upgrade if you book directly with them. Flying business class was absolutely worth the experience. Priority everything. Soft life is for me and I didn’t care if I spent all my savings cos any money wey I get now, na for enjoyment….lol

Flight time took about 6hours. I was served with orisirisi as many times as I wanted on the business class section. It’s best to book at least 2 months ahead and flights are cheaper on weekdays. Kenya Airways flights are usually at night so travelling on a weekday should not particularly disrupt your day. You can still meet up that zoom call by morning.

RwandAir also flies to Kenya; however, there is a stop over at Kigali and it is cheaper than Kenya Airways. No in-flight wifi in Kenya Airways so it’s you and your God up there, it might also be a good time to pray for Nigeria because we have seen shege in this country.

Visa

Kenya requires an e-visa for entry. I applied for the e-visa 72 hours before my flight, It costs $51 for single entry. Single entry means that you can only visit Kenya once with the e-visa, if you wish to visit multiple times, you need to apply for multiple entry visa.

The visa was approved in less than 24 hours. Application requires passport photo, International passport, flight ticket, itinerary (for tourism) and hotel booking (booking.com confirmation works).

In your best interest, make the application directly at the Kenya e-visa website, it’s cheaper and faster. 24 hours minimum is required.

Port of Entry/Immigration

My first encounter was with Port Health Authority, who claimed my yellow fever card was fake. They said they needed to verify or I will have to pay $20. I had to pay as I was exhausted and didnt want to waste time. I seem to have gotten the official infuriated when I asked for receipt. Apparently, this is Africa and that money was giveaway. This is a common phenomenon at the Port Health as other Nigerians have complained as well.

Moving on, the Immigration officer was kind as per priority passenger, (*They neeeverrrr seee mee cooomming*), I was feeling on top of the world. The queue can be very long at the airport so brace yourself. Imagine Monday morning queue at Zenith bank. Yes, that type!

Arrival at Nairobi

I arrived Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, Nairobi at about 7am, and bought an Airtel sim for data. Best advice is to buy a Safaricom sim so you can also access their mobile money which is Mpesa. To buy the sim and load mobile money, you need your international passport and about $10.

It’s best not to change money at the airport, the rates were not favourable. It is better to change money in the city.

Leaving the airport and getting around

I ordered a Bolt ride from the airport. Yes, there is Bolt and Uber in Kenya. Uber and Bolt is way cheaper. Like Lagos, airport taxi drivers will ‘rush’ you. Most hotels have airport shuttles so you may consider asking your hotel to send a ride.

Payment

All payments were charged in Kenyan local currency. You can also use your Dollar card. They hardly use cash for payment in Kenya, so make sure your Mpesa is loaded. You can load Mpesa at any Safaricom shop in the city. Google maps was helpful in finding those shops. Currency conversion is 1$=Ksh120

Hotel

I booked my hotel directly at the hotel website since it was cheaper than on booking.com. I stayed at Sankara Nairobi Autocollection in Westlands, Nairobi. Westlands is the Victoria Island of Nairobi. It is a great location.

Sankara Nairobi Autocollection Hotel

The hotel ambience was really good. The food was amazing and hospitality was top notch. As I didn’t want to trek back to Lagos. I booked the superior room jeje ($200/night). It’s a Marriot hotel so you can imagine the quality of service.

There are other good and cheaper hotels in Nairobi as well. You can get a good 4star hotel for less than NGN40,000 per night. There is also an amazing one bedroom apartment for less than100USD per night if you are travelling with family or friends. Check it out here

Trip Advisor is also helpful in choosing good hotels as there are lot of reviews and objective ratings.

Food

As a food lover, I visited two sea food restaurants, Samaki Samaki, Mawimbi (ranks 1 on Trip advisor), Tamarind and a few others. You can also order food via Glovo app, they are fast and efficient. Kenyans are also very versatile with their cuisine so you should expect to see loads of intercontinental dishes that is not agbado, cassava or beans and dodo🏃‍♀️

Lunch at one of the Kenyan restaurants

Activities

Kenya is famous for its Safaris but asides that, there are different activities that you can do that are affordable, a tour of the national park cost around $22 – zip lining, hiking, ( if you are weighing more than 80kg like me, you should definitely do this hiking) Nairobi city tour, museum visits. Partying never stops in Nairobi but I hear all the fun is in Diani Beach (planning to visit on my next trip). Yeah, that was how I spent my holiday in Kenya!.

Animals at the Kenya National Park

This was just a beautiful holiday experience. I (Muna) am just a bit worried about the attitude of the Port Health staff at the Kenyan airport, I have heard this same report from different Nigerian travellers. It is either they say the yellow card is fake or they are been profiled. Anyways, please ensure your yellow card is original, you can confirm by scanning the QR code on the card, it should bring out a place for you to type in your passport number and the yellow card number as well.

Are you adding Kenya to your bucket list yet, asides the Port Health experience, we can agree it is a place worth visiting.

Ps: As promised, I did the first giveaway yesterday, (Small yansh dey shake oo, lol). I will do another one once I get to 5k subscribers, please as you attend Peter Obi’s rally, be publicising Travelletters too 😩😩.

Pss: For entry into Kenya, you are required to have a PCR negative result if you are not fully vaccinated.

This is all for Kenya for now, please reach out to me if you will like to share your travel experience, I cant wait to read from you. Also, if you know any travel company looking to curate affordable budget trips for the Travelletters family, please refer them to me.

Until next week

Love

Muna