kiliman97

Do go if you get the chance!
Basically a mountain sticking out of the Atlantic !..Lovely mild to warm weather all year. A botanical wonder! Loads of places to stay…from reasonable to expensive. DO visit the fish market in Funchal & then eat Espada Fish. The do great banana fritters there too!!

A superb beach !!...excellent for watersports AND excercising your dog when past the NO dogs area. The dogs have 2 miles of sand to run on!

A little village where you can get excellent mint tea! There is also accomodation – even if on a roof.
Food can be purchased in Tademt and Asni

The Boulevard Hotel is good if a bit pricey – nice food and a good place to rest in between flights and safari. Safe and guarded.
Go to the Thorn Tree Cafe and sit awile amongst the backpackers and their left messages. People watch awhile !
Suggest you dont walk at all, anywhere, use a cab from your ‘hotel’- Nairobi IS a dangerous place for the unwary
But excellent place for moving up North…reccomend DICK HEDGES safaris (GOOGLE him)....well organised! (if it is still there of course)

Maralal….between Nairobi and Lake Turkana.
A watering point and place to repair broken vehicles!
The tourist hardly ever comes to this small town except en route to northern Kenya. Only a couple of roads really…a small market and a few shops…but very friendly local people – mind, they want to take you to their Aunts shop usually !
Want a Coke…well of course u can get one here (in a glass bottle – which should be given back to one of the many little boys so that they get the deposit!). BUT be careful after u leave for the north…it is bandit country for a while…dangerous.

Lake Turkana in N Kenya….very hot (was 45degrees when I was there)....a barren landscape and then suddenly this vast blue lake…a few tribesmen under palm trees near their small semi-spherical huts. What a nice thing it would be to swim BUT dont!....very saline waters and infested with crocks!
Night falls suddenly and the local people become more active…dancing from 10pm till the early hours.
Sunrise. Children come out of the huts, release the goats and, in IMMACULUATE school uniforms, walk off to school 8k away.

Overland from Nairobi…2.5 days in a Bedford Truck over the mountains. ..Great !!

Thought a few more pics may encourage you!

Zanzibar !
Great location once u have fought ur way passed the taxi touts at the entry ‘port’.
Stone Twon is great with highly colourful markets and shops. The coast of the island is just like the pics. lodged elswhere. Good simple accom. if you want it is available on the coasts AWAY from Stone Town -good bus system – a good range of meals from DikDik to Parrot Fish.
Try Prison Island for a short sea trip to an unspoiled Island…fabulous swimming on the reef and hugh tortoises in the gardens of a ‘resturaunt’ – Prison Island was as it sounds a prison – but for slaves en-route to America etc.

What a surprise. Just outside of High Wycombe (westwards) is this little village on the A40. Houses from the 16 and 17 century line the road. The Estate house is open for visits at certain times and the Hell Fire Caves do a great tea! Shops?...well a couple, great ‘furniture’ shop and a superb old fashioned sweet shop selling hundreds of sweets in jars.
A piece of Old England here.

FABULOUS !
My favourite place on earth?
Stayed overnight (2 nights) at Simba Campsite – on the caldera rim and from there did 4 game drives. Everything you could want in a safari. Try to get land rovers rather than a vans as u have more space and most have the flip top lid for perfect viewing. Ask the driver/guide NOT to follow the crowd via his radio and just to drive about and see what u find.
It is COLD in the morning…sun rise on crater floor much later than on rim. If u are up at Simba it is Very Cold at night as it is at 6000ft.
Words do not do this place any justice…nor the telly really – u have to be inside the crater.