WouterB wrote:We will indeed take a taxi to the border. The price you're quoting is a lot higher than I had expected! Especially since it only takes you to the border. The bus goes for next to nothing, but not at that hour. So I might indeed need to look into this a bit more.
Yup.
Why I ran out of money. You'd think, it being Africa, things would be cheap. Did you book your flight yet? There was a direct KLM flight from Schiphol to Kili airport, though on the way back, it went via Dar-Es-Salam. A quick hop.
Of course, you don't live near Amsterdam any more.
Goods are cheap. I was able to punch out all of my Christmas shopping at the market in Nairobi. The amount I saved probably paid off a couple of those cab rides.
Are you doing any sort of wildlife safari? You won't see much around Kili. Some monkeys. If you're not, I wouldn't even go to Nairobi unless you must. There's no direct road from Kili. You have to take the long way around inside Tanzania. Another costly little surprise I had waiting for me.
The area around Kili is, nonetheles, attractive. The people are well off. Most houses have coffee, oranges and bananas growing around their house.
If it's possible, ask the driver to pick up a Masai. There's usually a bunch hanging around trying to crib a free ride. You'll learn much about their body tribal markings and they see wildlife I missed. Amazing the way a Giraffe blends into a couple of trees.
All of that said, the Namanga Gate, at the land crossing between Tanzania and Kenya is a very special place.
In tour operator parlance…
"We'll fly to Nairobi and after doing some errands we'll take a city tour! After honing our bargaining skills on the local merchants we'll savor the cultural ambience of a Nairobi City hack all the way to the Namanga Gate. This vehicle transfer will last about 5 hours taking out some time to change a blowout tire! We'll get dropped off at the Kenyan side and it's time for some exercise! We'll drag a ton of high altitude gear through a veritable gauntlet in the scorching sun, surrounded by a horde of touts, pimps and purveyors of everything! If you thought you attracted attention in Nairobi, this will blow your mind! We'll fill out forms in government offices along the way! We'll be surrounded by disreputable looking shops of every description. We'll practice our bargaining skills some more on the Tanzanian side as we engage another car! We'll thrill to a high speed ride in the rain with non functioning windshield wipers!”