Kenya Wildlife Services(KWS) announced that it might be increasing park entrance fees to its national parks. What this literally means is that the cost of going on a safari to see game in Kenyan national parks will increase. The minister for tourism in Kenya raised concerns over this move as the tourism industry has not yet fully recovered from the post election violence that shook the nation early this year.

Neighboring Tanzania has been increasing park fees since last year to as high as $60 per person. In Tanzania they also introduced a fee for crossing the Ngorongoro crater tourists that are passing.

The surprising thing is that even with increase in park fees and  other miscellaneous costs in Tanzania, many lodges continue to experience full bookings. Seems people have more money to spend than i thought

Share This

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my Africa travel news feed. I regularly post weired and interesting news articles from Africa!

Are you in the process of planning a trip to Africa? If you are and if your trip will require air travel, you will find that you have a number of options when booking your travel arrangements. One of those options is to purchase an African vacation package.

Although African vacation packages do have their good and bad sides, there are many people that are willing to buy them, as well as recommend them to others. The reasons are two. The allure of African vacation packages is that you often receive a discount and that it is easy to book multiple travel arrangements all at the same time. Though you will find some variations, vacation packages should include more than just airline reservations. Depending on the package in question, they may include overnight accommodations and a car rental as well.

In the process of booking your next travel arrangements in the form of a vacation package, you might wonder how you can go about doing so. The good news is that you have a number of different options. Just a few of the many ways that you can go about finding and buying vacation packages that include airline reservations are highlighted below for your convenience. Read the rest of this entry »

Share This

Virgin Atlantic will spend close to Ksh 30,000,000 promoting Kenya in the UKs underground mainline stations and the local press to boost tourism in the region. This initiative was announced by Sir Richard Branson who was in Kenya when he opened new facilities at a local school in Maasai Mara.  Read more information on the Daily Nation.

Share This

I’ve seen people are searching for the top luxury lodges in Tanzania. Below are some of them

• Mnemba Island Lodge

Mnemba is an idyllic island situated within a marine reserve comprising four distinct habitats which are home to a diverse array of Indian Ocean wildlife. Mnemba Island Lodge, owned by Conservation Corporation Africa comprises just 10 rustic palm-frond bandas with en suite bathrooms and private verandas nestling in a tropical beach forest fringed by a soft white coral-sand beach.

Mnemba, an Arabic word meaning octopus head, is a 20-minute cruise in a traditional 16 foot flat-bottomed boat from the Island of Zanzibar. Just one-mile in circumference, a pristine swathe of beach halos the island, fringed by a tropical forest.
A protection zone surrounds the island, conserving magnificent coral reefs where giant turtles, ghost crabs and spectacular tropical fish drift through the lagoons.A stay at this fine lodge wll cost you about US$ 1300. View updated rates here

• Singita Saswaka Lodge

Sasakwa Lodge is situated on top of Sasakwa Hill, adjacent to the Western Corridor of the Serengeti in Tanzania. The property is built in the style of a turn-of-the-century east African ranch house, and every effort has been made to celebrate the spectacular views of the Serengeti plains below. Grumeti Reserves are part of the great annual wildebeest migration route and even when it’s not migration season, herds of gazelle, zebra and giraffe can be found across the plains. Expect to pay US$ 15,000 for the whole villa for one night and about US$ 1,500 for the Sasakwa Lodge.

Sasakwa Lodge is owned by Singita

Share This

I got this by a forward mail..interesting concept

Read the rest of this entry »

Share This

Seychelles is one of the top travel destination in Africa and boasts of exquisite beaches and fine resorts for those wishing to travel to this beautiful country. Seychelles also boasts as having one of the most expensive villas in the world. Look at these amazing figures…

1. Fregate Island Private

Read the rest of this entry »

Share This

With Kenya now back on the road to recovery with the peace agreement now in place between the two warring parties, tourism confidence is now being experienced with hotel bookings on the rise. I have been told that some lodges (Keekorok and Mara Serena) have no rooms available as a result of being fully booked.

In the previous posts i even mentioned that the supermodel Naomi Campbell was in Kenya in the month of March for her holiday! Read the rest of this entry »

Share This

Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki and Prime Minister designate honorable Raila Odinga have finally named a Cabinet comprising of 42 members with removal of two ministers in the process. The cabinet is shared equally between PNU and ODM. The president has also named 52 assistant ministers. Its interesting to note that 7 women were named in the Cabinet, the highest since independence.

The Vice President, Kalonzo Musyoka, retained his ministerial docket while Mr Raila Odinga does not have a ministry. To read more info on this issue, visit the Daily Nation website or East African Standard.

Kenya is moving on to greater heights and its the nation’s belief that its image will start shining brightly like never before

Share This

Kenya went through the darkest period as a nation during the post election in Dec 2007 when violence broke out in various parts of the country after disputes arose as to who won the elections between the two main contenders for the presidency. After experiencing levels of violence never seen in the country, Kenya has suprisingly bounced back after 2 months. Normalcy has returned to the country and the two opposing leaders have agreed to share power 50/50 with the creation of a post of the Prime Minister. A new cabinet was named yesterday (3rd April 2008).

Though their are still problems that need to be sorted out, in particular the issue of displaced persons that were affected in areas that encountered violence, I believe Kenya is headed on the right direction.

Towards the end of March 2008, Naomi Campbell spent her holiday in Malindi, Kenya and gave glowing reviews about the country. During her visit in August, Ms Campbell had said she would meet representatives of modelling companies in Nairobi to try and map out strategies on the way forward to establish a modelling college for Kenyan girls.

I also saw a couple from Europe on tv getting married in Mombasa some weeks back..so it seems tourist confidence is slowly rising again

I still have issues with Western media who were quick to show photos and videos of violence in the country but are nowhere to be seen when peace is restored in the country.

Share This

Below is a video i created using safari images that we have in the office. I included great background music.

Hope you like it

Share This

Check out this funny photo of how we travel in Africa. Simple, effective and cheap. No need for travel insurance!!! He He!!!!

Share This

Came across this interesting photo from Facebook.com

Share This