Landing in Nairobi

September 2009

We were excited of finally landing in Kenya. Oh, but what a grueling journey it was. We spent a total of 34 hours landing first in New York, then Amsterdam and finally Nairobi.

There were long lineups at the Nairobi airport to get Visas but thankfully we finally realized we could go to any line through customs and they would issue the visa as well. We were happy we decided to get our Visa at the airport as the wait time was the same for everyone anyway and it is cheaper….$25.00.

The Fairview Hotel Nairobi, Kenya

This hotel definitely deserves its top online rating. Our airport pickup was waiting as promised and the service at the hotel, once we arrived was unsurpassed. The hotel has a gentle old world charm atmosphere…friendly well trained staff, comfortable bed beautiful crisp white linens, lots of sparkling windows and rich wood. It was easy to imagine the well-heeled travelers from yesteryear who once arrived here. We enjoyed appetizers and drinks the evening we arrived and toasted our 20^th Anniversary. The breakfast buffet was wonderful.

Shuttle – ( Rainbow Shuttle)Nairobi to Arusha

As promised our driver arrived at 7:30 AM to take us to Arusha. What some said would be a 5-hour trip in actual fact took 7 hours. It was a rough trip for at least ¾ of the way over dusty bumpy dirt roads. I guess if they ever finish the construction it might be easier…but it looked like a very slow process as most was being done by hand. We were happy we brought some peanut butter sandwiches with us as the short rest stop just before the Tanzania border didn’t have much to offer. We were happy we took the 8AM shuttle as we now realize the 2PM shuttle would have been arriving well after dark. I’d much rather do the drive during the day.

Along the way we got our first glimpse of some African wildlife.  We saw a troop of baboons, some zebra and some giraffe.

We had about a 30-minute wait at the Tanzania border as everyone on the bus had to get his or her picture taken and buy a visa. It was all pretty straight forward …just pay $50.00 each and you’re done. There were lots of shuttle buses there with everyone doing the same thing.