Maldives 2017

Maldives (10th -14th September)

• I will explain my low cost 5-day trip to Maldives: excluding the flight we spent less than $300 each
• How? Basically avoiding luxury resorts and private transports
• Even if September is rainy season, we had two full sunny days, and 2 days with partial rains during a few hours

Places visited:

• Hulhumale
• Male-Villingili
• Maafushi

• Arrival into Maldives is very exciting... views from the plane are magnificent
  
  
  
  
• Male airport is actually located in Hulhumale
• There is an exchange facility in the airport but dollars are mostly accepted as long as the notes are in good condition
• From the airport you can either:

1. Take a transport to Hulhumale city (there is public bus every half an hour, it takes 20 minutes and costs 20 ruppees or $1.4), or
2. Go to Male itself (there is public ferry every 15 minutes and it takes 10 minutes for a cost of 10 ruppeess or $0.7)

• My couple was arriving a day later due to work so I spent the first day in Hulhumale and I spent the night with a couchsurfer from Sudan (thanks Omar!)
• I spent the day by the baeutiful beach and had lunch with great views
  
• I fell asleep and got burnt in just 2 hours (quite badly, do not forget sunscreen!)
• First day I did not see even a cloud, amazing sun all day
• I had a walk around Hulhumale but I did not see much apart from great beaches
• One of the building´s facades was nice though
  
• In the afternoon we enjoyed the sunset by the port side 
  

• Finally together, second day we aimed to go to Maafushi, where we spent most part of the holiday
• There is 1 daily ferry at 15h every day but for Fridays, and some days there is a second service (check timings when you go but with us it was very reliable)
• However, Male-Hulhumale and Male-Maafushi terminals are at the opposite side of Male (3km), so we took a taxi (fixed price at 25 rupeess or $1.7)
• The public ferry to Maafushi costs only 30 rupees ($2) and it takes a bit less than 2 hours, very nice deal! Why? The island is inhabited so the government has to offer a public communication trasnport
• Also, there are several speed boats per day connecting Male and Maafushi for $25 each way
• Anyway, as it was several hours earlier than departure of the local ferry, we visited Villingili beach, taking a 10 minutes ferry from Male (3.25 ruppees or $0.2), and we experienced the first partial rains of the trip
  
• After having lunch in Male we finally took the publi ferry to Maafushi, where we spent that evening plus 2 more days
• Maldives opened the possibility of other accommodation options apart from luxury resorts in 2009
• Maafushi counts with several guesthouses and we booked a hotel for $50 per night including breakfast 
• The east part of Maafush island has a prison, and the rest of the island is 1km long approx
• Maafushi has two beaches, one where bikinis are allowed, and one local which is more conservative (muslim country), being both of them on the west part of the island
• We had bicycles for free in our guesthouse so after arriving we went to see the sunset, and it was a pleasure to see a some water sports
  
  
  
  
• We wanted to do some diving during our trip so we went to the 4 diving centers in Maafushi to get some info 
• Most places started at $40 per dive including equipment and we did not find it possible to negotiate much
• Finally we booked 2 dives ($80 per person) for next day with Maafushi Dive and Water Sports center

• Third day we met at 8am and experienced our best dive so far
• In my case, I have tried diving in UAE, Philippines, Seychelles, Saudi Arabia and Maldives, and definitely Maldives was the best
• Both dives were in Kandooma site, and we were lucky to see sharks, rays and turtles, apart from many other smaller but beautiful sealife
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
    
  
  
• Maybe we were lucky but we were so pleased with the dives that I recommend this diving center for sure
• During the boat ride to the diving sites we spotted several luxury resorts. We did not like the idea of paying around $100 per person to spend the day at any of them but all hotels in Maafushi offer that possibility
  
• According to my couple who was in Maldives before, prices to spend a day in a luxury resort were lower from Male, maybe because of higher demand and competition
• Rest of the day we enjoyed food, beach and relax in Maafushi

• For the fourth day in Maldives we booked a tour including snorkeling with turtles, watching dolphins and stopping at one of the typical sandbanks. Some agencies in Maafushi offer that tour starting at $25 including lunch, which sounds very good. 
• Sadly for us, rain made the tour agency to cancel the tour next day. They gave back the money but as it was our last day in Maafushi we could not try again 
• Rain stopped soon and we could enjoy more beach and relax in Maafushi
• That evening we had a great experience: as alcoholic drinks are not sold in Maafushi itself, we took a free speed boat offered by a hotel which takes people in 5 minutes to a boat-hotel in the sea
• There you can enjoy alcoholic (and non-alcoholic drinks) which are a bit expensive but not too much (i.e. beer for $6 or spirits starting at $8)
• I recommend going before sunset and enjoy a drink with the views
• The boat-hotel has 7 rooms and offers food as well

• Last day we took the public ferry from Maafushi to Male (7:30 am) and from Male we took ferry to the airport for our flight at 11am
• We enjoyed Maldives a lot and we spent a reasonable amount of money, so our experience was very good
• Hope it helps! 

Kenya 2017

Kenya (October 2017)

• I will share my experience on a 9 day trip to Kenya 
• Apart from this trip I spent a short layover of 24h in Nairobi so I will give some detail about it as well
• Roads are not in best condition outside Nairobi, traffic is quite bad and difference is prices online is huge so I will try to give some advice specially in terms of transport and prices

Places visited:

• Masai Mara & Lake Nakuru
• Nairobi
• Mombasa & Coast
  

a) Masai Mara & Lake Nakuru

• Even if it is better to go to Masai Mara during migration season (august, september), I would still recommend visiting Masai Mara at any period
• I took my parents for their first safari ever 
• When I checked prices online, I saw entrance fees of $60 or $80 per person per day in the park, plus very expensive rental cars
• Thus I organized a public safari with the company BigMac Africa Safaris which offered a 4day package for $400 per person after a bit of negotiation (public safari only meant sharing transport with 5 or 6 more people)
  
• This package included entrance fees in the parks, transport from and to Nairobi, economy accommodation 3 nights and meals, what I consider a very good deal and I have to say we were very happy with them
• First day on our day to Masai Mara we had a stop at a viewing point of the Rift Valley which crosses several countries in the East of Africa
  
  
  
  
• After almost 7 hours on the road we reached our camp in Masai Mara, and from that first afternoon we went to see wildlife. We had full safari the second day and a little more during the 3rd day and we were pleased to see amazing beauty, including all big 5 but for the rhinno (here you are a few captures)

• Third day we drove to Lake Nakuru, again 6 more hours on the road, and last day we had a few hours safari in Lake Nakuru where we appreciated lot of wildlife, specially flamengo and rhinno, which we could not see in Masai Mara (apparently there are only around 40 rhinnos currently in Masai)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Even if I recommend it a lot, after 4 day safari we had enough and I would not recommend a single day more for safari because we reached a point where as I have said we had enough. Even 3 day safari would have been enough, but I highly recommend one full day in Masai because that day we got to see the most difficult animals
• Also, during the second day afternoon we were offered to visit a Masai village for an extra cost of $10 per person. Sadly they are already a bit corrupted by money and they try hard to sell souvenirs etc, but still is a nice experience to share an hour or two with them
• They showed how they make fire with wood, how they live, etc
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• I would like to insist that we were very happy with this deal, especially when you compare with other super expensive options online, and at the end we saw pretty much the same wildlife as any other private company

b) Nairobi

• Firstly, I will explain what I did during a 24 h in Nairobi in September 2017, when I did a tour which included a visit to 3 of the main touristic spots: National Park, Elephant Orphanage & Giraffe Centre
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• Nairobi National Park is considered the only safari park within a city. It is impressive to see tall building a few kilometers away
  
• The park can be visited with your own vehicle and entry fee is $45 for foreigners non residents (locals and residents have prices under $10)
• You will see plenty of tour options and prices but I recommend visiting it by yourself with a regular rented car (I am not friend of organized tours even if I booked one with working colleagues)
• It is quite easy to spot wildlife, mainly giraffe, zebra, buffalo, or birdlife, but also lions, rhino, crocodile, austrich or hipo (those I could see, but you might find also lepards, cheetah or hyena)
• I could not get as impressive photos as in Kruger (South Africa) but still here you are some

• I am quite happy with the visit to Nairobi National Park
• Obviously Masai Mara would be much more impressive but if by any chance you have some free time in Nairobi, it is what I liked the most

David Sheldrick Elephant Orphanage:

• This project started a few decades ago with the lovely goal of rescuing baby elephants, taking care of them and returning them to wildlife
• Rescued elephants are under 3 year old and they need mother´s milk to survive. When baby elephants are found without that possibility they are brought to this Orphanage, where they keep them till they are approx 3yo and ready to be released into the wild
• The Orphanage can only be visited from 11-noon 
• It is beautiful to see baby elephants running for their milk dose, playing in pool and getting very close to you
  
  
  
  
• The foundation appreciates any donation and while showing the elephants they give an speech about their job and vision
• Their project is lovely but in my opinion they insist too much in the option of donating or fostering an elephant

Giraffe Centre:

• Last visit was the Giraffe Centre, probably the one I liked less, maybe because I was a bit tired from working previous night
• Entrance fee is $10 for foreigners
• Once inside you receive some food and you can feed giraffes. There is bar where you can take some drinks and snacks
• The feeling of a giraffe´s tongue touching you and taking food from you is itself an experience and some pictures might be nice, but I prefer the majesty of seeing giraffes in the wild

• Anyway the giraffes looked well taken care so I cannot discourage the visit

• Continuing with the proper trip in Kenya, we spent the minimum time possible in Nairobi
• After arriving from the safari we went for a walk in the city, seeing some gardens such as Uhuru Park, a mosque and a church, and a very busy city, but I cannot recommend anything in particular
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• We went to a popular expat restaurant called Carnivore, 7km from downtown, where they serve meat in a Rodizio Bralizian style for $35 per person excluding drinks
• The service is very nice, the unlimited starters as well, but the meat itself was not as amazing as expected. Apparently the quality of the meat has decreased compared to a decade ago when the restaurant appeared as top 50 in the world by some magazine
  
  
  
  
• Lastly, I would like to mention the colourful public transports in Nairobi, and in general in the whole country
  

c) Mombasa & Coast

• There are many ways to go from Nairobi to Mombasa. We did not feel like flying, neither like taking a bus for more than 10h and I saw a train service connecting both cities started in summer 2017, currently with two services at 8am and 3:30pm taking around 6h
• As a bad news, they do not sell online yet but only in the train station and only 4 days before
• The lady where we stayed our first night in Nairobi was very kind to book for us Nairobi-Mombasa, only $7, but when we wanted to book the return there was only first class available ($30, with just a bigger space per passenger but nothing special)
  
  
  
  
• The outskirts of Mombasa are very chaotic. Most road cargo comes to Mombasa and is distributed in Kenya, Uganda and even more countries, so the traffic and the roads near the port area are extremely bad
• Mombasa itself offers a lot of contrasts due to influence of Arabs, Indians, Europeans and Africans
• Several mosques can be observed, several markets or Fort Jesus can be observed, but I would not spend much time in Mombasa itself 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Anyway, I would not spend much time in Mombasa itself but go to the beaches nearby
• We had two options on mind, either south or north; Diani beach in the south is popular and apparently one of the best in Africa, but to reach there from Mombasa you need to take a short ferry, so we decided to go north because we had only 2 more days
• We visited the beaches of Nyali and Bamburi, where the sand is really white and smooth' however the water has a lot of seaweed which might be unconfortable
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• We visited the Mombasa Marine Park for $35 each and we were honestly disappointed as we could barely see marine life 
  
  
  
  
• Anyway we spent 2 nice relaxing days by the coast
• Finally I would like to recommend Tamarind restaurant (owned by the same group as Carnivore in Nairobi) with views to the coast of Mombasa, or Yuls by Bamburi beach
• I hope this info helps someone :)