After a turbulent start at the beginning of this year, i promised myself to try and visit three touristic towns before the year ends.
Top of the list was Lamu, a town i had always wanted to visit but never had the chance to. As someone that has been to every town in the coast; Kilifi, Watamu, Malindi, Diani, Wasini Island, Nyali – you name it, it always puzzled even me that i had never visited Lamu.
I had to get it out of the bucket list you see, and that i did.
Last month a friend and i woke up one morning and decided we needed to go and party in another country other than Kenya.
We had zero plans, just wake up, book bus tickets and leave the country. Have breakfast in a different country, lunch, go out and rave and take a bus back to Kenya the next morning.
I miss those days when spontaneity was the order of the day and i realised life was passing me by very fast.
Raving in Nairobi has become super boring for me and with how expensive going out has become, i wanted to spend that money somewhere else other than Nairobi. I wanted to experience a different culture, eat different foods, rub shoulders with strangers from a different country – even if it would be just for a day.
My friend and i settled on Tanzania. We would have gone to Kampala, but I’ve been there severally and in as much as clubbing in Uganda slaps hard, i wanted to experience something else.
It’s good to challenge your minds abit sometimes – and pockets. It’s really not hard to cross the border to any East African countries. All we needed was a passport and a yellow fever card. Initially we were told we needed a COVID vaccine certificate but turns out it wasn’t needed.
I wanted to take a direct bus from Nairobi to Dar esalam but we settled on a train to Mombasa then a bus to Dar.
Taking a cab from Syokimau to the sgr terminal cost us ksh 450. A train ticket from to Mombasa to Nairobi cost ksh 1,000. We took a 10pm train and were in Mombasa by 4am.
Of train rides
We then took a bus to Mwembe, where we had booked a Tahmeed bus to Dar esalam. Let me tell you, the comfort in this bus is something else. With fully working air conditioner, spacious leg space, fully reclining seats and social distancing between each seats.
Let me tell you something else, there is no way i would ever choose the sgr over that bus. Sgr was so stifling i found it hard to even take a nap, with full glares of the people across you from the “face me” seats and lights on through out the whole journey. I found myself looking at the time repeatedly and secretly wondering when we would ever arrive.
Anyway, our Dar esalam bus left at 5:30am. By 7 ish we were at the border and spent roughly 2 hours there. Smooth sailing. This is where we also changed our Kenyan shillings into the Tanzanian ones. (It takes some time to get used to the changing, and we were constantly whipping our calculators out to convert the money. It’s all fun and games at the beginning but it gets tiring at some point hehe). The bus ticket from Mombasa to Dar esalam cost ksh 1,900.
The first thing i noticed at the border (being the petty person that i am lol) is that the sodas in Tanzania are cheaper and have more quantity. Tell me why a 500ml bottle of coke is 80bob in Kenya and a 600ml bottle of the same is 58bob in Tanzania. Ohh and i feel i need to point out that theirs taste so much better. (If there is one thing that will take me back to that country, is the cold soda, literally.)
I thoroughly enjoyed my view along the way. The greenery, the scenery, honestly Tanzania is a very beautiful, fertile country.
We arrived at Dar esalam late in the evening at which point i was starving. I needed a “Mama Ntilie” experience, and those are in plenty in these sides of the world. Also, put in mind that we were on a budget. Biryani we wanted, and Biryani we got. The biryani was okay i guess, very much similar to the one we prepare in Kenya. Only way cheaper.
The three nights we spent in Dar cost us roughly ksh 4,000 each on hotel rooms.
Clubbing cost us ksh 3,000 on the Saturday night that we went out. ksh 1500 each. (I know)
The next day we went window shopping and bought a few things, mainly spices (spices are so affordable here and the portions are generous), lots of mabuyus (watu wa Nairobi mostly huwa tunagongwa when it comes to mabuyu, legit mabuyu are usually found in Mombasa. But the ones in Dar…. my goodness. Nothing short of orgasmic.) Some very affordable but good smelling perfumes, a dera each and traditional cooking pots (yes, nyungu) which we bought at a jaw dropping price of ksh 115 each. Personally i found these to be my best buys, I’ve always wanted to buy these traditional pots but 1. Didn’t know where to buy them and 2. I’m sure they cost almost 7 seven times what we purchased them for.
purchasing this hand made pot gave me so much happiness
That evening we visited the famous Coco beach.
breathtaking. Reminds me of Diani
The next day we visited a mangrove beach. I’ve come to love these mangrove beaches so much because of how clear and clean their water usually is. I think the mangrove roots have like a self cleaning mechanism or something.
My traveling partner.
All in all, the trip was wholesome, the locals were super friendly and i know i would definitely be back for another night of clubbing. Also, now that i know how the scene is i would definitely be back with more money because there were so many things that i wanted to buy but could not because i hadn’t budget for them.
Dar es salaam has lots of beautiful jewellery, their handbags, shoes etc are so fairly prices it makes you want to cry. I’ll not talk about their wigs, because that is a story for another day. Yaani, everything there is so reasonably priced.
All in all, the trip was worth every cent, definitely worth it’s money.
