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© Lonely Planet Publications 317 THUMB TAB DIRECTORY DIRECTORY Directory CONTENTS BOOK YOUR STAY ONLINE Accommodation 317 For more accommodation reviews and rec- Activities 320 ommendations by Lonely Planet authors, Business Hours 324 check out the online booking service at Children 324 www.lonelyplanet.com/hotels. You’ll find Climate Charts 325 the true, insider lowdown on the best places Courses 326 to stay. Reviews are thorough and independ- Customs 326 ent. Best of all, you can book online. Dangers & Annoyances 326 Discount Cards 328 website of Let’s Go Travel (www.lets-go-travel.net) Embassies & Consulates 328 displays almost all the major hotels and lodges Festivals & Events 329 in Kenya, giving price ranges and descrip- Food 329 tions. Also check out Kenya Last Minute (www Gay & Lesbian Travellers 329 .kenyalastminute.com), which is a good port of call Holidays 330 for discounted bookings at some of the more Insurance 330 expensive camps, lodges and hotels, particu- Internet Access 331 larly on the coast. Legal Matters 331 Where appropriate, accommodation op- Maps 332 tions are split into budget, midrange and top- Money 332 end categories for ease of reference. In general, Photography 333 a budget double room is anything under Post 334 KSh1000. You can pay as little as KSh150 Senior Travellers 334 for four walls and a bed, with foam mattress Shopping 334 and shared squat toilet; for KSh400 and up Solo Travellers 336 you’d usually get a private bathroom, and Telephone 336 at the upper end of the scale shower heaters Time 337 and breakfast may be on offer. Surprisingly, Toilets 337 bedding, towels and soap are almost always Tourist Information 337 provided however much you pay, though Travellers with Disabilities 337 cleanliness varies widely and toilet seats can Visas 338 be rare luxuries. Women Travellers 338 In most of the country, midrange accom- Work 339 modation falls between KSh1000 and KSh3500 Volunteering 339 for a double room – the major exception to this is Nairobi, where you can pay anything ACCOMMODATION up to KSh6000 for the same standards. In this Kenya has a good range of accommodation bracket you’d usually expect breakfast, private options, from basic cubicle hotels overlooking bathroom, telephone and good-size double city bus-stands to luxury tented camps hid- beds with proper mattresses; the more you pay den away in the national parks. There are also the more facilities you get, from restaurants all kinds of campsites, budget tented camps, and bars to TVs, hot showers and the odd bandas (simple huts) and cottages scattered swimming pool. You should also expect to pay around the parks and rural areas. more for midrange at coastal resorts. During the low season many companies Everything over KSh3500 (or US$80 in offer excellent deals on accommodation on Nairobi) counts as top end, and what you get the coast and in the main wildlife parks, for your money varies enormously. Once you often working with airlines to create pack- hit US$100 you should count on breakfast, TV, ages aimed at the local and expat market. The phone, air-con (on the coast), room service and 318 DIRECTORY •• Accommodation lonelyplanet.com things are much more seasonal, peak times PRACTICALITIES tend to be July to August and December to March, and a range of lower rates can apply Major newspapers and magazines in for the rest of the year. DIRECTORY DIRECTORY Kenya include the Daily Nation, the East Note that however high season is defined, African Standard, the East African, the premium rates or supplements always apply Weekly Review and the New African. over Christmas, New Year and Easter, and KBC and NTV, formerly KTN, are the main can be as much as double the high-season national TV stations. CNN, Sky and BBC tariffs. Conversely, hotels that are near networks are also widely available on empty in low season may be open to some satellite or cable (DSTV). negotiation on rates. KBC Radio broadcasts across the country In this book, ‘high season’ refers to rates on various FM frequencies. Most major quoted for the longest peak period (not pre- towns also have their own local music mium rates), and ‘low season’ refers to the and talkback stations, and the BBC World lowest prices available out of season – any Service is easily accessible. other variations should fall between these two guidelines. Kenyan televisual equipment uses the standard European PAL video system. Bandas Kenya uses the 240V system, with square These are Kenyan-style huts and cottages, three-pin sockets as used in the UK. Bring usually with some kind of kitchen and bath- a universal adaptor if you need to charge room, which offer excellent value for budget your phone or run other appliances. travellers. There are Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) bandas at Shimba Hills, Tsavo West, Kenya uses the metric system – distances are in kilometres and most weights are in Meru and Mt Elgon, and near the marine kilograms. reserves at Malindi and Shimoni. Some are wooden huts, some are thatched stone huts and some are small brick bungalows with toiletries as standard, and in the upper realms solar-powered lights. Facilities range from of the price range the extras can include any- basic dorms and squat toilets to kitchens and thing from complimentary minibars to casinos, hot water provided by wood-burning stoves. jacuzzis and free activities. The most expensive The cost varies from US$10 to US$25 per places are the exclusive getaways tucked away person, and you’ll need to bring all your own in national parks and other remote corners food, drinking water, bedding and firewood. of the country, which can exceed US$600 for a double but don’t necessarily include all the Beach Resorts trappings you’d expect elsewhere. Much of the coast, from Diani Beach to Although most midrange and top-end Malindi, is taken up by huge luxury beach resorts. Most offer a fairly similar experi- places quote prices in US dollars or in euros, ence, with swimming pools, water sports, payment can be in local currency. Note that bars, restaurants, mobs of souvenir vendors most places have separate rates for residents, on the beach and ‘tribal’ dance shows in the which are often much less than the non- evening. They aren’t all bad, especially if you resident rates. Prices quoted in this book are want good children’s facilities, and a handful nonresident rates, unless otherwise stated. of them have been very sensitively designed. Many midrange and (especially) top-end Nightly rates vary from US$45 per person at options also change their prices according to the small family resorts to US$500 at top- season, which can be confusing as very few end places. Note that the majority of these places use exactly the same dates. In prin- places will close in the early summer, gener- cipal there are high, low and shoulder sea- ally from May to mid-June or July. sons, but some hotels can divide their year into five or more distinct pricing periods. Camping For lodges in the national parks, the norm There are many opportunities for camping is to charge high-season prices from July to in Kenya, and it is worth considering bring- March, with low-season prices only applica- ing a tent with you, though gear can also ble from April to June. On the coast, where be hired in Nairobi and around Mt Kenya. lonelyplanet.com DIRECTORY •• Accommodation 319 DIRECTORY DIRECTORY There are KWS campsites in just about every fancier places offer modern kitchens, but national park or reserve, though these are more often than not the so-called kitchen- usually very basic. There’ll be a toilet block ettes will be a side room with a small fridge with a couple of pit toilets, and usually a and portable gas stove. water tap, but very little else. Terms you will come across in Kenya in- As well as these permanent campsites, clude ‘self-contained’, which just means a KWS also runs so-called ‘special’ campsites room with its own private bathroom, and in most national parks. These sites move ‘all-inclusive’ (called ‘full board’ in this book), every year and have even fewer facilities than which generally means all meals, certain the standard camps, but cost more because drinks and possibly some activities should of their wilder locations and set-up costs. A be included. ‘Half board’ generally means one reservation fee of KSh7500 per week is pay- or two meals are included. able on top of the relevant camping fee. Private sites are rare, but they offer more Rental Houses facilities and may hire out tents if you don’t Renting a private house is a popular op- have your own. It’s sometimes possible to tion on the coast, particularly for groups on camp in the grounds of some hotels in rural longer stays, and many expats let out their towns, and Nairobi has some good private holiday homes when they’re not using them. campsites. Camping in the bush is possible Properties range from restored Swahili houses but unless you’re doing it with an organised on the northern islands to luxurious colonial trip or a guide, security is a major concern – mansions inland, and while they’re seldom don’t even think about it on the coast. cheap, the experience will often be something All campsite prices in this book are per pretty special. Papers and noticeboards in person unless otherwise specified. Nairobi and along the coast are good places to find out about rentals, as is the internet and Hostels old-fashioned word of mouth.