Category Archives: guest post

Kenyan Guide to Brazil

Now that the 2012 Olympics are over, it’s time for Kenyan fans to start preparations for the next great sporting event. Brazil hosts the World Cup in 2014 and the next Olympic Games in 2016. There is little hope for Kenya making the former. In fact, they have been, but we hope to do better at the next Olympics. @MartinKeino pointed out just before the London games ended, Kenya rarely does well in European Olympics, and a move back to a tropical climate will be welcomed.

Anyway on to the guest post by  @Wajulzoe who recently traveled to Sao Paulo, Brazil. Note the local currency is the Brazil Real and US$1 is about 2 Real.

Getting there: Regarding the embassy, which is located on the street right behind The Village Market-UN Crescent, ensure that you start your visa application at least three weeks before you are scheduled to leave. This is because the Brazilian embassy serves the entire East African region, and delays are expected especially when major events and conferences are taking place in Brazil.

Your first visit will be to drop off your documents, which if there are no problems will be accepted, and you will be informed via email when your visa is ready. Make sure you have all your original documents, including invitation letters, as they do not accept scanned copies even for invitation letters, and these will have to be shipped in for them to authenticate the signatures.

For the flight, Emirates via Dubai which will cost approximately $2400 return from Nairobi depending on whether or not it is peak season. Note, you can also fly through South Africa for about $1,600 on South Africa Airways, and while been said that Sao Paulo has been earmarked as the first Latin American destination for Kenya Airways, nothing has been officially announced.

If you are travelling to Sao Paulo, you will arrive at Guarulhos International Airport (GRU) where you will be required to present your visa.

Getting Around:  From the airport, a taxi will cost you approximately R100 (equivalent to $50) though you could alternatively take a bus which costs R10 (equivalent to $5) which passes along the main tourist sites to view while en route and uses the main road. The transport system is well organized. You can choose from using a taxi, bus or metro(subway). The bus and subway are efficient and affordable, in addition to being convenient irrespective of which part of the town you are headed. The only thing to keep in mind is the congestion of the subway terminals during rush hour.

Brazilians speak Portuguese as their official language, with a minority of Brazilians being bilingual (can speak both Portuguese and English).

Getting around, you will spend between R$15-30 (equivalent to $7.50-15) per meal inclusive of drinks. There are also a number of buffet eateries in the town where you can enjoy local meals for about the same cost.

Sao Paulo is generally a secure city though you need to keep a close eye on your wallet to avoid busy hands from pick-pockets. It is advisable to walk in groups late in the evening and to use a car as much as possible when traveling at night.

Where to stay: Sao Paulo has reliable electricity and water supply and The average hotel cost starts from $50 (for bed & breakfast) and breakfast is an elaborate meal in most hotels.

Eating out: The main food is rice, beans and meat though this may be served with a salad. Brahma is the local beer which goes for about R3 (an equivalent of $1.5) though this may cost more depending on where you are.

Staying in touch: International calls are expensive, approximately $1 per minute though most hostels and hotels have good Internet access (Wi-Fi) which you can use to make calls using Skype. Cybercafes are also available and affordable, with rates of R2 ($1) per hour.

Shopping & sightseeing: Avenue do Paulista is the main high-rise shopping mall street though,  for more affordable items, you may visit 25 de Marcio which is where most stores in Brazil get their goods from.

Samba performance

Among the places to visit are Parque do Ibirapuera, Museu de Arte de Sao Paulo Assis Chateaubriand, Sala Sao Paulo, Teatro Municipal and Museu fo Futebo, to mention a few. Many of the buildings in the city date back to the colonial era when the Portuguese occupied Brazil and for this reason, look out for a lot of pre-colonial Portuguese architecture.

Surprises /Odd Points: The warmth and hospitality of the people, even though there was often a language barrier between us.

The Brazilians are very passionate about football and for this reason, expect to have an elaborate firework display before, during and after a football match. There are also a number of gay festivals held in the open.

Guide to Kigali

A guest post by Niti Bhan
Getting There is not difficult  as there are Kenya Airways flights and also Rwandair flights. Our experience with Kenya Airways was not the best however. Our flight (via Bujumbura, Burundi) was on time and comfortable but the luggage for ALL, but three, passengers was never loaded in Nairobi, (or so they told us). Though, we were traveling under the “Priority” luggage tag due to colleague’s KLM frequent flyer card, the luggage arrived the following day, with the locks broken on the suitcases and the contents ransacked. 
In terms of  Visa and eGovernment, this aspect was very impressive, even before we left for Rwanda  We applied for visas online in the morning and though the response to the submission said it would take three (3) days for the visa, we received our PDF visa documents the very same day by email  (to be printed out and carried on the flight).  The payment for this cost US$ 30 at the airport and there is a little process of approaching the immigration counter before one is sent to pay at a cashier and then return  for a stamp.

The duty free at the airport is ridiculously cheap – with cigarettes cartons US$1 cheaper than in Nairobi and the Scottish single malt, Glenmorangie, cost just US$28 as compared to $40-50 for the same bottle in Singapore, Europe and the USA!

Getting around : The first thing to note in comparison to Nairobi is there is little traffic except for rush hour in morning and evening. The roads are wide, even, and clean and it was a pleasure to drive even during evening hours.

Kigali is a small town and reminds me of Bangalore in the late 1980s before the big boom – it has pleasant weather, mountainous vistas, hillsides with homes and a slower pace filled with mopeds – such as TVS 50 and ubiquitous  “motos” = boda bodas. All drivers have helmets, with spare for riders and they are marked with numbers and names. Taxis were less commonly seen.

Where to stay: We stayed at the Hotel Chez Lando – close enough to the airport yet it felt central to the town. We paid US$ 60 per single room which were neat, clean and comfortable. Only soap is offered in the bathrooms though and such amenities were limited. On the other hand, guests have Wi-Fi internet  access (via password) throughout this garden style hotel.

There is breakfast included in the rooms, as well as a bar and restaurant . The hotel also has pleasant walkways with the heady scent of night blooming jasmine when walking through to the guest rooms.

Note: There was a theft in my room and the front desk was reluctant to act upon it in any way. We hear that police tend to say “It must be Kenyans” if thefts occur, and this had also happened to our colleague who had her house burgled by 4 armed men who took everything of value. Rwandans will claim Kigali is safer than Nairobi, but I leave that to your judgment.

Communications: Our Safaricom connection worked but even though Airtel advertising has seen around Kigali  the prepaid Airtel one did not, – & they say that it will be arriving soon.

The top two service operators here are MTN (see everywhere, discreetly) and Tigo. We also saw  internet cafes and  one assumes most businesses and hotels have broadband as that was widely advertised through RwandaTel. Is Rwanda working towards internet access (and thus provision of eGovernment services) for all? Yes, that I would agree with based on what I heard (though MTN money from the city to rural recipients, is not yet convenient for due to shortage of agents) and saw (our visa response rates)

Dining We ate at the Hotel Chez Lando that was reasonable with beer in an open air environment, food tends towards a European menu rather than more local offerings that seem available in Kenya;  one of the many Chinese restaurants  had good food, fast service and was affordable and there was also KhanaKhazana – a premium Indian restaurant  whose food (speaking as an Indian from India) was superb, some of the best I’ve eaten and the restaurant was packed with expats from all over the world.  The service was better, in my personal estimation, than in Kenya, although our Kenyan
colleagues feel the Rwandans to be slow. There is tradeoff made there for waiters here are empathetic, courteous, and willing to help you choose and navigate the menu.

Beer: Mutzig is the highly recommended local beer and its better than a Heineken and maybe (dare I say) than  Tusker! It comes in two sizes, extra large and regular and is the preferred beer over the more plebian Primus (considered the Budweiser of Rwanda). 

Our hotel’s bar was packed with non resident diners (the front half is separated by a garden gate from the residential half) and had TV sets, a pool table and casual open air seating. On the other hand, with all its non smoking rules, and Rwanda is said to be stricter about smoking than Kenya.  However, this was not felt as a major constraint by our smoking colleague.

Shopping & Sightseeing: Not much of this happened due to our packed
work schedule but a  must-see in Rwanda is the Genocide Museum in Butare. The reverberations of this nations’ events of 1994  can still be sensed across the country (we went deep south close to the Burundi border as part of our
work, passing the Ethnographic Museum) and influences the country’s patterns of behaviour. April is the national month of mourning and the country, effectively shuts down.

Rwanda cannot be understood without understanding this national event, and even our group (on a commercial trip) could not avoid the bullet holes in our local office, or the scars – both mental and physical – as some of our colleagues, narrated their stories of survival.

Business opportunities: MTN Money has been there for three years but rural agents are not as common as the local Bank Populaire de Rwanda – which has more rural outlets than MTN Money agents per local interviews on cash flow,  although for the city dwellers, it is more convenient. There is opportunity here, as the government moves towards eGovernment and providing internet access for all, for a wide variety of services and applications on the mobile platform.

One also did not see much activity such as jua kali metalworks, fabricators etc. and the rural market’s household goods shop had only china made offerings and no local ware such as in Kenya. Only one tailor was seen on the 110 KM trip to upcountry locale. Biashara is not as obvious nor as common, and one has heard is much more regulated by local councils and regions. In Kigali, Indians were seen doing business as were the Chinese.

Biggest Surprise: Rural Rwanda barely noticed us mzungus and we did not feel we were foreigners like we had in other rural regions e.g.  in Kenya. Only in a rural market, was our Kenyan colleague teased for having a mzungu with her. Our second biggest surprise, (coming from Kenya,) was the minimal wall paintings seen  across rural Rwanda and how structured and regimented the buildings were – similar construction, similar colours and mostly natural earth walls in comparison to the bright series of walls  (with cheap corporate advertising) one sees in Kenya.

Overall, a peaceful, small, well managed nation was the impression left although one could see prisoners in their bright orange suits at work in the city as well in the rice fields in the rural areas. Prisoners do not escape when working the fields because, if they do, their families homestead will be confiscated in return by the government.

Summary: The sense was that Kagame would indeed reach his 2020 vision of becoming the Singapore of Africa, but I add the caveat of the obvious and unnecessary thefts from the hotel room as a caution.

Guide to Libreville

A guest post about a recent visit to Gabon. 

Getting There: Kenya Airways has direct flights from Nairobi to Libreville (via Douala) and flies 3 times a week. It’s around US$1400 and the flight isn’t usually full.

If you don’t have a visa you’ll need to buy one upon arrival. It costs €70 and you’ll need a letter of invitation. The airport terminal is new and clean and very easy to navigate. They often check yellow fever certificates but there are no unexpected taxes or other charges. The airport is very close to town so it’ll cost around US$5 to catch a ride to the centre.

Getting Around:  – French is the main language spoken in Gabon and you hear this on the streets more than local languages. There aren’t any English language papers.
– Prices vary considerably between local and tourist places so it’s hard to give a standard daily spend, but around US$ 20-30 should be reasonable.
– Libreville is a small and quiet city, which feels very safe to walk around, although you shouldn’t walk alone at night or take a taxi alone at night.

Shared taxis are the usual means of transport – a private car that picks up people by the side of the  road – you have to flag them down, tell the driver where you want to go and what you’ll pay (it’s around 200 CFA per kilometre). The driver then chooses whether to take you to the destination if it’s on his route and he’s happy with the price. You’ll need to double the price at night. If you want to be driven alone (i.e. for the driver not to pick up other passengers), the price is 3 or 4 times higher – you just spot an empty taxi and ask: “une course pour “(your destination)”.

Where to Stay:  Hotels are expensive, the best are L’Hotel du Phare in la Sabliere (2 mins from airport), Maisha (further along the main road in La Sabliere) and Le Meridien in Glass (5 mins after the Presidential Palace). Expect to pay around US$ 300/night. Cheaper options include l’Etoile d’Or in La Sabliere, a new Chinese-run hotel with purely Chinese furniture and fittings (everything from the soap dispenser to the toilet has Chinese writing on it and ridiculously bad English and French translations… although the food is pretty good!

Communications:  You can get full BlackBerry service although data speeds are slow and voice can also be problematic. There’s a new cyber cafe at the entrance to the Montee de Louis (entertainment district with lots of bars and restaurants) and WiFi hotspots at Dolce Vita restaurant at Port Mole and Hotel du Phare in la Sabliere (the diplomatic district near the airport). Electricity supply is pretty reliable.

Dining: You can eat like a king in Libreville – the quality and variety of restaurants is surprisingly good. There are great French restaurants, ethnic restaurants from many parts of the world (Japanese, Chinese, Vietnamese), gourmet African food and more down to earth little “maquis”. Prices vary considerably – from dizzyingly expensive top range French restaurants such as Le Bateau Ivre and le Phare du Large, through to local joints which are much more affordable. The best value is often found in Lebanese restaurants (called “Cuisine Mediterranéenne”). They sell both Lebanese and French/Italian food for around $10. There’s a great open-air pizzeria near the airport called Rivoli with an amazing selection of homemade pizzas. Also, Gabon specialises in bushmeat so you can find python, crocodile, porcupine and even monkey if you look in the right places…

You can get a beer in all bars very easily – local beer is great and cheap, and while prices vary depending on the establishment, usually for a dollar or two, you’ll be happy! . In bars, they talk about politics, business (theirs and those of their neighbours), sports and weather.

Shopping & Sight-Seeing: For shopping, Centre Mbolo is the main commercial centre with supermarkets and international brands. It’s a useful place but there’s nothing really special here. The town centre is also full of interesting shops – mainly imported goods but if you can’t afford to travel to France you’ll find French fashion at French prices… For local arts and crafts, there’s a great artisan market in the town centre selling art, masks, clothes, leather goods and other souvenirs.

The best thing you can do is take a boat from Port Mole to the island opposite Libreville – La Pointe Denis, where you see pristine and deserted white sandy beaches, backed by tropical forest – it’s an incredible place. Alternatively, you can drive to Le Cap, which is also a beach but you reach it through the forest so it’s an unusual and beautiful drive. The beach isn’t as good as La Pointe but lots of Gabonese (as opposed to tourists) have beach huts there so there’s a great atmosphere with family and friends hanging out and chilling.

Biggest surprise:  Gabon is a calm and beautiful country; 85% is forest as Gabon is part of the Congo Basin, the earth’s “second lung” and there are 13 national parks, in line with the Government’s commitment to protecting biodiversity and promoting sustainable development. There are beautiful waterfalls and huge rivers running through the forest and you can visit pygmy communities who still practice traditional rituals and preserve their culture. Gabonese art is unique and impressive – painting, sculptures and masks are all highly collectable although many of the top Gabonese artists live abroad.

Guide to Madagascar

A guest post by  @Wanyama of Africa Knows – see their extensive Images of Madagascar collection.

The Malagasy currency is Ariary with $1 = MGA 2200

Getting There: Air Madagascar has the cheapest direct return flights at around $780. The only catch is that this flight operates on Fridays only. Kenya Airways offers the best options from Nairobi to Antananarivo with three flights weekly at around $900. Travel on other days drastically increases the price of the ticket by over 100% and some of the travel times for the three-hour flight can take 20 hours as you connect through other cities within and outside Africa.

Ivato International Airport in Tana is a small airport with an average of four landings and takeoffs per hour in the middle of the day. The airport has one restaurant and snack bar with a few small duty-free shops stocking souvenirs, chocolate, alcohol, tobacco, luggage, fragrance and clothing for sale.

Entry visas are offered at the airport in an attempt to boost the tourism numbers of Madagascar. The visa is usually free for visitors staying less than 30 days.  The process takes between 30 to 45 minutes as there are usually long lines of foreigners entering the country.

Getting Around: As is common in most airports, taxi drivers await passengers to take them to town. An average fare from Ivato International Airport to downtown Antananarivo is around MGA 40,000 or $19.

Most locals take the minibuses or “matatus” in Swahili. Most minivans can either seat 14 or 18 commuters. These mini buses are notorious for overloading passengers and a 14-seater van can at times carry 20 passengers.  Minibuses usually cost around 30 times cheaper than a taxi.

For foreigners, taxis are the regular mode of transportation. One needs to negotiate with the driver to determine both the price and if the driver is interested in going in your direction. Unlike most cities where a taxi will deliver a fare to any region of the city, taxi drivers in Tana (short of Antananarivo) will often refuse to take a fare if they feel it is “too far”.  It is important to negotiate the fare before boarding a taxi.

Antananarivo is pretty secure although with limited street lighting. Once during the day, I walked downtown taking photos and my friends insisted I be very careful with my camera as sometimes thieves would come about. I never felt threatened though or felt I was in danger of being robbed. Electricity is not that reliable in some areas of the city. Tana also has very few street lights.

Communications:   In Madagascar, you either speak French or Malagasy. Since I spoke neither, I concentrated on hanging out with people who spoke English. It was rather embarrassing when I attended meetings and needed a translator or someone who could understand English to get any message across. I have now vowed to learn French as soon as is possible.

In Madagascar, Kenya’s leading network Safaricom doesn’t work. The island doesn’t have any roaming arrangements with Safaricom. There are three main carriers: Telma which is the national carrier, Orange and Bharti Airtel.

I was fortunate to stay at a friend’s place and he had Blueline’s (a cable and internet service provider offering triple play services) home internet. The connection was pretty solid and up at all times. There were a number of cybercafes that I saw in town but didn’t get a chance to visit any. I attended two conferences and both Blueline and Orange had free wi-fi for attendees.

Shopping & Sight-seeing: Most tourists in Antananarivo visit the main market in downtown for their shopping. Spices are a national export and the markets are full of a wide variety of spices. Traders will offer you different spices and provide you with instructions on how to use them correctly. For souvenirs, tourist purchase stuffed imitation lemur dolls and sculptures of baobab trees.

Antananarivo is quite a picturesque city. Built on a hill and with the old-world French charm, the architecture and cobblestoned streets make for a wonderful discovery of a city that keeps offering more to the senses as often as possible. The streets are narrow and if you are on the hillside, every block offers a great view of downtown down below. It is a great city to walk as opposed to driving in.

Rice paddies also lie on the outskirt of the city and as you drive from the airport, you go through miles of these paddies. It is an interesting juxtaposition of the rural and urban settings.

From the air, the most surprising thing is the red rivers filled with topsoil eroded from the many slash-and-burn farms dotting the landscape. This is a land where traditional farming practices greatly affect the environment and the long-term viability of agriculture.

The whole city of Tana is a visual feast. Being an old French colony, the city has an old European feel about it. The city is built on a hill with a sign stating “Antananarivo” overlooking downtown similar to the famous Hollywood sign. Atop the hill sits the Queen’s Palace and a number of hotels and old French palaces that are accessed through narrow cobblestoned streets. Atop the hill is an impressive view of downtown Tana with the national stadium and a manmade lake with a sculpture of an angel in the foreground.

Odd Points: – In Madagascar, they have a drink with small amounts of alcohol that is made specifically for children. This early introduction to “happy hour” is called Fresh (Panache).
– Malagasy people aren’t aggressive in business. You can arrive at a store around closing time and the shopkeeper will rather close the shop than serve that last client. In the same manner, a taxi will let a fare go since “you aren’t going in the direction I am”.
– The International Madagascan Fair (FIM) was full of great-looking and well-dressed women who acted as brand hostesses. The whole fair felt like a competition of who had the most beautiful women as hostesses rather than how can we do business together.

Local legends: Being an island nation, it was interesting to note that Malagasy people believe some families come from mermaids.

Guide to Luanda

A guest post by @Justdes 
Getting There: Flights to Luanda cost between $900 – $1500 for economy seats on Ethiopian, South African (partnering with TAAG Angola), Emirates and Kenya Airways (who have direct flights between Nairobi and Luanda). Note – our application for visas were done through Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and these  should be done early as it might take a few weeks, throwing off your scheduled plans.
 
On Arrival:  I was lucky to have someone from our office pick me up from the airport, and  I experienced no hassle – although I’m told that people go through hell. My colleague was interrogated for two hours for no reason at all last time she travelled to Luanda. They also ask for your Yellow Fever certificate after your passport has been stamped and as you are on your way to baggage claim which is weird cause if there’s a problem what are they to do? 

Getting Around: Matatus (called Candongueiros) and personal cars. Fuel is about Kshs 60 shillings a litre so it’s pretty affordable in comparison to Kenya. The traffic is a nightmare though with only two main highways into the city centre where everyone works. The roads are great though, with three lanes on either side and no signs of potholes.
 
It is not safe to walk around on the street alone being a foreigner. You’re advised to always drive around or, better yet, be driven around due to traffic, safety and difficulty in parking.

Where to Stay:  The business hotel of choice is Trópico in the city centre and goes for $420 dollars a night excluding breakfast. However, I stayed at Talatona hotel, which was closer to the local office and much nicer/more contemporary at $570 a night inclusive of breakfast.
 

If you’re staying in a good hotel, you’re sure to not have power supply issues. But, the entire city is constantly under electricity cuts, and some residential areas have invested in their own power generators.
 
Dining: A regular lunch is about $30 while, it’s $70 MINIMUM for a normal dinner, and over $100 for a dinner at a medium-high restaurant. Had a Rancho for lunch which is a huge plate of food, with everything imaginable (& imported?) in it. Quite delicious…too much though – and that plate of food cost Kshs 2000. Also enjoyed an ice cold Cuca, a light local beer in a champagne glass, which tastes a lot like Sierra blonde and costs Kshs 400. I’d say you need over $150 per day to get around.
via    http://www.ydamba.com/imagens/pensador.jpg
Communications: I was not able to get Blackberry service so had no access to my email on phone. I bought a local line for $9 and airtime worth $45 which I used during my four day stay there with constant access to data. Wi-Fi was  also available at the hotel (Talatona – but was a nuisance to connect to….password after password, that I didn’t even bother) and also available at our local office and was pretty fast.

There is no local English newspaper, and the National language is Portuguese but there are a few local dialects. Portugese is spoken everywhere and you’ll be lucky to find a little English spoken for business. There is lots of influence from immigrants from Portugal, but you can hardly get by in restaurants / other social places without a translator. 

Shopping & Sight-Seeing: Common is Luanda Bay, Luanda’s Islands main shopping center, called Belas Shopping Center in Talatona. A typical take home item would be wood carved masks or a wood “Angolan thinking man” carving.