Top 9 tips on keeping safe while travelling solo

Travel Tips

Top 9 tips on keeping safe while travelling solo

By Wangechi Gitahi

Safety for both your life and property should be in high consideration while planning to travel and/or whilst travelling. Try as you may, there is no one way to ensure your security 100% but, you can minimize your risk as much as possible. Being a solo traveller and more so a backpacker on most of my personal trips, I do not get the luxury of always knowing where I will be spending the night, about my destination or have safety in numbers. So far, the below tips and more are actual measures I have applied, and they continue to keep me relatively safe. Feel free to adapt, even if you are not travelling solo. 1.Follow all regulations: Listen to the regulations on ground whether international, national, local, village among others. Currently, with the Corona Virus/Covid 19, the whole world is on high alert and indeed travel has been limited if…

Africa

Ethiopia Airlines-The New Spirit of Africa

By Wangechi Gitahi

Ethiopia Airlines is the flag carrier of Ethiopia and has been in operation since April 08, 1946. It is wholly owned by the Government of Ethiopia and serves 101 international and 22 domestic destinations. Its flights have two classes: Cloud Nine which combines First and Business Class and Economy Class. When I recently needed to travel to Windhoek, Namibia from Nairobi, Kenya, I went online in search of flight options with two main search option guides 1) Cheapest Flight 2) Deliver me in Windhoek. Thus for hours, I had my eyes fixated on my laptop, my fingers playing with any and all search words I could get. I used my usual go to search platforms- Google, Fare compare, Skyscanner, Trip Advisor among others. I put out alerts for when flights to that route would drop across airlines and search platforms among others. When a decision had to be made, Ethiopia…

Africa

My homecoming to Turkanaland

By Wangechi Gitahi

Turkana county also referred to as Turkanaland and is believed to be the “Cradle of Mankind”, due to it being home to the remains of the most complete, early human skeleton ever found in the world. The skeleton is believed to be between 1.5 to 1.6 million years and is referred to as “Turkana Boy” or “Nariokotome Boy”, after the location it was found in. Growing up, I heard so many negative things about my “home” -drought, poverty, bandits, cattle rustling, food aid-the list is endless. Instead of scaring me off, it left me with a burning desire to “one day visit”, see, explore and experience the region for myself. Surely I told myself, it can’t be all dark and gloom, there must be something nice, beautiful, a silver lining in the cloud and I was going to go in search of it. First forward to 2018, and for some reason, Turkana sprung to…

Travel Tips

Packing essentials for backpackers

By Wangechi Gitahi

Oh no,! I forgot to pack…..Did I pack my…..? .Do I have my passport?..Do I have my ID?…..Where is my yellow fever card? Did I carry my toiletries? This and more is the common mental anguish that I face on every trip….every. As backpackers, we have to ensure that we carry all our essentials yet keep our luggage light , as we will be the ones to carry it around. I also prefer to keep my costs on the road low so any unnecessary costs are avoided. In addition, I also have to factor in acceptable, products that I can carry in my backpack because I may not always have control over my transport option. There are also technicalities that have to be considered in the weight of some products especially on flights, where in most cases I prefer to have my backpack as my carry on luggage. I have…

Travel Tips

10 hair care tips for travellers

By Wangechi Gitahi

All matters hair are very crucial when planning a trip and thus why this article on hair care tips is very crucial. I wish I had known some of these when I started out travelling as my experiences were initially hampered due to my “hair dos”. Now, I am very conscious of my hair do and hair care while on the road to ensure that my hair is never a hindrance but actually plays a role in enhancing my experiences That being the case, I have to consider hair care regimens that work for my African hair and myself. If it comes in contact with moisture whether gas, liquid or solid state, it will recoil and shrink beautifully. It also has the awesomeness of being malleable thus can be a free spirit afro in one minute, straight flowing in the next and even accept foreign materials like hair extensions for…

Africa

The animal haven that is Amboseli National Park

By Wangechi Gitahi

Amboseli National Park is found in Oloitoktok, which is in Kajiado county in Kenya. The park is famous for being home to large herds of Elephants and like Maasai Mara National Reserve, it extends into Tanzania. The park is also famous as it is located at the foot of Mount Kilimanjaro, thus offering guests a look at the majestic mountain, without having to climb it. I was excited as we ventured into Amboseli National Park, as I really wanted to see herds and herds of elephants, which is what the park is famous for. Elephants are indeed interesting animals everything from having great memories, to being gigantic in size but equally as soft in nature. They tend to live in communities and everyone takes care of everyone. The head of the home is interestingly, the oldest female in the group, thus making them a matriarchal society. They have been known…

Africa

Timkat Festival

By Wangechi Gitahi

Timkat is a religious festival celebrated by the Orthodox Christians in Ethiopia, on 19th or 20th January in a leap year. Timkat means Baptism and is a celebration of the baptism of Jesus in river Jordan by John the Baptist, the celebration of Epiphany. The festival occurs all over Ethiopia thus you can enjoy it in any town you may be in. I had the honour to attend the festival while in Addis Ababa and what an emotional roller coaster it was. During the festival, models of the Ark of the Covenant otherwise known as the Tabot, are removed from the Orthodox churches and carried to a designate water body by a select priest. A Tabot represents the Tablets given to Moses by God, that had the Ten Commandments inscribed on them. Every Orthodox church has one in safe keeping and it is not available for public viewing unless on…

Africa

Adventure galore in Nkhata Bay

By Wangechi Gitahi

Nkhata Bay is a port town that is found along the shores of Lake Malawi in Malawi. Lake Malawi also known as Lake Nyasa is a fresh water lake that is shared among Tanzania, Malawi and Mozambique. It is the ninth largest lake in the world and the third largest lake in Africa. I assure you, once you arrive in Nkhata Bay, your whole body goes into excess relaxation due to the serene, relaxed nature of the area. Here, I relaxed and had many “first ” experiences. 1.Enjoy the beauty that is Lake Malawi: a) Be star truck by its beauty: Lake Malawi is beautiful and I couldn’t get enough of it. I enjoyed engaging in basic activities like just looking at it. The waters are clean, crystal clear and one can easily see fish and rocks without even having to snorkel. For the adventurous, please engage in water activities…

Africa

Malawi 101

By Wangechi Gitahi

1.Malawi is officially known as Republic of Malawi. 2. It is a landlocked country and its capital city is called Lilongwe. 3. It is bordered by Mozambique to the East, West and South, Zambia to the Northwest and Tanzania to the Northeast. 4. It has a population of about 18 million people. 5. The official languages is English while the national language is Chichewa. 6. Lake Malawi is the ninth largest lake in the world. It is the second deepest and the third largest lake in Africa. 7. Lake Malawi is shared by Malawi, Mozambique and Tanzania and is also known as Lake Nyasi. 8. Its main income earner is agriculture. 9. The citizens of Malawi are called Malawians. 10. A Kenyan does not require a visa prior to travel to Malawi. For more on my experience in Malawi, check out Nkhota Bay: http://wangechigitahi.co.ke/adventure-galore-in-nkhota-bay/

Africa

Cultural Extravaganza in Opuo

By Wangechi Gitahi

Opuo is found in the Kunene region, to the North of Namibia. It is home to the Himba and Herero tribes, communities that still hold on to their culture. My main driving force to visit Namibia was to actually see and interact with the Himba tribe/community found in Opuo. I love cultures and knowing that there was a community here that held on to their rich culture in modern Namibia, indeed appealed to me and I had to visit. What a joy to find out there was also the Herero community. a)Himba tribe: The Himba are indigenous to Namibia and are semi-nomadic in nature. They live in communities with the eldest male being the chief/elder. The ladies will normally colour their faces and hair red, the colour made from red ochre mixed with animal fat or oil which is called odjize. This is believed to protect them from insect bites,…