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Sabbactical 2023/24

October 2023 - March 2024
This was my third 6-month backpacking trip and I wanted to fill in some blanks in the my imaginary travel map. So, I decided to visit Indonesia, Japan, Mexico as well as Kenya/Tanzania (and anything else that came along the way) Read more
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  • TravelerSabbactical 2023/24
    Day 178

    Home Sweet Home 😊

    March 29 in Germany ⋅ ☁️ 14 °C

    I am back in Berlin since a couple of days now and had time to meet some of my friends and even reflect 🤔 on the past months a bit. I am writing this post to properly wrap up my journey and to share some details about my trip back home.

    Although the flight ✈️ from Doha to Berlin was at 2.30 am, it was fully booked. In addition, the seats in the Boing 787 were very densely packed and the aisles were pretty narrow 🤨 which made the 6 hour flight not nearly as comfy as my first flight from Dar es Salaam to Doha. I didn’t sleep for a minute and instead spent the time with listening to music 🎧 as well as watching a pretty weird German movie about the police suddenly sealing off all exits of an inner courtyard in the centre of Berlin - with no explanation to its inhabitants (see https://www.filmstarts.de/kritiken/257266.html).
    The arrival in Berlin was refreshingly uneventful. Due to the eGates of the automated border control system 🪪 at the airport, immigration into the EU was done within 2 minutes and after some extended waiting time I was able to claim my luggage. 🧳
    Navigating from the airport to my parents house took quite a bit. I indeed had completely forgotten where the platform was from which my train would depart and was immediately overwhelmed with all the options for public transport that my home city has to offer. 😅 Everything felt somewhat new but familiar at the same time.
    At least the German weather was merciful with me and didn’t provide too much of a challenge - 13 degrees and sunshine ☀️
    I still remember that I was stunned for a brief moment when I arrived at home: my backpack 🎒 and I really have traveled around the world and we were back where it all started almost half a year ago. And it felt good to be back home again. 😌

    In my 6 month long journey, I had covered almost 75000 km visiting or just passing through 12 countries. I travelled most of that distance by plane ✈️ Train and bus rides made up at least a 10th of the journey. From well organised and safe Japan 🇯🇵 to rather chaotic as well as more dangerous East African countries 🇰🇪🇹🇿 - it hardly could have been more diverse but experiencing exactly these extreme differences made my journey also so interesting.

    In the comments of my last post, I was asked about my thoughts 💭 about the sense or meaning of travelling. Well, here is my attempt to answer the question: I guess my desire to travel is fuelled by the human curiosity 🧐 that is inherent in all of us. Almost every place has something interesting to offer - be it its people and cultural aspects like food, music and local customs or its nature and history. Visiting a total of 44 countries in the world 🌍 by now has certainly had a profound impact on my personality: for example, it helped me to have a clearer understanding on the positive aspects and the quality of my life in Europe 🇪🇺 and how well it is in comparison to the lifes of others in many parts of the world. I like to think that this viewpoint allowed me to develop an openness and tolerance that I otherwise might not have. 🤗
    For me, that really is one of the most important things about travelling and I am certain that our world would be in a better place when more people would have the opportunity to experience what I have experienced. 🫤
    Traveling for an extended period of time has even more benefits: you have a lot of time to think and reflect - usually more than you get in your everyday life at home 🏠 Thus, whenever I came back from a journey like this it inspired me to change something in my life. This time I feel the urge to help preserve the beauty of our earth 🌍 so that we can still enjoy it for a long time. I already have some ideas 💡 on how to contribute and hope that I can implement them soon.

    Last but not least - there are still a lot of interesting places left to visit in the world. 😇 I am already thinking about new destinations like Vietnam 🇻🇳, Laos 🇱🇦 and the Philippines 🇵🇭 in Asia or Namibia 🇳🇦, Botswana 🇧🇼 and Zimbabwe 🇿🇼 in Africa but I cannot ignore that me visiting these countries contributes to climate change and ultimately the destruction of what makes them special (through over-tourism or other modern phenomena). Therefore, I estimated my carbon footprint 👣 for the journey and calculated a reasonable donation to offset the carbon emissions I had caused. I pledge to donate 500 EURs 💶 to one or more environmental projects later this year! Suggestions are welcome 🥳
    In addition, I will try to organise my future trips with as few flights as possible. That also means that I won’t go on any trips spanning 3 or more continents anymore. Exploring and staying in only one region of the world at a time and using local transportation services should be absolutely sufficient. 😊    Read more

  • TravelerSabbactical 2023/24
    Day 174

    Stop-Over: Doha

    March 25 in Qatar ⋅ ☁️ 25 °C

    What can I say - this morning I missed my Turkish Airlines flight to Berlin via Istanbul. I would like to blame it on the airline but it was entirely my fault 🤦
    I booked the original flight about 1 year ago together with my other intercontinental flights for the past 6 months but against my better judgement I didn't do the online check in, as usually. 🙄 I guess I was influenced too much by the “Hakuna Matata” (no problem) mentality in Tanzania in the past weeks 😅 Otherwise I probably would have realised in time that the flight schedule was changed and the flight was moved 1 hour up in comparison to my initial booking. To make matters worse, the flight was initially scheduled for 7 am which is why I had gotten up at 4 am that morning. In hindsight that was either at least an hour too late or completely unnecessary. 😠
    At the airport, I was initially wondering why the check-in counter for my flight was already closed but I didn't realise what was going on straight away. Only when I tried in vain to do the online check in, it did slowly dawn on me what was going on. So, I had no other choice than to buy a new ticket. Luckily, there was another an acceptable option in Qatar Airways flight at 11:45 am on the same day with a long layover in Doha. 🍀 But at least it did allow me to arrive only 12 hours later than initially planned. The ticket was surprisingly cheap (only 500 EURs) though.
    So, I got up at 4 am that day only to sit for hours at international airports waiting for my flights - great. 😒

    The Dar es Salaam International Airport was surprisingly empty and quiet. Even in the smoking lounge there was only one person. 😅 Maybe that was all due to Ramadan but I am really not sure. And the theme continued on the way to Doha: the first flight that was operated by Oman Air with an Airbus A330-300 was also nearly empty. 🤷 Only in Doha I was again surrounded by a lot of people again and things felt kind of normal at the airport.
    I had approximately 8 hours „to kill“ until my connecting flight at 2 am on the next day Since I had already spent a considerable amount of money 💸 earlier that day, I didn’t care that much if a few EURs would be added to the overall expenditure. So, I went for duty free shopping 🛍️ - already in Dar es Salaam but also in Doha - and also into the Oryx Lounge at Doha international airport where I stayed until the boarding of my flight to Berlin. 🥳    Read more

  • TravelerSabbactical 2023/24
    Day 174

    Good bye, Africa!

    March 25 in Tanzania ⋅ ☁️ 32 °C

    Today my travel through Africa comes to an end. Although a part of my family originates from and still lives in Cape Verde 🇨🇻 - a small archipelago off the coast of Senegal in West Africa - I never had been to the continent.
    I visited my family on Cape Verde many times already but I still had no idea what backpacking 🎒in East Africa would be like. Would there be hostels that allowed me to meet fellow travellers? In general, would there be enough of a tourism infrastructure to allow affordable (!) travel 🚌 for multiple weeks? Would it be safe to explore the different parts of the countries? … many questions that I have better answers to today (see below). 😌

    Initially, I thought I would spend only a few weeks in Kenya 🇰🇪 and put my focus on Tanzania. Eventually, it was the other way around - 5 weeks in Kenya and only 2 weeks in Tanzania 🇹🇿 This was mainly because Kenya surprised me with many places that were worth visiting. When I arrived in Nairobi, I didn’t have more than a reservation for the first two nights in a hostel in Westlands (the district to be as Kenya first timer) and a departure flight ✈️ from Dar es Salaam in Tanzania roughly 7 weeks later. I had read about a few places in my travel guide and tried to research some additional information ℹ️ on the internet but by no means I had anything remotely resembling a travel itinerary. And unlike in other parts of the world a lot of the travel information was difficult to find or could not be found at all on the internet 🧐 So, I had to talk directly to the locals and other experienced travellers in order to get the valuable travel tips I was after. That being said, with the Jabulani Backpackers Hostel in Nairobi I had chosen the perfect first accommodation since Susan (the knowledgeable owner) prepped me with countless recommendations where to go (and where not to go 🚷). I truly believe that I could not have picked a better starting point and home base (I stayed 4 times there in total) because it also enabled me to create some memorable experiences in and around Nairobi with many travellers who I met there. 😊
    It turned out that there are many busses that go around the country and it’s fairly cheap and easy to travel between cities. Depending on how much you are willing to pay, your journey will be more or less comfortable. Nevertheless, traffic is just insane 🤯 and although I knew that after a while I was often stunned how willingly drivers would put the lives of their passengers and their own lives at risk. 😤
    I also found a few more hostels in Kenya and Tanzania - at least in the busier and touristy areas. They were nowhere near as abundant as in other parts of the world. Thus, I sometimes found myself in a guesthouse, an airbnb or (when my budget allowed it) a hotel/camp 🏕️ when I was visiting smaller places.
    Much of the tourism industry is geared towards multi-day safaris through. Indeed, safaris and hiking tours (like Mt. Kenya or Mt. Kilimanjaro) seem to be the main drivers for the high costs 💰 that are usually associated with a trip to Africa. Accommodation and food prices are actually quite modest - except for a place like Zanzibar that is already expensive by itself. But Kenya still has the better value for money though as prices for comparable (if not better) safaris or hikes 🥾tend to be only half as high as in Tanzania. For example, safaris cost approximately 200 USD per day in Tanzania - depending on the location and your bargaining skills. In Kenya, they were „only“ around 120 USD although prices have dramatically increased after COVID 😌 But it doesn’t stop there. If you decide to go to Uganda instead and participate in some Gorilla trekking 🦍 than you are currently paying 600 USD per day just for the permit to the rainforest - guide, transport and accommodation are not included in that yet! 😮 Hiking Mt. Kilimanjaro costs at least 1000 USD and that is only if you choose to rush it in 4 days. Should you want to give yourself the chance to get used to the high altitude and take a few more days, then that experience will probably set you even back a mere 1500 - 2000 USD. 🤯 Granted - there is a lot of personell involved to support your hike (multiple porters, the guide, the cook) but you get the idea …
    However, the East African countries have more to offer than just safaris and hikes. Especially the east coast 🌊 was interesting because it is so different from the „hinterland“ due to its ties and history with the Omanis, Portuguese and British. And of course you can also just enjoy the beaches, go snorkeling & diving 🤿, do kite surfing or whatever you like.

    I could probably go on and on about my experiences in Kenya and Tanzania but this post must also end somewhere. So, let me finish with my top 5 🏆 of the past 7 weeks in chronological order:
    - Nairobi (Kenya) is just a hell of a city! No wonder I was there so often.
    - Naivasha (Kenya) offered many activities 🥾 and I enjoyed being there very much
    - Lamu (Kenya) gave me great insight into the East African history and a glimpse into the past
    - Arusha (Tanzania) will stay in my mind for its relaxed atmosphere in the Villa Viva and a great place for safaris
    - Kendwa (Zanzibar) had arguably the best beach 🏖️ on the East Cost

    All in all I had a great time in East Africa and I would be happy to comeback one day to see some more of its amazing beauty. 😎    Read more

  • TravelerSabbactical 2023/24
    Day 173

    Dar es Salaam

    March 24 in Tanzania ⋅ ☁️ 25 °C

    I took the ferry ⛴️ from Zanzibar a few days ago to get to my last destination in my 6-months long trip: Dar es Salaam (I will abbreviate the city with Dar in the following). Actually, taking the plane ✈️ would have been cheaper but for such a small distance (it’s only a 30 min. flight ) it was simply too much hustle to go to the airport, deal with security control, baggage drop-off, baggage claim, etc.
    I would still have enough of that particular kind of fun when I fly home a few days later 😅 and taking the ferry was a more original experience anyway. After getting off the taxi and fending off some porters who were hell bent on carrying my luggage, I went through the checkin and security control at the port.
    In the waiting hall, I immediately noticed the many destroyed seats💺 Honestly, I haven’t found a single seat that was still intact although the waiting hall was only half full - maybe the unbroken seats were all taken already. 🤔 However, a close by porter seemed to be amused about me making a photo of some seats and jokingly responded “this is Africa!” 😝 On the ferry the seats were very comfy nonetheless. I used the time on the 1,5 hours long ferry ride to continue reading my novel 📖 about the characters experiencing the Nigerian Civil War in the 1960s. So, time just flew by and before I knew it I was already in Dar.
    One of my uncles works and lives since 7 years in Dar. So, I planned to meet him during my stay. Thats why I also picked a Hotel 🏨 in the city centre (close to where he lives) instead of the more touristy district “Masaki” in the north. I was surprised how big and modern Dar was - similar to when I first arrived in Nairobi. The otherwise pretty green city is dotted with skyscrapers 🏙️ and houses with glass fronts standing next to wide tarred streets … I was again reminded of my European prejudices about life in Africa. 😕And another thing, I also immediately noticed: it is loud in that city - engine noises, honking cars, never ending announcements through megaphones from the surrounding mosques 🕌 etc. Well, staying in a big metropolis like Dar was quite different to the calm and relaxed atmosphere that I have gotten used to on Zanzibar, I guess. 😅
    My uncle works as a flight mechanic at Precision Air and had been called in for work on his “free” day. So, we could only meet in the evening after he had finished working. He picked me up with his car and we went for dinner 🥘 to Wavuvi Kempu at Coco Beach. The place seemed to be equally popular among the locals and foreigners. The location right at the beach front was as good as the food. For Tanzanian standards it was certainly on the pricier end of the restaurants 🤑 but coming from Zanzibar I didn’t feel much of a difference. The only caveat was that we sat outside and we had to be cautious of the rain. We managed to eat our dinner while the weather was still dry but afterwards we quickly had to leave because of an intense downpour 🌧️ The rain continued basically for the entire next day but I didn’t want to stay in my hotel room for the whole time. So, I booked a Bolt to the Slipway Hotel in the “Masaki” district. Some fellow travelers that I knew from Kenya and that I actually wanted to meet on Zanzibar got robbed in broad daylight 🤯 a few days earlier while getting into a fake taxi. They were forced to take as much money as possible out of the ATM. One of them even ended up in the hospital 🏥 with bruises and black eyes. Thus, I was wary of walking around and getting around in the city. I avoided any boda-bodas, tuk-tuks and random people offering me a ride to wherever I needed to go in favour Bolt 🚙 as one of the more expensive but safer options to use. The shortest connection between the city centre and the Masaki district led via the Tanzanite Bridge 🌁 It is an iconic sight in Dar that has its name from the blue lights it is illuminated with during the night.

    Fun fact: Tanzanite is a gem 💎 unique to Tanzania that looks very similar to Sapphire but is only 1/10 as expensive (on average).

    In the Masaki district, I went to the Lemon Tree Café to have a coffee ☕️ and do some souvenirs shopping afterwards. By pure chance I also passed the „Crafty Bee’s Brewing Company” - a pub with an affiliated brewery. I tried some tasting samples 🍺while I watched the first half of a football match between Norway and the Czech Republic. What else was there to do with a rainy afternoon in Dar anyways? 🤷
    My uncle had to work that day and the next ones as well so that we actually did not manage to meet another time. Unfortunately, workers rights in Tanzania are not that strong. That's why he and his colleagues work 12-hour shifts for 4 days in a row and then have two days off (if they are not called in) 😕
    There is certainly a labour shortage with regard to engineering jobs in Tanzanias aviation industry. During COVID many planes remained on the ground and the need for personnel was obviously marginal. Now capacities are being ramped up again and that leads to too much work for too few people. That’s why my uncle has good chances to extend his working visa in Tanzania until 2027 before he finally will retire. 👍

    On my last day in Dar, I just walked 🚶around in the city centre for a bit as it had finally stopped raining again. Like in Nairobi, it was not allowed to take photos 📸 in many public spaces … for fear of terror attacks, when I understood the broken English of a security guard correctly.
    Towards the evening I only sorted my luggage and packed my bags 🧳 in preparation for the journey back home.    Read more

  • TravelerSabbactical 2023/24
    Day 171

    Beachlife @ Zanzibar

    March 22 in Tanzania ⋅ ☁️ 32 °C

    When I talked 🗣️ to other travellers about Zanzibar, everyone was recommending Paje on the east coast of Unguja (the main island, informally referred to as Zanzibar).
    So, I decided to spend 2 nights there in the hostel “Your Zanzibar Place”. Like everywhere else on Africas east coast, it was very hot and humid. But a breeze 💨 here and there made the temperatures more or less bearable.
    In addition, the cycles of low and high tide as well as the very shallow beaches resulted in the water being gone for most of the day. It was windy though which made the beach perfect for kite surfers 🏄 but not me. Getting a kind of refreshing bath in the (warm) sea was therefore only possible in the mornings, really. 😩
    On my first evening in the hostel, I met Pedro (from Denmark) again who I still knew from Arusha. He came back from a full day trip with a scooter and was reporting about corrupt police men 👮🏿 who would ask him for bribes on 3 different occasions that day - unfortunately nothing unusual on Zanzibar. On the next morning, we met Gloria (from Kenya) at the breakfast 🥞 table. She was usually living and working in Nairobi but took the week off to spend her holidays in Paje. After breakfast, the three of us went to the beach 🏖️ and made the best of the ebbing tide. Unfortunately, both had to leave at lunchtime for their home countries that day. So, my encounter with them was only brief.
    As I wrote in my last post, it is currently pretty quiet 🤫 on Zanzibar because of Ramadan as well as the start of the rainy season. Thus, there was not much else to do in Paje. I went a few times to the very cozy “Mr. Kawaha” restaurant / café ☕️ directly on the beach front to continue reading my book but I got bored pretty quickly and with all the circumstances (heat, humidity and missing ocean to cool off) I didn’t feel as if I wanted to spend more time in Paje. Sadly, I didn’t leave it with the feeling that it was such a great place. 😕
    However, I treated myself to 3 nights in the “Natural Kendwa Villa” (3-star hotel) at Kendwa Beach. Kendwa is in the north of Zanzibar and on the western coast / opposite side to Paje. Therefore, it was not affected as much by low and high tide 🌊 It is the place with one of the nicest beaches on Zanzibar. And the 3-star hotel - though still expensive for low season (120 EUR / night) - was really cozy. It was exactly what I needed!
    Although it rained every day for approximately 1-2 hours, the afternoons were usually very sunny. ☀️ That allowed me to chill and continue to read my book at the pool of the “Natural Kendwa Villa” as well as the private beach of the cooperating Kendwa Rocks Hotel (4-Star hotel). And when I went into the cool and crystal clear water on that beach, I knew that I had finally found it - the paradise 🏝️ everyone was referring to when thinking of Zanzibar.
    The villa and the beach had restaurants / bars and I lifted my otherwise pretty rigid travel budget restrictions for those 3 days to be able to fully enjoy the time. So, an ice cream 🍦 , a fruit juice 🥤, a beer 🍺 or a cocktail 🍹 was never far away. On my last day in Kendwa, I even got a 1 hour long massage in the Spa of my hotel. It was really good and added nicely to the relaxation of the past few days. After all the hostels and budget accommodations of the past months, it was a welcome change to stay in such a nice place towards the end of my trip. 😌    Read more

  • TravelerSabbactical 2023/24
    Day 168

    Stone Town (Zanzibar)

    March 19 in Tanzania ⋅ ☁️ 30 °C

    Many of us associate the name Zanzibar with crystal clear water and nice beaches 🏖️ - some even speak of paradise. But Zanzibar is big … very big. It is an archipelago in the Indian Ocean, 25–50 km (16–31 mi) off the coast 🌊 of the African mainland, and consists of many small islands and two large ones: Unguja (the main island, informally referred to as Zanzibar) and Pemba Island. I spent a few days in Stone Town - the historic centre and World Heritage Site in Zanzibar City (the capital) located on the island of Unguja.
    I arrived there with the start of the low season. 🌦️ It is supposed to be much quieter during that time than during high season ☀️ as many restaurants and party locations are closed - and I could really feel it. I didn’t mind it though because it was also much more relaxed and cheaper that way. 😌
    In addition, it was Ramadan for the next 30 days. Europeans 🇪🇺 are quick to think it just is a yearly Muslim custom to stop eating and drinking from dawn till sunset but actually it’s much more than that. It’s a month of fasting, prayer 🙏, reflection and community. Hence changing ones behaviour to refrain from stealing, betraying or lying and to be kind to one another - at least during this time - plays an equally important role as fastening. Have you tried to be kind to others while you were hungry? 🤔 It’s not an easy task - that’s for sure! 😅
    The reason for fasting that was explained to me by a local was striking: it is about equality. Rich and less affluent people alike shall experience what it is like to have not enough food 🍲 or water - the normality for some of their poorest fellow human beings. This should also help to foster a greater understanding for one another, I guess. Also for me as a tourist🧳, it meant that I would experience some of the restrictions that Ramadan put on the Zanzibarian population. And it prompted me to think once again of the luxurious life many of us Westerners have - and that we don’t even realize it most of the time. 😒
    While many of the few places (that were still open) served food and drinks before 6.30 pm,
    some allowed only take aways 🥡 - such as the popular “Lukmaan” restaurant with traditional Swahili food. Other more touristy places like the “Cape Town Fish Market” served western-style food to eat-in but did not serve alcohol 🚫 before 6.30 pm. And the pretty nice “Mama Mia” ice cream shop 🍧 required its guests to eat their ice cream inside the shop. So everyone had his own approach but essentially you would never see anyone eating on the street - out of respect 🫡 for the people who took Ramadan seriously.
    Overall, I liked Stone town - it is nice but also expensive 💸 Don’t get me wrong. You can rent an apartment there for only 400 EUR a month and buy your food on the very extensive and diverse local market. But you can also easily pay European prices if you go to the touristy places for lunch and dinner or attend one of the tours there - snorkelling 🤿, diving, visiting the tortoises 🐢 on prison island, … I didn’t feel compelled to either of these options. All I wanted was to rest because I was already so full of impressions from the past 5 months - adding new ones would not make a difference anymore. So, I didn’t do much in Stonetown apart from walking 🚶 around and seeing the city (as well as testing the restaurants). The history in this part of the country is seemingly identical to what I have already encountered on Lamu in Kenya 🇰🇪 From the 9th century Swahili merchants participated in a wide trade network spanning across the Indian Ocean. In the 15th century the Portuguese 🇵🇹 colonised the east African Coast including Zanzibar. And later in the 17th century the British 🇬🇧 and Omani 🇴🇲 forces worked together to rule the region. The history gets interesting in the 1960s when Zanzibar first was promoted from a British protectorate to an independent country within the Commonwealth. Only to be merged - as a result of a revolution that took place just a month later - with Tanganyika (former name of the Tanzanian mainland) in 1964. That’s why today Zanzibar is still a semi-autonomous region within Tanzania. 🤓
    Walking in the touristy parts near the coast, was a bit annoying though because every couple of minutes somebody tries to sell you something 🙄 … a tour, souvenirs, a taxi ride for now or an airport transfer for tomorrow … the conversations always followed the same pattern: somebody would shout from afar “Yes!” or “Hello Mr.?” before they come closer, introduce themselves and ask for your name, your nationality and if you are well. Unless you are absolutely rude and just completely ignore them it requires some creativity to answer all advances with corresponding excuses. If you haven’t developed the skill of friendly but firmly saying “No” in your life yet, then you will certainly learn it here. 😅    Read more

  • TravelerSabbactical 2023/24
    Day 162

    Arusha - and yet another safari

    March 13 in Tanzania ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C

    Some days ago, I finally went from Nairobi in Kenya to Arusha in the north-west of Tanzania. 🙄 The border crossing was very smooth. I just had to queue in multiple lines after another to get stamped out of Kenya 🇰🇪 and stamped in in Tanzania 🇹🇿 So, my passport has now two more documented country entries/exits.
    It took a while ⏳ until all passengers of our bus went through the process so that I (and many other travelers) waited approximately half an hour at the bus stop for the continuation of our journey to Arusha. This was the perfect opportunity for the Masai women to offer their souvenirs to us. 😅„Maria“ was particularly persistent and agreed with me after a long discussion that I will buy something when I cross the border the next time - she will be waiting for me. 😉 She gave me a bracelet for free and I gave her 100 KES (0.60 EUR) in return since I couldn’t do anything with that cash in Tanzania anyways. 🤷 Then the journey continued through the surprisingly green countryside of north-west Tanzania until I arrived at 3 pm in Arusha. Kaili (from the Netherlands) - who stayed in the same Hostel as I - was also on the same bus 🚌 as me for the entire trip from Nairobi. She was researching the impact of tourism on the Masai people in Tanzania for her master’s degree and just returned from visiting some friends in Nairobi. Since she had been in the hostel (Villa Viva) before, she knew the telephone number of the driver of the hostel and arranged a free pickup for us. 👍
    In the hostel, I quickly got to know Pedro (from Denmark). He was leaving the next day to Zanzibar but it might be that I meet him there again. However, the majority of guests in the Villa Viva were from Germany 🇩🇪 The owner (Tizia) is also German and arranges volunteering and work-away trips in Tanzania for Germans. So, naturally this attracts many tourists from our country, I guess. However, a German family from Hamburg - who were there for vacation - was also in the Villa: Matthias & Yvonne as well as their kids Onno, Hannah and Irma. Hannah and Irma were on a 4-day hiking trip of Mt. Meru ⛰️; that’s why I met them only later. But with Matthias, Yvonne and Onno I went to an Ethiopian Restaurant for dinner 🍽️ one night. The food was very delicious and talking to the family was really interesting. I was grateful that they welcomed me so warmly. ☺️
    Initially, I wanted to see Lake Natron which is north of Arusha. After all, its stunning photos I had seen on Google Maps were the reason why I came to that region. But organising a tour to Lake Natron proved way more difficult than I thought. 😩 Tour operators offer trips to that destination but usually only in combination with Safaris in Serengeti or other close-by conservation areas as well as at least one overnight stay in a camp 🏕️ I just wanted to see the landscape as I had been already on enough safaris in Kenya and had seen plenty of animals. Also, safaris in Tanzania seemed to be almost twice as expensive 🫰as in Kenya. So, I would have had to get up at 5 am in the morning, organise my own 4-5 hour long transport to some village north of Arusha and then meet a local guide who takes me from there to Lake Natron - too exhausting and too complicated! 🥴
    Instead, I pivoted to visiting the Ngorogoro Crater (actually also a safari) which many travellers coming from Tanzania had recommended to me and negotiated with a tour operator the price for a one day trip (more or less reasonable 220 EUR). And I believe I could not have made a better choice! 😌 It was still a long day with a start at 5 am and a finish at around 8 pm but at least pickup and drop off were at the Villa Viva. I was picked up at 5.40 pm though - apparently there had been a change of plans so that I had been the last one to be picked up instead of first but I didn’t knew that at the time. I wished I could have slept 30 min. longer … but stuff like that is simply normal in Tanzania because everyone is on “African time”. 🤣
    After pickup we drove for approximately 2 hours to meet the others of our group for breakfast. In my group there were 7 other travellers (mostly from Europe but also a woman from Japan) and Omari - our driver. I befriended Jonas & Marlin (from Denmark) during the day since the three of us sat in the back of the 4x4 vehicle 🚐 and during the drive we had plenty of time for entertaining conversations.
    After breakfast we made our way to the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. This natural reserve 🏞️ hosts - on an area of 8.300 square kilometres - one of the most wonderful combinations of landscapes and wildlife 🦁 that I have seen (so far) in Africa. It is part of the so-called Serengeti-Ngorongoro-Masai Mara ecosystem which’s eastern border is formed by the Great Rift Valley, while in the west it borders with the world-famous Serengeti National Park. Our first stop was a viewpoint at the edge of the crater which gave us a fantastic overview of the whole area. 📸 The crater exhibited a strikingly green and dramatic scenery which ranged from forested mountains to smaller and bigger lakes as well as rivers in vast open plains. Besides that we have seen many other animals as well as all members of the big five - except for the leopard 🐆 The Ngorongoro crater alone usually has 20.000 to 25.000 wild animals which cannot escape from it - no wonder it has been declared a World Heritage Site and a Biosphere Reserve.
    We spent the lunchtime in the middle of the crater at an idyllic picnic site 🥪 near a small lake and continued our game drive in the afternoon until we left the conservation area at about 4 pm. Then we started our long way back to Arusha. There was a bit of confusion about where everybody had to be dropped off. 🤯 Neither did our driver know where our respective accommodations were nor any efficient order of the locations to drive us to. So, we ended up crisscrossing through Arusha town until everyone was were they supposed to be. 😵‍💫 I was one of the last ones to be dropped off but I had no plans for the evening anyways - so “Pole Pole”, I guess? 😂(Pole Pole = Kiswahili for “slowly” or in this context rather “keep calm”)
    On the next day, I deliberately took a day off: resting, swimming in the admirably cold pool of the Villa Viva (definitely the coldest in Africa 😅) and reading an exciting novel about 3 very different characters experiencing the civil war of the 1960s in Nigeria (the book 📕 is called “Half of a yellow sun” and I had exchanged it for another one in the Jabulani Hostel in Nairobi). I didn’t do much else since I was merely waiting for my flight ✈️ to Zanzibar on the next day. With only a couple of days left in my sabbatical, I am moving rapidly to the final destinations now. On Zanzibar I want to relax a bit more and enjoy the sun ☀️ before I have to go back to cold and rainy Germany. So, I will get back to you from Zanzibar again - until then: have a great time! 😌    Read more

  • TravelerSabbactical 2023/24
    4
    Day 158

    Nairobi (Part 4)

    March 9 in Kenya ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C

    A couple of days ago, I took a flight to Nairobi to spend my last days in Kenya 🇰🇪 I was lucky since I had a window seat on “the right side”so that I could see Mt. Kilimandscharo 🗻from the airplane.
    Back in Nairobi I took an Uber 🚕 straight to the Jabulani Backpackers Hostel, where I had stayed already so many times before. It has become sort of my second home 🏠 away from home/in Kenya. Initially, my plan was to stay only for 2 more days there but I ran into some issues with my eVisa on the website. Germans require a Visa in Tanzania 🇹🇿 which actually can be obtained on arrival when entering the country but I heard some horrible stories of travellers crossing the border to Tanzania being extorted or scammed by the officials of the border police 👮🏿 They had to pay a fine (up to 300 USD) because of “mistakes” they had made. For example, leaving Kenya on the last day before their visa expires (leaving them with no other option than to proceed to Tanzania and pay whatever is necessary) 🗓️ But also seemingly irrelevant things could be used as reason for making up a fine like having not printed out the eVisa. 🤦 Therefore, I wanted to avoid being scammed by the officials at the border and opted for getting my eVisa upfront, print it out and leave no room for discussions. The immigration website for Tanzania is one of the sloppiest programming for a government service that I have seen so far. First of all, it was not reachable ⛔️ many times when I tried accessing it. Once it was available, I found out that you cannot make your Visa application with a mobile phone because the website is not mobile ready and thus you need a laptop 💻 or desktop 🖥️ to enter your details. Thankfully, I was able to borrow a laptop from Susan (the owner of the hostel). She has gone through the process with another traveler a few days before already. 🙄But that was only the start of it. After I entered my personal details and uploaded the required documents, it came to the payment. Of course, the payment process was broken as well. 😠 After the 50 USD were deducted from my credit card, there was only a white page with a server error shown instead of a confirmation page. I also didn’t receive any confirmation email - neither for the Visa application nor for the payment. 🤬 If I hadn’t made some screenshot of it before, I wouldn’t have even known the transaction ID for my Visa application! And when I tried to lookup the status of my application with the transaction ID, the website indicated even that it cannot find my Visa application. 🤨 At that point I had lost all trust that I even had a valid application for a Visa in Tanzania. So, I sent an email that outlined my issue to the technical support for the website which has not been answered yet - even to this day! 😤 I was mad and if I had not already booked my flight back to Germany from Tanzania’s capital Dar el Salam … I would have skipped this country altogether. But there was nothing more I could do. 🤷 So, I went with some other travelers of my hostel to the National museum in the afternoon. It has very extensive exhibition halls for typical Kenyan animals like elephants, lions and birds but also featured an exhibition of marine photography 📸 by Prince Hussain Aga Khan called “fragile beauty”. It was designed to raise awareness for environmental issues and concerns in ocean ecologies as well as inspire appreciation for wildlife and ignite a desire to protect it. The exhibition has been shown in multiple places already. Canada 🇨🇦 has featured it on a website that gives a quite good impression: https://www.glenbow.org/exhibitions/the-living-…
    Apart from wildlife, the museum also gave insight into Kenya’s pre-colonial, colonial and post-independence history 📖 I already knew some facts from other visits to museums or historical sights in Mombasa as well as Lamu but one thing that was particularly interesting for me was the construction of the railway. Between 1896 and 1901, and under the pretence of attempting to stop the slave trade, Britain built the Uganda Railway 🚂between Mombasa and Lake Victoria. The British faced many problems, especially lack of manpower since Africans were reluctant to offer their labour. This forced the administration to import almost 38.000 workers from India. 🇮🇳 Of these, about 2.500 lost their lives to the lions of the Tsavo national park, diseases and other causes. Also the engineers faced major challenges since the railway had to be built on the highlands ⛰️ The Africans objected to the railway passing through their land and for example stole the rails as a source of iron for their local blacksmiths. The railway was seen by the British as an opportunity to open the way for the exploitation of East African resources. They were convinced that it would be a means for making huge profits for the colony💰 Ultimately, it had cost over 5 million British pounds and proved to be an expensive and uneconomical venture. 😅
    After two hours in the museum we had enough. Outside of the museum was the Snake house which was included in the ticket price. So, we paid it also a visit and it was surprisingly good. We could hold a python 🐍 (not venomous) and also a small chameleon in our hands. Apart from that they had also turtles 🐢 and crocodiles 🐊 in outdoor habitats that you could watch from further away.
    In the evening, we went with Susan to the cinema 🎦 to watch “Dune 2”. We had seen „Dune 1“ in the hostel on the night before and were excited to see how the story further unfolds. IHMO it was not a great movie but entertaining enough. 😌

    On the next day, I visited the tower 🗼of the Kenyan International Congress Centre (KICC) together with two other travellers from my hostel. As the first and still one of the tallest skyscrapers of the city, the KICC tower provided a great view 🏙️ of all the different districts. On the way to it, we witnessed hundreds of Kenyan lawyers coming out from their graduation party 🧑🏻‍🎓of their university. All of them were super well dressed but ridiculously also wore blond wigs. 🫣
    Anyways, in the afternoon I finally went to a hair dresser which is close to the hostel. Zhe haircut was much needed and they did a great job. For only 2000 KES (approximately 13 EUR) I got my hair cut as well as a head and a neck massage! 😃😊
    It was the fourth time for me that I have been in Nairobi during the past month but I have never been out. Susan was intent on changing that and suggested to go to a Standup Comedy show 🎭 in the Levels Hotel that night. Among others - Mike (from the U.S.), Christel (from France), Romain (from France) and I joined her to go to the venue. That day was the international women’s day. So, a lot of the jokes revolved around that. Kenyan humour is a bit raw and less intellectual though. Some comedians were hard to understand because of their accent but many of them were really funny. 🤭 After the show had ended, we went to the pretty nice Gecko bar - where I had a whiskey sour 🍸- and then continued to the popular Alchemist club. The DJs had an interesting style where they would play a song not longer than for 20 seconds. It was a bit annoying after some time since you never really got into a song before the next transition. 😒Anyways, we stayed until 3 am and then decided to go back to the hostel which was only 10-15 min. away (on foot). The only problem was that it was raining heavily 🌧️ that night with small breaks of maybe 10 minutes. So we tried to time ⏱️ our walk back as good as we could but ended up running for the last 150 metres through the rain. 😅

    On my last day in Nairobi, I just recovered from the evening before and didn’t do much. 😴 I tagged along with Romain when he went to the Sarit Centre and to Tamu Tamu dishes for lunch 🍽️ We had heard from the cleaner in the Hostel about “mukimo” - another Kenyan dish - and were eager to try it out. It is a delicious mash made of potatoes 🥔, corn 🌽, peas 🫛, spinach 🍃 and onion 🧅 It is quite filling. So much so that after finishing the portion, I felt stuffed for the next 48 hours. 🫃
    After lunch we returned to our hostel and - call it a hunch - I tried to check my Visa status again on the buggy website of the Tanzanian immigration office. 😒 I didn’t expect much but magically there was a new status - my eVisa was approved - despite all the prior hiccups. 🥳 Exhilarated, I went to a copy shop in the Sarit Centre to print out the eVisa approval so that absolutely nothing could go wrong with immigration at the Tanzanian border. 🤩
    In the early evening many people from the hostel (including me) went to the Jumuiya cocktail festival (https://www.instagram.com/p/C3-uvMKIYwL/). 🍹 It was at a nice location but I could also immediately see that it was for the more affluent people. So, prices were a bit higher in comparison with other places in Nairobi but so was also the quality of the drinks ✅ IMHO the cocktails of the Artcaffé were particularly good. The event was over at 11 pm and we went back to the hostel where I only packed my backpack 🎒 for my journey to Tanzania on the next day.

    It was a fitting last night in Nairobi that also gave me the feeling that I had done everything I could. I was ready to move on and start the final chapter of my sabbatical. 😏    Read more

  • TravelerSabbactical 2023/24
    1
    Day 154

    Watamu/Malindi

    March 5 in Kenya ⋅ ⛅ 30 °C

    I had an unexpectedly long journey from Lamu to Malindi. It already looked quite far on the map but the circumstances made the trip even longer - though also a bit more adventurous. 🤭
    At first, I took a speedboat from Lamu island to the mainland where the bus to Malindi departed. Apparently, I took the „wrong“ bus that stopped everywhere (and for anyone along the road). 🙈 It should have made me suspicious that I was the only „muzungu“ (white man - that’s what we foreigners are called here) on the bus. 🚎
    On the positive side, I got to see a lot of the landscape and gained a few insights into the real local life. That included experiencing being seated in the densely packed and unclimatised bus 😓 and going through some rigorous security checkpoints (with passport and baggage control). The bus ride from Lamu to Malindi was considered dangerous for tourists in the past - due to bad roads and criminal activity. 😱Therefore, there were many security checkpoints along the way. The road has been mostly repaired as well - apart from a few locations. Today it is okay to take the bus in the north coast of Kenya. The warnings ⚠️ about that part from the official german government websites seem to be outdated.
    So, all in all it took me 6 hours to get to Malindi instead of the usual 3 hours (with the express shuttle for tourists). But the odyssey was not quite over yet. 😵‍💫 I still had to take 3 tuktuks (!) to arrive at the apartment. First I was sent to the wrong GPS coordinates by the owner of the apartment. 😤 I landed in the middle of a muslim community. They have been really helpful and brought me to another tuktuk driver. The second tuktuk driver drove me to a similarly sounding resort but not the place I was supposed to go to 🤦 Only the third tuktuk driver managed to drop me off at the exact location for the apartment. 🥳 I recognised during these moments that the locals were seemingly incapable of translating a position in Google Maps to locations in the real world - which got me thinking. 🤔 It is so normal for us to use technology like that but in a small town like Malindi as well as other places on Kenya’s east coast there just does not seem to be the need for it.
    Anyways, Malindi has a lot of resorts and restaurants completely geared towards Italian 🇮🇹 tourists; to an extent where Italian is the main language on the menus (with English translations) - you won’t find anything in Swahili on it. Many of these businesses are even owned by Italians. I knew that when I came to Malindi - I have been “warned” - and it didn’t bother me. It was like a weekend trip to Italy. 😝
    When I finally arrived in the apartment, there was not much left of the day. So I only went to the Italian restaurant „Baby Marrow“ for dinner - a recommendation from Jack (from Australia) that I had briefly met in Nairobi and Lamu. It was an excellent recommendation. 😋 The prices were a bit higher for Kenyan standards but the food as well as ambience was just perfect.

    On the next day, I had to make my way to Watamu. I could have taken a tuktuk 🛺 to the central bus station, a matatu 🚐 to Gede and from there another matatu 🚌 to Watamu and finally another tuktuk 🛺 to the vaguely described address of my next accommodation BUT after my experiences from the day before, I felt like I deserved a little luxury and would just take a taxi. 🚕
    First I tried to get the contact of a driver through the owner of the apartment where I was staying but the person that showed up wanted a ridiculous amount of money (6000 KES) for the 40 minute drive 🤣 … negotiations were tough and did not lead anywhere. 😒
    Good thing that I had already checked the availability and prices in the Uber app. So I knew that somebody would drive me for a third or even a quarter of the proposed amount. In the end I paid 1800 KES (approximately 10 EUR) and arrived as relaxed as I could be. 😏
    I spend 5 nights in total in Watamu. 3 nights had been reserved for the Kaleidoscope festival that I had bought tickets for (see my other post for that: https://findpenguins.com/6jjjgruit3szw/footprin…). 🥳 I didn’t do much in Watamu outside of that though. I only went to Garoda beach 🏝️ on one of the days. It was supposed to be the nicest beach in Watamu. So my expectations had been very high and - as usual (when that is the case) - it had been disappointing. 😔Although the beach had white and fine-grained sand, the abundance of seaweed diminished the beauty of the sight significantly. I honestly didn’t had the feeling that Garoda beach was nicer than Galu beach 🏖️ in Diani or even Watamu beach, where I went to on one of the other days.
    There is not much more than beaches in Watamu. Mida creek supposedly offers some nice views of mangrove forests. 🌳 I had already been to mangroves before and I didn’t feel like seeing that again.
    Since I was flying out of its international airport on the next day I went back to Malindi. I wanted to take an Uber 🚕 again but cars going from Watamu to Malindi were rare (at least a the time). So, it was impossible to find somebody who would drive me for a reasonable price. I simply tried with a matatu 🚐 instead and was lucky. Not only could I immediately hop in into one along the main street - it was also going all the way straight to Malindi (initially, I thought I would have to change buses in Gede) so that 11 am I was already at the apartment in Malindi. 😊
    With less than a month until I have to go back, my thoughts revolved more and more around what the time after my sabbatical will be like. 💭 Questions such as “Which new insights have I gained through the past month?”, “Did these experiences have any impact on my beliefs and values?“ as well as “Which goals should I persue and what impact might they have on my private and professional life?” came to my mind. So, I used my time in Malindi to start thinking about that. 🤔
    For lunch and for dinner I went to the “Baby Marrow” restaurant again. It seems it has become my favourite Italian restaurant on the east coast of Kenya. 😅

    On the next morning, I took a flight ✈️ back to Nairobi. My plan was to cross from there into Tanzania. 🇹🇿 As it turned out, it wasn't going to be that easy, but more on that in my next post.    Read more

  • TravelerSabbactical 2023/24
    21
    Day 152

    Kaleidoskop Festival @ Watamu

    March 3 in Kenya ⋅ ☁️ 33 °C

    My travel plans 🗺️ led me to Watamu for the beginning of March and the Kaleidoskop Festival (https://www.kaleidoscope.wtf) was scheduled for that same time. Usually, I am not one of these crazy 🤪 festival goers, but since the time coincided and I was curious what an electro festival in Kenya would look like, it thought that I might as well go.
    As I found out later, the festival was held for the fifth time and at least this year the Temple Point resort in Watamu had been chosen as venue for the event. 🏨 Staying directly at the resort would have been too expensive for me. Instead, I got a good apartment close by in turtle bay for only 3600 KES (approximately 22 EUR) / night. I moved in a day before the festival and that was probably my luck 🍀 because it turned out that the apartment was listed on two websites and was double booked due to the high demand during the festival. Since I was already staying there, the other person had some bad luck. 😕
    The apartment actually had two bed rooms. So at the beginning, there was even the question if that other person could move in 😳 Eventually the person must have found something else since I didn’t hear anything about that anymore. 😅
    On the first day, I went to the festival in the early evening hours. The place filled up slowly but surely. I went to the festival by myself and I didn’t knew anyone there. I only talked to a few people about some superficial stuff and was most of the time on my own. 🙄I visited all 4 stages though: curiosity, life, nature and time. On all nights I liked the performances of the DJs on the time stage the most. 😌
    From security control at the entrance to signs and timetables at the location as well as cashless payments - the event was well organised. I put almost the same amount as the ticket price for the festival as debit on my wristband for cashless payments and had no issues to spend the money. 😅 The resort was definitely oriented towards European standards for the prices of food and drinks. For example, I got two craft beer 🍺 , some king prawns 🍤 as dinner and a Cuba Libre 🍹for a third of my total budget on my first night.
    On the second day I went a little earlier (around 2 pm) to the festival since I wanted to experience the resort and its pool 🏊 during the day a bit. When I arrived it was still pretty quiet. As planned, I jumped into the pool and later attended a „Mindful Movement & Meditation workshop“ 🧘 with Muse (from the US) and Ralph (from the Dominican Republic) - the instructors for the workshop. This is also where I met Patrick (from Mexico) amongst many others attendees. He was working for the UN 🇺🇳 in Nairobi. Apparently, the United Nations Environment Assembly took place in the week before and many of his colleagues were to join.
    On the third and last day, I met most of the people on the festival again and we had a good time. 🥳 I never made it to the sunrise like other though but it was still an interesting event filled with a lot of new engaging music from African DJs as well as a thoughtfully decorated venue (see https://www.instagram.com/kaleidoscopefestivalw… for more impressions).

    I spent yet a few days before and after the festival in Malindi and Watamu but this is a story for another blog post. 😌    Read more

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