African Adventures

Daisies

So, I'm currently living in Malawi and am looking for suggestions for Xmas in Africa. I'm considering Zanzibar and maybe a safari also. I'm open to other suggestions.
What I would like is
-reasonable accommodation with a social aspect (ie a hostel/hotel where it will have other independent travellers for Christmas)
-easily accessible as I only get holidays on the 21st of Dec so want to get to my destination by the 23rd at the latest!
-fun, a prerequisite for any travel IMO, but I find when you are away for Christmas you need to have a LOT of fun in order to not feel home sick.


All suggestions welcome (especially if it comes with accommodation names )

Allah_

You won't get any info about Africa in this forum. I've noticed that the "Independent Travel" title actually means South America or S.E. Asia!!!

A good friend of mine runs the best (no joke) tourist hostel in East Africa - Mombasa Backpackers. Plenty of socializing, fun, and safari if you like! It also has the best beer selection in East Africa, but it depends on the season... oh there's a swimming pool in the compound too. There's also a white sand beach nearby. Mombasa is just on the Indian Ocean so it will be a tropical coconut tree Xmas. Sound good?

They have Xmas and New Years parties with fellow travellers, so you definitely won't be alone.

By the way I'm not sure how comfortable you are with bus travel but I got from Malawi to Mombasa in about a day overland. Mzuzu-Karonga-Mbeya-Dar-Mombasa.

Zanzibar is nice but kinda boring. After a while the isolated rural Africa thing gets a bit tedious and you need a good nightclub and cinema experience. And I found the sea water to be actually freezing! Mombasa was like bath water. Also, Kenya is quite developed so you can nip to the supermarket and get anything you'd expect to find in a Tesco, then head back to the beach on a tuk-tuk!

If you need any more info just ask.

What are you doing in Malawi by the way?

dory

Allah_ wrote: »

You won't get any info about Africa in this forum. I've noticed that the "Independent Travel" title actually means South America or S.E. Asia!!!

Well thats just because that's where people tend to go on holidays. I'd love to go to Africa. But I can fly to Delhi for €400 or Nairobi for €1200. That's what often decides my holidays.
Hopefully next year I'll make it to Africa.

Allah_

dory wrote: »

Well thats just because that's where people tend to go on holidays. I'd love to go to Africa. But I can fly to Delhi for €400 or Nairobi for €1200. That's what often decides my holidays.
Hopefully next year I'll make it to Africa.

Nairobi for €1200? Are you going via Japan? :pac:

You can get return flights for less than half that.

dory

Allah_ wrote: »

Nairobi for €1200? Are you going via Japan? :pac:

You can get return flights for less than half that.

Well that's what I found when I was looking 2 years ago. You seem to have a slight chip on your shoulder about people not visiting Africa.
A few places I looked into going to were inaccessible via public transport and I'd have needed to get a 4x4 which I was not going to pay for.
We also have a lack of info on the technicalities/logistics of travelling Africa. Maybe you could write some pointers in the Travel Reviews section?

Allah_

I wouldn't call it a chip on my shoulder. Just a bit of a disappointment after discovering a backpacking forum on boards where the only topic of discussion is SE Asia or S.America. I mean I'd like to discuss backpacking but I've never been to those regions so I dunno what to do with myself here.

Which places were you interested in going to where there was no public transport?

kaerobe

dory wrote: »

Well that's what I found when I was looking 2 years ago. You seem to have a slight chip on your shoulder about people not visiting Africa.
A few places I looked into going to were inaccessible via public transport and I'd have needed to get a 4x4 which I was not going to pay for.
We also have a lack of info on the technicalities/logistics of travelling Africa. Maybe you could write some pointers in the Travel Reviews section?

I live in Kenya. Never have I paid 1200 for flights to Kenya. The most I paid one way was 500€ with Emirates and that was highseason and short notice. I used to fly one way to cork with Virgin for 300€.

Kenya is a great country to visit, lots of transport options if you are willing to take matatu.

sarkozy

Daisies, have you thought about going to the beach in Mozambique? You might be able to get a relatively affordable flight to Maputo or Beira. I spent a week in Maputo once (I was working in Lesotho), which is a fantastic town, great food and nightlife. I have friends who spent new years' on a beach in Tofo. Sounds like there was a good atmosphere with lots of people into doing the same thing.

I can't be sure if you'd be lucky enough to get direct flights from Lilongwe to Maputo/Beira - but anything's possible. Most flights seem to go through Johannesburg, and it's a super-easy airport to transfer in (give yourself 90 minutes between flights).

Not sure I can help more than that, because I always came home for Christmas and New Year's.

I wonder, though, whether Namibia might be an interesting place to do it. Windhoek would be super-boring, but some of the really remote areas in the Namib Desert, or something, might throw up something interesting.

BUT: best likelihood for a good time is to hit South Africa - Cape Town or Durban, I'd say. Cape Town would be super-awesome for Christmas, but book urgently. The place packs up, and you'd really wanna be staying in the Bowl, somewhere in the vicinity of Long Street.