Food

I am a 30 year old male traveling alone from Los Angeles to Nairobi and hopefully down to Tanzania, and Mt. Kilimanjaro this summer ('04) from mid-July to mid-August.

I'm interested in exploring the safaris and regular East African life, perhaps even stay with a family or rent from someone already living there.

I know nothing about the land or the people, so I'm pretty open and hope to learn alot during this initial planning stage. Any tips, hints, suggestions or referrals would be greatly appreciated.

Also, I'm a vegan and if you have any tips for managing my diet while I'm there, any good restaurants or whatever, it would be greatly appreciated. (I'm open to eating fish, sparingly)

Pick up some travel books on Kenya, learn a little Swahili, and be flexible with your diet. Most of the world doesn't have the "luxury" of chosing not to eat meat. Expect animal bi-products (milk, yogurt, eggs) to supplement your diet. You could probably do the vegan thing but just be open to trying new things.

Hey Chris,

Thanks for the advice. I have already been researching for good Swahili books at the library as well as travel books. If you can recommend any particular ones that have been useful to you or to someone you know that would be much appreciated.

And about the diet, it looks like I have no choice but to be more flexible. So thanks for your insight there as well. Do you live there now or have you just travelled there before?

As you obviously eat fish, you will hardly have any problem in Tanzania. In Nairobi Traveler´s Cafe at Hilton hotel has a lot of sallads. Both Mombasa and Dar-es-Salaam have a great variety of restaurants with all sorts of foods; fast-food, Chinese, Indian etc. etc.

That's great to know as well. Thank you very much for the recommendations. I will most certainly try those places.

Has anyone ever climbed (or hiked) Mt. Kilamajaro? What's the scoop there? Should I bring along stuff, or can I get whatever supplies, and/or additional clothing at the place?

Hey Derry you should have no problem with food, I'm veggie living in Kenya. Lots of restaurants have veggie option especially in Nairobi - good ones in town, most Indian or Chinese restaurants around Westlands and Parklands will be your best bet.

You should try to bring most of your equipment for the climbs and hikes as it is quite expensive to hire stuff here and its not of the best of quality. However if you do need stuff, Nairobi is the best bet to get your stuff just ask the hotel guys and they will point you to the right place.