Mombasa

[K77 CTR]

Has anybody been to Mombasa and done any of the safaris? Am thinking of going in October and was wondering if any one had any advice?

[dickbastardly]

We went to Shelly beach just outside Mombassa, we had to go across the water on the Lincony ferry that sank a week later!!
The only things i can add as it was 17 years ago is to wait till your there to book, it was alot cheaper.
I will say the safari was the best part of the holiday, we went for 2 weeks and had the safari over the mid weekend for 4 days. We both wish we had done 4 days at the hotel and the rest on safari.
HTH
Andy

[Yiliterate]

dickbdly said:

I will say the safari was the best part of the holiday, we went for 2 weeks and had the safari over the mid weekend for 4 days. We both wish we had done 4 days at the hotel and the rest on safari.

Completely agree with that!

In terms of parks, we did Tsavo East and West, but the highlight was Amboseli, with it's 'postcard' views of Kilimanjaro. Can't recommend that highly enough, and somewhere I would love to see once more before my days are done...

[4mo]

Stayed just outside Mombasa a few years ago, booked our safari with http://www.micssafaris.com/ before we went out, much cheaper than any of the big tour operators and tailored the safari to exactly what we asked for.

Payment was a little strange and they don't (or at least didn't) take credit cards, so deposit was paid via international bank transfer which cost me £20 to do. The balance was paid in cash to the random person who turned up in the hotel reception 2 days before the safari. Was slightly nervous having handed over hundreds but all was fine and the safari was fantastic.

[K77 CTR]

Thanks for the replies, am looking at 4 nights safari and 3 nights beach as I can't stretch to 14 nights

[schmalex]

Have a look at Diani, about an hour south of Mombasa. Fantastic beach, with not too many hawkers.

Totally agree on booking the safari locally - we booked 4 days in the Mara for 1/3 the price it would have been had we booked it in the UK

[Yiliterate]

schmalex said:

Have a look at Diani, about an hour south of Mombasa. Fantastic beach, with not too many hawkers.

This is a good point. Where we were, you hardly got a minute's peace on the beach. In fairness, if you stopped to talk to the hawkers, most were okay...but that's what you would end up spending most of your time doing.