A thrilling cave restaurant in the South Coast of Kenya It had been 10 years since our last visit to Ali Barbour’s Cave Restaurant. Back then, in 2007, the place was a hidden, romantic, and generally unknown gem. Even most visitors in Diani hadn’t heard about it, and it was only thanks to the recommendation of…
Kitagata – a very local attraction in Western Uganda Located about an hour’s drive from Mbarara in Western Uganda, the Kitagata Hot Springs are an important local attraction of the region. I say “local”, because you won’t find a lot of foreign tourists there. People from all around the region and the country, flock to…
Gwalior – a spectacular site where you are likely to be the only tourist Gwalior is about as far off the beaten track as a tourist can get in India. Few travelers have this city of 1 million people on their itinerary. The place doesn’t seem to have received many foreign visitor since Ibn Battuta….
As tourism gets a long needed reprieve, new e-visa rules snap defeat from the jaws of victory! On June 18th, the British government finally eased the travel advisory on most of the Coast region in Kenya. The advisory had been in place since the Westgate terror attacks. It has been detrimental to Kenya’s travel and…
Seven points to remember when traveling via JKIA Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) in Nairobi is undoubtedly one of the most modern and efficient airports in Sub-Saharan Africa. Recently expanded with the new Terminal 1A, the old parts of Terminal 1 are gradually being renovated too, while a temporary Terminal 2 has boosted the already-stretched capacity of the airport…
The Polana Serena is one of the grand old classic hotels in Africa. Initially known as the Polana Hotel, it was constructed in 1922 in the then colonial HQ city known as Lourenco Marques. The Polana Hill was, and still remains, one of the poshest areas of the city. Situated on a hilltop in one…
Al-Andalus, Al Qaeda, and the historic symbolism of September 11th It has been 12 years since the tragic events of September 11th 2001. By striking at the heart of one of the greatest cities of modern Western civilization, Osama Bin Laden and his Al Qaeda affiliates sought not just short-term death and destruction, but also,…
All was set for my trip to Nairobi and JKIA, my suitcases were packed. I had set the alarm, ready to leave Lagos early the next morning. As always, I was looking forward to being in Nairobi, so my good mood dropped abruptly when I woke up to the message that the Jomo Kenyatta International…
Lagos is, by far, the biggest city in Sub-saharan Africa. With its 10+ million inhabitants, it eclipses Johannesburg, Nairobi and Addis Ababa, and is second only to Cairo. It is one of the fastest-growing cities on the planet, and increasingly a magnet for investors, multi-national companies and expatriates seeking to tap into the booming Nigerian and…
Cities that have been around for a long time have an “atmosphere of old civilization” that you simply don’t find in younger cities. Even if the old buildings are gone, there is something that you can’t really point out, that tells you that culture and civilization has thrived for centuries. Benin City is such a…
