The major reason we have this blog is to tell you about travel, what’s cool and what’s not. We also have to educate and maybe, sensitize you on some of the little things that may pass you by, the succinct ones on most occasions. Starting this series is the difference between a traveller and a tourist, because it sounds so obvious. Or so is it. There is a distinct difference between these two. The purpose of this article is to educate you because; to many people, a tourist and a traveller are one and the same thing.
First of all, the first difference is from the word itself. Boring as it may sound, a traveller is someone who goes somewhere on the basis of the travel act. For example, you would be going up-country, abroad, etc. for a given purpose and be classified as a traveller. On the other hand, a tourist can be summed up as someone who is not a local, or rather, he or she goes to a place to see attractions, what’s on offer and sites, etc. Naturally, tourists have a vague idea over what they are going to see compared to the travellers who are almost sure.
The other difference is in the way they treat their destinations. When a traveller goes to a new place it’s just a start to someplace else. It’s a journey, sort of an adventure. On the other hand, a tourist goes to a place, conquers it and moves on to new lands. In their books, that’s a closed chapter because they are driven by a desire to conquer other, new places. If a tourist comes for an African safari, he is most likely to move on to the Alps of Asia, the coastlines of South America and what not. He or she has a feeling of contend. The traveller is different. He sees it as a new phase or at least, a different feel each time he comes back to a place. That’s the difference.
These two seem almost the same; it’s as you imagined. The core difference, which is the purpose of this article  is; one does experience more adventure than the other on those expeditions and you guessed from the above facts- the traveller is happier. You can start being a traveller today by adapting a few first steps. The first one would be-start packing your toilet roll when you are on safari in the wild African bushes, because you may just find something amazing in the African bushes and refuse to go back to your hotel! By the end of this sequel, you should learn a thing or two about being a traveller, possibly, come back for more.

Travel advisories on Kenya have become a common phenomenon especially in the past 15 or so years. Normally, these are statements issued by state departments warning their citizens about visiting selected countries, in this case, Kenya to be particular. Of course there are many websites which keep talking about travel advisories, but none is conclusive in their approach. In this article, we demystify travel advisories that continually plague amazing safari destinations like Kenya, and what you need to know as visiting Kenya safari-holiday enthusiast.

In the ideal scenario, governments issue travel advisories to their citizens when the countries they are visiting are marred with political instability. Ideally, these are countries with no stable rule of law, high levels of insecurity, terrorism threats, ethnic violence, contagious diseases, civil unrest and inclement weather. On extreme occasions, world powers like the USA issue travel advisories to locations where, for one reason or another, their embassies have to close down, or when they issue economic sanctions to those countries as a means of economic sabotage, among other reasons.
With regards to Kenya; the UK, Canada, Australia and USA are some of the countries that commonly issue travel advisories vis-à-vis warden messages. This is mainly because of attacks in Kenya instigated by terrorist insurgents like the Al-Shabaab, which is based in neighboring, war torn Somalia or al-Qaida. In the recent past, north eastern Kenya, and Mombasa to a small extend, have become a target for these attacks, which has further aggravated the travel advisory alerts by foreign governments.
Whereas these advisories are well intended, Kenya remains as one of the safest tourist spots in the world. Since gaining independence from the British in the early 60’s, Kenya has enjoyed strong political and economic stability that matches no other country in Africa. Moreover, Kenya has completely secured and working consulates for most of these countries, and hence a safe haven for its visitors.
Therefore, for the average tourist interested in visiting Kenya, don’t let advisories deny you the opportunity to get a good test of Kenya. However, there are a number of things you have to implement as far as your safety is concerned. First, you have to ensure that you are within the realms of your hotel and its secured barriers to remain safe. This is because in most cases where kidnappings occur, even in established countries like the USA and Britain, it’s usually easiest when you’re lonely and off the radar in dangerous spots. If this can make you feel more comfortable, all Kenyan tourist spots have stringent security measures in the wake of terror, and this gives you security guarantees.
Overall, Kenya is not an unsafe tourist spot as stated by many of the travel advisories issued. It’s a great country with attractions you will find nowhere else on the planet like the wildebeest migration we recently talked about, mountains, rich wildlife, world class hotels, sandy beaches, resorts, luxury spots, clubs and restaurants, etc. With a firm understanding of this, don’t let travel advisories issued take away your adventure spirit. Simply book a Kenyan safari or holiday with an established practitioner who guarantees your security arrangements and have fun.

                           Travel insurance is what you need when in-eventualities happen during travel. Whereas many are often easy to shoulder, some are pretty costly and without an adequate amount of insurance cover, surviving through the times can be a costly affair. In this article, I am going to focus on travel insurance and provide three crucial travel scenarios when travel insurance can be such a savior.
Flight cancellations
Flight cancellation is a common feature that affects airports in different parts of the world. In most cases, one can fore-go a flight or be impacted by a flight cancellation for one reason or the other. Ideally, most flights are cancelled for bad weather, impending terrorist threats and attacks, because of personal emergencies and when air planes develop mechanical problems, etc. With the cancellations in place, travelers are bound to lose out on costs incurred to book tickets because many airlines have rigid policies concerning flight cancellations as far as refunds are concerned. Good travel insurance should be able to cover a good amount of the sum, depending on the terms of the policy.
Medical emergencies
No human being is medical emergency proof. This is considering the large number of people who suffer from one ailment or the other; some of which only show when they are traveling. Getting a good travel insurance policy can factor costs which result in one being sick or having a medical emergency on their trip. The costs covered could be anything from a simple medical emergency expenses, ambulance fees, medical checkup and admission fees, and many other costs associated with the travel package like air fair, etc.
It’s important to note that there are different aspects of cover offered for different travel insurance companies. There are also clauses concerning cover extended to third parties in many health insurance/travel insurance policies sold to travelers. This aspects are very important to look at, especially when making a decision concerning travel insurance offers.
Evacuations
The way the world works presently is a product of the global environment. Emergencies at airports have become a norm and travelers’ preparedness in such cases is of utmost importance. In practice; during evacuations, the expenses one is likely to incur are airlifts to safety, hospital expenses and general transport to safety. Most travel insurance packages are known to offer cover for evacuation expenses as well.
Overall, traveling is great but, a risk in itself. Having travel insurance has many benefits and these cannot be limited to the few enumerated above or n the fact that many tour agencies cannot accept travelers without travel insurance  to reduce their expenses. For the general travel sector, travel insurance is almost becoming an industry standard and hence needs to be well taken care of.
This is a guest blog from Peter Miles of leaseseo, who are the staff writers for http://www.2healthinsurance.net, which is a website dedicated to health insurance, the umbrella for travel insurance.

                                                                                                                                                           The wildebeest migration is a spectacular Kenyan safari/Tanzania safari feature that deserves mention again. What is not commonly known is that, the wildebeest migration is bigger and most definitely, beyond your wildest imaginations. The purpose of this article is to give you the less common facts about the annual wildebeest migration. This is intended to make you as much knowledgeable as possible about the migration, in case you choose to safari in Africa for a themed adventure of the great wildebeest migration.
It’s a known fact that the great migration is the 7th wonder of the world. This announcement, which was made in the summer of 2006 by USA Today, made it the world’s most spectacular wildlife occurrence. This was indeed done, for a good reason as you will discover.
One characteristic that makes the migration a world wonder is the massive number of animals involved. According to experts, close to 1.5 million wildebeests (also known as Gnu), at least 300000 zebras and multitudes of general antelopes take part in the great migration for food and water between the Serengeti in Tanzania and Masai Mara in Kenya. Out of these, a spectacular 250,000 perish on their way there, putting reality to survival for the fittest.
To add on this survival for the fittest instinct the wildebeests are born with, they cannot be extinct. For example, with at least 400,000 of them born in a week’s time, wildebeests are the most predator prepared animals there is in the world. With such a number born in a week, the predators cannot overwhelm the supply and hence the large number of wildebeests involved each year. Moreover, with the wildebeests naturally built for the tracks (wildebeests run within a few minutes of being born), their migration is an adventure of a lifetime.
These added to the fact that wildebeests eat a lot, have scent detectors in their hooves and that you get to see over 300,000 different zebras in one go(no 2 zebras are the same), an adventure safari to Kenya or Tanzania for a glimpse of this can be such a great idea. Moreso, for people born before the 1960’s, when the wildebeest migration was non-existent prior to their births, getting a glimpse of this will definitely make the adventure worthwhile. To fully get to know more about the great wildebeest migration, you can check out a post we did recently, about it.

Kenya is the crème of all tour destinations in Africa. This is because the country enjoys some of the best economic growth prospects, political stability, hardworking and friendly people and favorable infrastructure. For famed or hobby travellers, Kenya offers a wide range great tourist attractions. Given that Kenya’s tours/travel/safaris sector is worth billions of dollars in revenues per year, it’s very important to clearly highlight why this is the case. There are many city tour destinations in Kenya. For this series, we will start by focusing on the various great city travel destinations in Kenya.
Nairobi: The city in the sun
Nairobi is one of the oldest cities in Africa and boasts of being Kenya’s capital. Some of the features that are remarkable about Nairobi are the well-constructed roads, well connected interlinking vehicle and pedestrian lanes, happy and joyful people, historical and political monuments, lovely gardens and vast, extensive parks. Popularly known as the city in the sun, Nairobi is a travel site to boot with a wide array of casinos, bars, great coffee shops, world class shopping malls, a rich night life and exotic 5 star hotels like the Hilton, the Norfolk Hotel and Stanley’s among others. Like all the other global cities, Nairobi is moderately priced as far as meals and accommodation is concerned. There are also affordable hostel facilities like the YMCA. The city is one of the first places you’ll get to by air as an international tourist. In a way, Nairobi is what creates the urban feel to your safari enroute to the preferred safari destinations like the Mara or Samburu. Nairobi is also known as great city safari/holiday destinations in Kenya.
Kisumu: Kenya’s lakeside city
Popularly known as the lake side city, Kisumu is most one of the hottest cities in Kenya. This is because of its close proximity to the Lake Victoria basin. Like most of the other cities in Kenya other than Nairobi, Kisumu is a slow paced city. However, for one reason of the other, it remains as one of the most exotic lake side travel destinations in Kenya. In terms of the infrastructure, Kisumu has a wide variety of hotels and restaurants, most of them 3 star. One can visit the Kisumu for boat rides, hand and pole fishing and swimming. Alternatively, one can merely visit Kisumu to enjoy the local bicycle rides known as ‘boda boda’ by the locals or just interact with people from the US president’s native home! It’s the 3rd largest city in Kenya.
Mombasa: The perfect coast travel destination in Kenya
This is Kenya’s most prominent travel destination. This city is highly frequented by people from all walks of life; some of them extremely rich, some normal and yet the others, mega film stars. Some of the famous figures who frequent Mombasa include Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, a former Formula 1 boss, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt among other socialites. It is a perfect travel destination in Kenya’s as it’s dotted by some of the best resorts, five star hotels and extensive sandy beaches. Mombasa is therefore, suitable for those travellers who want to spend their holidays at the coast, Caribbean style. With the many historical, pre-colonial monuments and slave sites, Mombasa is a great historical city and you can learn a lot as you enjoy your Kenyan safari holidays.
The above are not the only great cities in Kenya. There are of course, others like Naivasha and Nakuru which are also worth mentioning in the A list. Overall, Kenya is the home of safaris in Africa and the magnificence the above cities showcase, gives more ground as to why Kenya is a tour and safari destination of choice in Africa.