19 Nov 2024
Pickup was requested to be early at 4:30 to better see Kilimanjaro, so I woke up at 3:30 in my dorm room at a hostel. Nobody arrived until 5:30, leaving me standing by myself on a street in Nairobi in the cold and dark for an hour. The vehicle was far from the quality I was expecting given the price of the tour. It was old, squeaky, with stained fabric seats. My driver/guide apparently couldn’t find my location despite me sending it multiple times due to phone issues, so had to hire an Uber to lead him there after an hour of waiting. The Uber was much nicer than the tour van, and I was disappointed when it was the one that drove away. Julius, who arranged the tour, seemed nice, and the tour was mostly fine after that, but definitely not worth the price. If you’ve been on safari before, Amboseli likely won’t necessarily blow your mind. Kilimanjaro is the cool part, and what I didn’t know when booking is that there’s a fair chance you may not see it any given day due to clouds. However, if you do, it is well worth the trip - just be aware of the risk.