10 Things to See in Malindi

Malindi is one of the major tourist centers in Kenya. Its white beaches, the coral reef, the turquoise sea, the forests, the nearby Watamu Marine National Park, the local culture, they make you dream of a journey amidst wild and uncontaminated nature. E’ impossible to be disappointed by a trip to Kenya, especially if you choose Malindi and its surroundings as your destination. Here they are for you 10 things to see absolutely in Malindi and Watamu National Park!

Source: www.travel365.it

Travel information: Kenya time zone, view, prefix, embassy, currency

Jet lag

Regarding the time zone, Kenya is ahead, compared to Italy (if we consider solar time), two hours. There are exactly twelve hours of light and twelve hours of darkness, dawn and dusk are very short.

Visa

To apply for a visa for Kenya in Italy, you have to go to the Embassy in Via Archimede, 164 a Roma. The telephone number is lo 06/8082717/18. Alternatively you can contact the Kenya Tourist Board in Via Monte Rosa, 20 in Milan. The telephone number is lo 02 36561179. Also useful for knowing news about the situation in the country.

The visa in Kenya, Instead, it can be obtained either once you arrive in the country or at the airport or at the border. The validity of the visa ranges from 1 a 3 months and can be extended up to 6 months. Naturally, it is also possible to request it from the Embassy in Rome by producing the necessary documents. Of course you will need a passport, but you also have to pay an entry and exit visa when transiting at the airport. Some tour operators organize the trip in order to avoid this formality during the exit, but to enter everyone must go through customs and pay the amount requested by the government.

The visa is required only for children under the age of sixteen. You can buy different types, and can be requested at a Kenyan embassy in Italy, or directly at the airport upon entry into the country. Payment at the airport can be easily made in both US dollars and euros, despite travel agencies and tour operators insisting on advising tourists to bring dollars to complete customs formalities. However, you should know that American dollars issued before are not accepted anywhere in Kenya 2001, and that banks do not exchange them for more recently issued banknotes.

On the plane to Kenya the hostesses will provide the visa application forms, two forms of different colors where you will declare your personal data and the duration and reason of your stay. However, be prepared for a nasty surprise: at the airport you will discover that there will be another form to fill out, which is the declaration of entry into the country, practically identical to those filled out on the plane, just another color. It is best to fill it out immediately to be able to enter the customs queue, otherwise you risk spending a lot of time inside the airport: in periods of large crowds even three hours more, since Kenyan customs officers are not known for their speed, nor for their availability towards tourists. Here are the different types of visas that can be paid for at the airport:
– transit visa (transit VISA): 20 USD, valid from one to seven days

- travel visa (single entry VISA): 50 USD , valid for three months and extendable for up to six months at the immigration office upon payment

– multiple visa (multiple VISA): 110 USD, requested by whom, for business reasons, must make frequent trips to the country; it is valid for six to seven months and must be obtained before departure, since the paperwork for its issuance takes eight weeks; Four passport photos are required and three forms must be filled out to obtain a visa

– double entry visa (double entry VISA): 25 USD o 20 EURO, for those who enter Kenya and then continue to other countries of the East African Community (Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and Tanzania) and finally return to Kenya; this visa does not also include entry into the aforementioned countries.

The passport

The passport must be valid for at least six months after entering the country. It must have at least one entire blank page on which the entry stamp and visa can be affixed, otherwise you risk being blocked at customs and sent back home on the first available flight. You cannot travel unless you have a return ticket, and the first entry permit is only valid for three months: declare the period of stay at customs and check that the stamp on the passport corresponds to the duration of the stay. The three-month visa obviously does not allow you to work in Kenya, but it can be extended by another three months upon expiry: this must be done in the competent immigration offices and obviously before the permit expires completely, under penalty of a severe sanction which may even lead to arrest. To do this you also need to have two passport photos, while for just entering the country there is no need, since they take photos directly at customs.

The telephone area code

The country code for Kenya is 254. After the prefix, just enter the name of the Italian region you want to call or the mobile operator, if you are calling a cell phone.

The currency

The currency is the Kenyan shilling, the value of one euro is 109.09 shillings. Precisely by virtue of the strength of our currency, you can have a low cost holiday.

When to go to Kenya

As has already been said, the best time is not summer. The Equator line crosses Kenya but, despite this, the climate is not equatorial. A Nairobi, on the plateau, in July and August it is very cool and, in the evening, a sweater is even necessary. The nights are always very cool, starting from fifteen degrees in the June-September period to twenty-one degrees in March. According to this information, the best time to go to Kenya is from the end of January to March, it is cool and it is possible to visit the whole country without too much heat, thing that, Instead, it happens in September and October and in December and January. On the coast the temperatures always rise but, thanks to trade winds and monsoons, are more mitigated.

Source: travel.fanpage.it