Tickets, Visas, Vaccinations

Besides the gear the other set of big action items were to get the tickets and visas, confirm reservations with the agent and plan for the safari after the climb. We also had to get yellow fever vaccination which is mandatory for Indian travelers visiting Tanzania (it is verified by Immig. on the return from Tanzania to India). We were all planning a visit to Chennai for this when Aradhana discovered that the vaccination was available right here in Bangalore and saved us the trouble. The details, quoting from her email, were -

• We need to take those injections atleast 10 days in advance of our travel
• They provide the injections every Wednesday starting 10 AM. Each shot costs Rs. 250
• We need take advance appointment (1 day earlier) with them.
• We need to carry 1. Passport 2. Yellow Card (This is provided by the travel agent)
• Address: Public Health Institute, Seshadari Road, Near KR Circle, Opp. SJP Polytechnic, Bangalore. Phone: 22210248.

Simultaneously Sandy blocked tickets from BLR to Mumbai, and Mumbai to Nairobi (AI is the cheapest - INR 22K all inclusive return pp), and also set in motion the process to get Kenyan and Tanzanian visas through his travel agent - saving us the effort. We needed a Kenyan visa since we planned to travel by road from Nairobi to Moshi, the base town for Kili climbs. The flight charges from Nairobi to Kilimanjaro Airport were prohibitively high (around INR 17K one way!!) and we had decided to go by road which was a ride of 6-7 hours through Arusha - that way we would see the African countryside too (and cost $20 pp one way). And we had no fears about the conditions of the road since nothing could be worse than traveling on Bangalore roads (including being dragged bare-back on sharp rocks by wild horses).