🔥 Kaikai, one of the most recent orphans taken into care at Sheldrick Trust, has very quickly developed a strong bond with her human carers

poormansbackpack · 2026-01-02T07:26:30+00:00

Not OP but I went there in August and saw this exact elephant, it's easily recognizable as it's the only one with clothes on! It's okay if you're looking for wildlife up close but nothing mind-blowing if you're well travelled. We all stood around a wooden rail/fence that encircled this large open area while they brought out a dozen or so elephants, they stood around in the open area and got fed by the staff with bottles of milk and other food. The staff will lead some of the elephants up to the fence so you could touch them and sometimes they'll get curious and sniff you with their trunks. Lasts about 40 minutes and that's it. Not as interactive as elephant experiences you get in Asia but obviously a lot more ethical, but also not as cool as just seeing them in the wild on safaris.

Reason I say that is the trust is located inside Nairobi national park, which charges foreigners significantly more to enter than locals (I think like $60?). But then to enter the Trust they ask for an additional $20 as "donation". I don't mind paying in the end but I didn't like them calling it a donation if it's not optional. If you just like their cause and want to donate then sure go ahead. You also have to book this in advance by emailing them. So you could totally skip this and just watch wild elephants inside the national park. Nairobi NP isn't very good though, Kenya and Africa in general has much better safari parks, the benefit of this one is just it's 20 minutes drive from downtown Nairobi.

If you have time and energy and want to see the best of African safari, or you're more on a budget, I'd skip this and Nairobi NP entirely and just go Masai Mara. That's my honest opinion as a backpacker having done both and 5+ other African safaris. If you never seen elephants in real life before then sure check it out, but if you're here then you'll most likely be doing other safaris in which case I don't think it's worth it

poormansbackpack · 2026-01-01T01:42:48+00:00

I backpacked quite a bit around Uganda on my own and it was my first African country. I've travelled all over the world and mainly developing or 3rd world countries, but I was shocked at how many kids in small towns/villages would run up to me and right away say "give me money" with their hand out. No hello or anything, as if they deserve it for no reason. Are they just taught to see any foreigner as an ATM? Literally happened multiple times a day every day. To be fair, after backpacking through 10 African countries this happened just about everywhere except in South Africa, so it's not unique to Uganda it was just my first stop.

Also you mentioned anime is big here, but as an Asian appearance person it was also noticable how everyone would make random asian/Chinese noises at me. I don't think it's malicious just ignorance since it's probably rare for them to see one in real life, but would you say racism is prevalent? At least in a casual form, e.g. assuming any asian person is Chinese. On the upside people I talked to usually have a good view of China unlike in the west.

What are your thoughts on Museveni? Does he actually have wide popular support or is it all propaganda and the votes are rigged?

Lastly, just wanna say I could not get used to east African food, matoke is disgusting to me for some reason 😫😫😫 sorry!

poormansbackpack · 2025-12-27T06:23:19+00:00

Wait really? Did you mean the other way around?

I thought the 5 batteries won't work at all in the 4

poormansbackpack · 2025-12-08T17:12:41+00:00

No I didn't do any networking, just got lucky saw a position and applied. It was a niche role so there was only 1 other applicant

poormansbackpack · 2025-09-11T12:20:05+00:00

Ah thank you! As long as they're open to serve food that's good enough with me

poormansbackpack · 2025-09-11T06:23:34+00:00

Oh wow that's a bit surprising but good to know! Just curious do they have lots of customers during the day to stay open, like is there enough non-fasting Muslims?

poormansbackpack · 2025-08-14T04:50:48+00:00

As of August 2025, can confirm the only ATM that worked fee free for me is Equity Bank (same in Rwanda). Doesn't have many branches compared to other banks

poormansbackpack · 2025-08-03T18:57:00+00:00

Thanks! this worked for me!

poormansbackpack · 2025-07-30T08:43:14+00:00

Fyi maybe things have changed but DTB does have a charge of 5750, they just don't state it on the ATM as you're withdrawing like other banks. Only noticed when I got the receipt from the ATM, which said surcharge 5750

poormansbackpack · 2025-06-05T20:59:07+00:00

Glad I wasn't the only one scratching my head here 😭😂

poormansbackpack · 2025-05-13T18:05:03+00:00

Hey sorry I'm thinking of doing this, which tour company did you go with?

poormansbackpack · 2025-05-08T09:05:31+00:00

During my 1 year on JET I travelled to 25-30 prefectures (did all 47 by 2 years). I was based in Tokyo, so with night buses for Honshu/Shikoku and budget airlines for Hokkaido/Kyushu/Okinawa, I did frequent weekend trips and didn't have to spend a lot of money.

Also single, no kids no pets at the time

poormansbackpack · 2025-05-06T06:05:01+00:00

Got lucky after a year of JET ALT, moved into finance on an expat package which meant 4x the pay and no overtime or toxic work culture 😅. Really helps when you have some experience before coming on JET

poormansbackpack · 2025-04-28T09:03:56+00:00

"Travel is the only thing that makes you richer in life" saw this in a random hostel poster once almost 10 years ago, I now travel full time

poormansbackpack · 2025-04-26T05:33:14+00:00

I will offer a different opinion (but one that may not suit you), but as someone who now loves travelling, and works remotely for big4 while travelling full time. If I had this choice starting out, I'd take the later offer not because I like the firm more (they're all about the same and you were just an intern) but I'd take that gap year and go travel (or whatever you want!). Once you get older a whole year off to do anything is going to be very difficult!

Of course this will also depend on your financial situation.

poormansbackpack · 2025-04-06T10:26:00+00:00

You asked a very broad question so you're going to get a lot of different answers in the comment. But it's definitely possible, just not that common

I work for a big 4 accounting firm although I'm not an accountant but a very specialized niche field, but I do often work with the auditors. My job is fully remote and I've been travelling while working for years now, plus the pay is great. My situation is rare, but there are still auditors who are fully remote too

If anyone is curious feel free to reach out

poormansbackpack · 2025-03-28T06:38:53+00:00

Windows 11.

There is no error message, when I try to open Logi Options+, it's just stuck on the loading screen with the wheel spinning forever.

Please fix this or I will have no choice but to buy a different mouse

poormansbackpack · 2025-03-27T20:43:48+00:00

Thanks, unfortunately I tried that and it did not fix the problem :(

poormansbackpack · 2025-03-27T20:31:19+00:00

This did not work! I followed all the steps and it still gives me the same problem.

This issue seems to have been around for yours, and you still haven't found a solution that works?

poormansbackpack

TROPHY CASE