About

What is Skippers?

We are building an IRL community of adventurers, nomads, entrepreneurs and vagabonds.

We want to improve the travel experience for international nomads, adventurers, long-stay travellers and domestic remote workers with a network of vibrant communities starting in East Africa and beyond.

We’ll do this while also giving back and integrating with local communities to help improve digital skills and empower the next generation. Read about our values.

Here’s an interview with Camilla & Duncan on the Digital Nomad Stories podcast explaining everything:

 

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Location

The first community will be on the adventure-rich coast of Kenya in the world-renowned kitesurfing beach-town of Diani.

Getting here

Skippers Kenya is located in Diani which is a holiday town south of Mombasa. 

Nearby airports

  • Diani/Ukunda airstrip – UKA (1km/5min) – Internal flights operated by JamboJet, Fly540, Skyward Express and Safarilink primarily from Nairobi with a few from Mombasa;
  • Mombasa Intl – MBA (30km/1h30-2h) – Direct flights from Frankfurt, Germany and Addis, Ethiopia;
  • Nairobi Kenyatta – NBO (520km/8h30) – Main international airport in Kenya;

From Nairobi

  • Plane – There are regular flights from Nairobi Kenyatta and Nairobi Wilson. We usually use JamboJet flights are around $80-$100 each way and can usually be changed on the day before departure without additional fees;
  • Train – The train departs 8am and 2pm from Nairobi and takes 6 hours to Mombasa. While it takes a while it also goes through a few of the safari parks so there’s a good opportunity to spot wildlife if you get a window seat. Tickets are $7 standard, $21 first class and require advance booking as it regularly sells out;
  • Bus – We do not reccomend taking a bus. The Nairobi – Mombasa highway is busy and the buses are not reknowned for their safety;

 

From Europe

  • Bansko: The best option from Bankso is to fly to Amsterdam, you’ll spend about 2h30 before the KLM flight to Nairobi;
  • Germany:
    • Frankfurt: There are direct flights from Frankfurt to Mombasa with Eurowings;
    • Maastrict: Emirates have a weekly flight to Nairobi 
  • Netherlands: KLM operate a flight from Amsterdam to Nairobi with a connecting flight same evening to Mombasa;
  • Paris: Air France operate a flight from CDG to Nairobi;
  • London: British Airways operate from LHR to Nairobi;
  • Belgium: Qatar operate an occasional flight from Zaventem;
  • Turkey: Turkish Airlins operate a daily flight to Nairobi from Istanbul

There are also a number of indirect flight options. Most are pretty good. The only one we would avoid would be the Ethiopian Airlines indirect flight. Seat length is quite small, the food isn’t good and the other airlines are generally better.

From the USA

  • New York: The only direct connection is Kenya Airways from JFK to Nairobi. You might not like JFK but the direct flight is a good option;

Indirect options from US. There are indirect flights via Paris, London and Amsterdam.

We would strongly recommend against flying through Paris if you are planning to stop in Paris itself. The inbound schengen passport control to enter Europe is regularly overwhelmed in the morning and it is not unusual to spend most of the day queuing to get into the country. 

If you want to stop in Europe instead consider entering via Amsterdam and then connecting to Paris on an inter-Europe flight or train.

From anywhere else

There are regular flights from Dubai and Qatar to Nairobi which generally cover most other regions. There are direct flights also from India, China. Less than daily flights also operate from a wide number of african destinations including South Africa, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Uganda, Rwanda, Zambia etc.

The team

Skippers is for nomads by nomads. We have a small tight-knit team helping us build Skippers some are based in Kenya others travelling.

Duncan Malcolm, Kenya Director

Camilla, Global Director

Zippy, Kenya

Skippers Coliving