Traveling individually (Mount Kenya - Mombasa)

Hello,
I'm going to Kenya for 3 weeks in August. I start my journey with a trekking in Mount Kenya and I would like to get to Mombasa directly from there (and not via Nairobi), visiting one or two parks (like Meru or Tsavo). I would like to travel on my own without tour operator but it is difficult for me to see how easy it is to travel on my own over there.
Do you think it is possible to do the journey (Chogoria - Mombasa) in matatu in about 10 days?
I read in travel books that it was possible to ask the guards at the parks' entry for a safary (for the Meru notably). What do you think?
More globally, is this journey interesting in terms of landscape?
Thanks in advance for your answers!
Aurélie

i have researched a similar route and have found nothing. it appears that if you want to find your own way to mombasa nairobi is probably the place to be. Apparantly the train is a rewarding experience as it is a good place to meet other travellers plus you get to see a great amount of kenya. As to getting from mount kenya to nairobi there are roads but without a tour company i think your only option is rent a car...perhaps for a female travelling alone when u consider recent instability and trouble in the north and west of the country this could be an unwise move. The budding independent traveller inside you may unfortunately on this leg of the journey need to give into the typical tourist route and use a tour company.

I am travelling solo august in kenya and september in tanzania....will be in mombasa late august. give me a shout if your there around that time!

unless you are driving yourself, and very failiar with the know hows routes, Nairobi may be the only way to go i mean most public means depart nairobi daily. You can also take public buses from Thika to mombasa or closeby town like voi, but how to get to the parks (tsavo you may require a safari van or a 4x4 for that matter, which might be more as compared to being in a group.My best advice to you to do you wish is just hire a vehicle that will take you to all this places, because looking at meru and Tsavo- those are very opposite directions with long distances if need do both,although from mt kenya meru is close.wish you luck!

Hi Aurélie. I do understand it is not what you had in mind but there are direct night buses going from Meru and Embu (i.e., close to Chogoria) all the way to Mombasa (I have used one of them 2 years ago).

In any case, I have travelled independently through Kenya not so long ago and put on the internet a rather detailed trip report. Maybe you can find some useful tips for your trip there - if interested check it out at my site.

Have a good trip.

Thanks very much for your helpful answers! Now I think I'm going to take a combined tour "mount kenya + meru" and then rent a car from Nairobi to Mombasa and take public transport for the way back to Nairobi...