Emily in Africa

I must admit that even the intrepid traveller in me was slightly frightened by the nickname of Nairobi, "Nairobbery", in reference to the amount of crime the city sees. Armed with this knowledge, I decided I would be the happiest traveller alive if I could only leave the city with everything arrived with. And I am very pleased to report that I was not robbed in Nairobbery and even beginning to think that this "safety" thing in Kenya isn't as hard as people make it out to be, which likely means I'll be robbed next week.

But anyways, I arrived in Nairobi after some long flights not knowing quite what to expect or even what time is was. I had arranged an airport-pickup with a hostel in town and was jointly excited to see both my checked-backpack and hostel group waiting for me. I guess the first thing I noticed about Nairobi was the breeze, it was definitely that hot, humid breeze that I was looking forward to after leaving Toronto in February. So after the usual airport scavenger hunt of 1. Bank (check), 2. Tourist office (non-existent) and 3. Food (not hungry), I hopped in a car and headed off to Nairobi Backpackers just outside of the centre of town.

You can't get a real feel of Nairobi at night, but the hostel was great. Lots of friendly travellers which would work out well for the days to come. And other travelling stories are a great way to get a feel for the country. My favourite one was from two guys who had taken the bus from Ethiopia to Kenya which hit an impala on the highway. Since killing safari animals is strictly illegal here, everyone had to get out of the bus to try and decide what to do about this. At least, this is what they thought. First the poor thing was still alive so they got someone to humanely kill it with this guy's Swiss Army knife (apparently everyone else had left their machetes at home). Then something had to be done about the carcass since they couldn't leave it on the side of the road (illegal). So apparently it was decided that they would divvy it up and people could all have impala-meals for the next day. Then people starting tracing outlines on the impala with their hands it was carved up. While the hindquarters were the most fought-over bits, nothing beats the driver ripping the still-warm liver out of the body and eating it right there on the road! Anyways, even though I wasn't there it was to good a story not to pass on. I'm not quite sure how much that typifies Kenya, but I started to get the hang of it after that. Actually, the oddest part of the story to me is that the guy telling it was a South African named Sean who is a younger clone of Chris Eckert! I guess you just never know who you'll meet...

My next two days in Nairobi were spent sightseeing. Highlights included the local Maasai Mara market which is built on what seems to be an abandoned excavation site in the middle of town. Vendors set up their wares on dusty blankets in the dirt and paths between them run up hills, into gutters, around shrubs....it's all quite different and certainly unlike any other market I've ever seen.


I also had my visit-the-safari-animals day, which included a baby animal orphange and a giraffe sanctuary. The animal orphanage is inside Nairobi National Park and rehabilitates injured/orphaned rhinos and elephants before returning them to wild herds in another National Park. When I went, there was one rhino and 10 elephants in the orphange - other than being really neat for tourists, the rehabilitation seems to be working as they've managed to put nearly 100 animals back into the "wild" over 30 years. But the giraffes were definately the coolest -- there's a platform where you can feed giraffes food pellets right out of your hands and for the brave, get them to "kiss" you and they take the pellet right out of your mouth. Both hilarious and not as wet as I thought - giraffes seem to have a dry slobber. As it turned out, our guide from the backpacker place used to work at the giraffe centre so after the platform feeding, we crossed the road (leaving all the other tourists behind) and went for a hike in a nature sanctuary across the road. While it was mostly hot, dusty and dry forest there were acacia trees and thorn trees -- very Africa! And then we found two giraffes and fed them right there in the forest. They were taking a day off from the platform area and on their "honeymoon" so we didn't stay too long but it was really really neat.


The other thing about Nairobi was the dryness - after missing the "small rains" in mid-November, Kenya is in a serious drought with most of the country facing famine and a terrrible crop season. Currently in Nairobi, this means there are water limitations and the entire city is covered in a thin film of red dust. It also means that the Masaai people, herders who graze their cattle and goats for a living, have been forced to bring their animals to feed in Nairobi. Aside from being an excellent chance to see the famed Maasai warriors, the urban Kikuyu "tribe" (ie. people who work in the city) are not pleased and there seems to be a simmering tension around the city.

My other highlight was spending a night in the very humble ex-pat abode pictured below, with some friends of the family who kindly offered to put me up for a night and show me around Nairobi.

So then it was time to head to Mombasa on the night train and start some work.There may or may not be a post about the train ride, but suffice it to say that the deluxe accomodations in 1st class makes VIA look good. And if a train is billed as having "colonial elegance" it likely means it was built in the 1800s and hasn't seen a cleaning since.

PS. For more pictures check out the Flickr link on the left.