Nairobi Wrap-up
Moshi, Tanzania
Other then the trip down from Moyale to Nairobi and the week long safari, I spent the rest of my time in Kenya in Nairobi. Nairobi is positively modern and very British. English is everywhere, in fact you'd have to go out of your way to find Swahili in the downtown center. Granted, most people are speaking Swahili, or a Swahili/English hybrid, but all the signs are in English only. There is a very British feel to the city, and with a huge downtown population, the sidewalks are overflowing with people.
Sadly, I didn't really think the city had all that much character. It's dotted with fast food joints everywhere, though I didn't see the usual American chains, British chains are easy to find. The city is also much more expensive, relatively speaking, then one would imagine. When coming from Ethiopia where one can share a 2$US meal, paying 5--10$ for a meal in Nairobi is a downright shock. Of course, like anywhere, I'm sure you could find cheaper meals, but there isn't much selection under 2$. (The reality of being on the road for almost 6 months is that I now consider a meal over 5$ to be expensive... Ha! So idea how I'll adjust to life back in San Francisco where 5$ covers just the tip on a basic meal... /sigh)
I made one attempt in Nairobi to be cultural by tyring to visit the National Museum, only to find out that it is closed until June of 2007 for renovations, so no culture for me. The rest of the time I just walked around the downtown area, enjoyed some time in the parks, caught up on email and drank a ton of chocolate milkshakes. For some reason, chocolate milkshakes have now displaced "Mars Bars" as my local sweet-tooth craving, and boy did I find some good, all but expensive, milkshakes in Nairobi... Mmm, milk shakes.
There were many areas in Nairobi that I had wanted to visit, but since it's so spread out I never did. In particularly, I'd have loved to visit the slums of the city, said to be the largest in East Africa and in start contrast to the hustle and bustle of downtown Nairobi represent the much darker side of a cities success. Not being able to find anyone who wanted to go out to the part of town with me, I decided against a solo visit.
As for the crime in Nairobi, well I wasn't affected by it what so ever. The hotel that I stayed in, New Kenya Lodge, is supposedly in an area rife with crime, but I never had a problem, not even a hint of one. I even walked around at night a few times and even once had my camera out with me at night. Maybe I was just lucky (or foolish), but I think if you just stay away from the obvious dark, un lit alleys then you should be fine.
A other observations on Nairobi. There seems to be an inordinate number of driving schools, especially around my hotel. They have creative names like "Rocky Driving School" and "Heltz", the latter being a blatant rip-off of Hertz Rent-a-Car. No idea what they actually teach at the driving schools since Kenyan drivers aren't exactly the best I've come across. There seems to be blatant disregard for pedestrians and "personal space", say between a passing vehicle and yourself is almost non-existent.
Like the rest of the countries I've visited, mobile phones are hugely popular in Nairobi. Seems like everyone has one and every other shop is either a mobile shop, or somehow in the mobile business. Of particular interest were the shops that were half perfume shops and half mobile phone shops. Seems it's popular to shop for mobile phone accessories while looking for fragrances as well. Go figure.
The internet has arrived en-mass in Nairobi, though not all cafes are quite up to par. Second only to mobile phone shops are internet cafes. Some are quite nice, with flat screens and fast connections, others are like stepping back 10 years in time to when Windows 95 was all the rage. After much shopping around, I finally found a place that actually had an internet connection that was working, was fast and who's computers were at least from this century. All this for just under 1$US/hour, which is pretty decent.
According to the locals, Nairobi had been experiencing a rather long and somewhat unusual drought over the last few months. Well, that wasn't the case while I was there as we had a rain shower almost every day. Granted, the showers don't last long, but they do come quickly and are rather intense. When the rain comes down, the sidewalks fill up with umbrella vendors. I don't know where they come from, they aren't around on clear sunny days, but when the rains come, they come out like garden worms. It's raining so hard and you're getting wet that you're so tempted to purchase an umbrella. But if you hold out for just a few minutes, maybe 30 minutes top, then the rains will die down and you can go back about your business. I never purchased an umbrella, but business sure looked good from what I could tell. Unfortunately, "umbrella-etiquette" is sorely lacking in Nairobi and I took more then my fair share of umbrella's in the forehead and face. Why people walk on the covered sidewalk with their umbrella deployed is beyond me, but it just wreaks havoc for everyone else. And those huge "golf size" umbrellas should just be banned, or at least reserved for the golf course where they were designed to be used. The sidewalks in Nairobi are more then crowded enough, and like in London, no one knows which side to pass someone on (left side, like driving, or right side, like the rest of the world) that we don't need to clutter up the sidewalks with umbrellas as well.
Another relatively new "service" in Nairobi are ATM's, and boy are they popular. I can't remember the last time I saw a line of more then 2-3 people outside an ATM, and I've certainly never bothered to wait in a line any larger then that to get out money. But in Nairobi, lines of 15 or more people are quite common. I'm told that even though the machines are open 24 hours, the locals only use them during the day, when security is around and the threat of robbery is low. At night, pulling money out of an ATM machine is apparently just asking to be mugged.
But by far, the coolest thing in Nairobi are the mini-buses. You can choose to get around Nairobi in one of the standard public buses, which are dirty, slow and downright boring. You can ride in one of the ubiquitous Matatu's called "Nissan's", which hold around 14 passengers, or you can take one of the mini-buses which hold around 25 passengers. The great thing about the mini-buses, and indeed some of the Nissan's as well, as that the owners and drivers go to great lengths to customize them. Think MTV's "Pimp My Ride", or, if you're not an avid MTV watcher, then the best way to describe them is as "disco's on wheels". You see the buses are privately owned and they fight quite hard to get your business for the route they follow. So while there are many "#28" buses, each taking the same route, everyone is privately owned and they fight for your business. So, in order to attract you, they go to great lengths to make their bus cooler then the next. This involves elaborate "themes", mostly falling under one of three categories: music, sports or politics. Rappers are big, and you can easily find a mini-bus dedicated to Snoop Dogg or Eminem. Sports are second most popular, with football (soccer) being the most popular sub-theme. Finally there are political themes or just plain miscellaneous themes.
On top of the exterior paint jobs, the interiors are complete with black-light lighting, intense sound systems, custom seating and in some cases DVD monitors. Prices fluctuate as well with the newer and more "over-the-top" mini-buses charging more then the older, less flashy ones. At night, the mini-buses really come alive as all the exterior lights get turned on, the music gets cranked, and the interiors glow from either black-light or neon lighting. With upwards of a half-dozen buses all on the same street corner, and touts for each bus trying to get you to pick theirs over the one in front or behind, it all creates for a rolling disco on wheels that I haven't seen or experienced anywhere else. You best just check out the photos to see what I'm talking about.
For the business readers out there, apparently the owners of the buses demand a minimum amount of revenue per night from the driver and assistant. Whatever is made above the minimum is for the drive and assistant to share, so there is lots of competition and pressure to fill the buses since the more people they carry, the more the driver and assistant make that night.
And speaking of discos, I actually did make it out one night to one of the big clubs in Nairobi called "New Florida". Myself, Anna, an Irish traveler and Ben a Kenyan from Kisumo, all headed out on Saturday night for what was supposed to be just a cheap dinner and a stop at a corner store to get some drinks to have back at the hotel. Well, most corner stores were closed so we hit up a local pub, which was more a pub/sports bar then anything else. After a few drinks, we headed to another place that had a live-band playing salsa style music, with a good crowd watching on. Two western travelers were really tearing up the dance floor with some ballroom dancing meets salsa dancing moves that had all the locals impressed. No idea who they were, but they sure put on a good show.
After a few drinks there, we headed over to "New Florida", which is one of many meat-markets in Nairobi. And boy, was it ever a meat market. Normally, it's the guys desperately trying to attract the attention of the females, but in Nairobi, the tables are turned, at least if you're a Western guy. In that case, the girls just grab you, straight up grind on you, and in some cases plead for you to purchase them a beer at the bar. Anytime I was alone anywhere near the dance floor or the bar, I'd be approached. Just walking down the stairs to the bathroom would almost guarantee that at least one local girl would grab my arm or hand as I walked past.
And the reason for all this is very simple... Money. A quick look on the floor will show you that several, uh, older, westerners, most likely ex-pats living and working in Nairobi, had, uh, younger, local ladies with them. Either dancing, or, well, doing more then that. While I'm not about to make any judgements, I think it's kind of clear what the intention is for most of the girls that approached me. So, while initially flattered at all the attention, which was probably more attention in one hour then I've gotten in six years in San Francisco, after a short period of time it becomes rather annoying, so buy 4am, I left Anna and Ben and headed back to the hotel. It was fun to get back out partying with some other people after traveling solo for so long. Only wish I'd have gone out a bit more in Nairobi since I suspect the nightlife could be quite fun with such a large ex-pat community.
So with all that, I ended catching a shuttle from Nairobi to Moshi on Monday. Kenya is now behind me and it's time to focus on Tanzania. Hopefully I'll start climbing Kilimanjaro by Thursday or Friday of this week, which takes around 6 days. Afterwards, I'll head to the coast to enjoy Zanzibar before deciding which way to take to get to Cape Town... Till the next update...
Kenny
Other then the trip down from Moyale to Nairobi and the week long safari, I spent the rest of my time in Kenya in Nairobi. Nairobi is positively modern and very British. English is everywhere, in fact you'd have to go out of your way to find Swahili in the downtown center. Granted, most people are speaking Swahili, or a Swahili/English hybrid, but all the signs are in English only. There is a very British feel to the city, and with a huge downtown population, the sidewalks are overflowing with people.
Sadly, I didn't really think the city had all that much character. It's dotted with fast food joints everywhere, though I didn't see the usual American chains, British chains are easy to find. The city is also much more expensive, relatively speaking, then one would imagine. When coming from Ethiopia where one can share a 2$US meal, paying 5--10$ for a meal in Nairobi is a downright shock. Of course, like anywhere, I'm sure you could find cheaper meals, but there isn't much selection under 2$. (The reality of being on the road for almost 6 months is that I now consider a meal over 5$ to be expensive... Ha! So idea how I'll adjust to life back in San Francisco where 5$ covers just the tip on a basic meal... /sigh)
I made one attempt in Nairobi to be cultural by tyring to visit the National Museum, only to find out that it is closed until June of 2007 for renovations, so no culture for me. The rest of the time I just walked around the downtown area, enjoyed some time in the parks, caught up on email and drank a ton of chocolate milkshakes. For some reason, chocolate milkshakes have now displaced "Mars Bars" as my local sweet-tooth craving, and boy did I find some good, all but expensive, milkshakes in Nairobi... Mmm, milk shakes.
There were many areas in Nairobi that I had wanted to visit, but since it's so spread out I never did. In particularly, I'd have loved to visit the slums of the city, said to be the largest in East Africa and in start contrast to the hustle and bustle of downtown Nairobi represent the much darker side of a cities success. Not being able to find anyone who wanted to go out to the part of town with me, I decided against a solo visit.
As for the crime in Nairobi, well I wasn't affected by it what so ever. The hotel that I stayed in, New Kenya Lodge, is supposedly in an area rife with crime, but I never had a problem, not even a hint of one. I even walked around at night a few times and even once had my camera out with me at night. Maybe I was just lucky (or foolish), but I think if you just stay away from the obvious dark, un lit alleys then you should be fine.
A other observations on Nairobi. There seems to be an inordinate number of driving schools, especially around my hotel. They have creative names like "Rocky Driving School" and "Heltz", the latter being a blatant rip-off of Hertz Rent-a-Car. No idea what they actually teach at the driving schools since Kenyan drivers aren't exactly the best I've come across. There seems to be blatant disregard for pedestrians and "personal space", say between a passing vehicle and yourself is almost non-existent.
Like the rest of the countries I've visited, mobile phones are hugely popular in Nairobi. Seems like everyone has one and every other shop is either a mobile shop, or somehow in the mobile business. Of particular interest were the shops that were half perfume shops and half mobile phone shops. Seems it's popular to shop for mobile phone accessories while looking for fragrances as well. Go figure.
The internet has arrived en-mass in Nairobi, though not all cafes are quite up to par. Second only to mobile phone shops are internet cafes. Some are quite nice, with flat screens and fast connections, others are like stepping back 10 years in time to when Windows 95 was all the rage. After much shopping around, I finally found a place that actually had an internet connection that was working, was fast and who's computers were at least from this century. All this for just under 1$US/hour, which is pretty decent.
According to the locals, Nairobi had been experiencing a rather long and somewhat unusual drought over the last few months. Well, that wasn't the case while I was there as we had a rain shower almost every day. Granted, the showers don't last long, but they do come quickly and are rather intense. When the rain comes down, the sidewalks fill up with umbrella vendors. I don't know where they come from, they aren't around on clear sunny days, but when the rains come, they come out like garden worms. It's raining so hard and you're getting wet that you're so tempted to purchase an umbrella. But if you hold out for just a few minutes, maybe 30 minutes top, then the rains will die down and you can go back about your business. I never purchased an umbrella, but business sure looked good from what I could tell. Unfortunately, "umbrella-etiquette" is sorely lacking in Nairobi and I took more then my fair share of umbrella's in the forehead and face. Why people walk on the covered sidewalk with their umbrella deployed is beyond me, but it just wreaks havoc for everyone else. And those huge "golf size" umbrellas should just be banned, or at least reserved for the golf course where they were designed to be used. The sidewalks in Nairobi are more then crowded enough, and like in London, no one knows which side to pass someone on (left side, like driving, or right side, like the rest of the world) that we don't need to clutter up the sidewalks with umbrellas as well.
Another relatively new "service" in Nairobi are ATM's, and boy are they popular. I can't remember the last time I saw a line of more then 2-3 people outside an ATM, and I've certainly never bothered to wait in a line any larger then that to get out money. But in Nairobi, lines of 15 or more people are quite common. I'm told that even though the machines are open 24 hours, the locals only use them during the day, when security is around and the threat of robbery is low. At night, pulling money out of an ATM machine is apparently just asking to be mugged.
But by far, the coolest thing in Nairobi are the mini-buses. You can choose to get around Nairobi in one of the standard public buses, which are dirty, slow and downright boring. You can ride in one of the ubiquitous Matatu's called "Nissan's", which hold around 14 passengers, or you can take one of the mini-buses which hold around 25 passengers. The great thing about the mini-buses, and indeed some of the Nissan's as well, as that the owners and drivers go to great lengths to customize them. Think MTV's "Pimp My Ride", or, if you're not an avid MTV watcher, then the best way to describe them is as "disco's on wheels". You see the buses are privately owned and they fight quite hard to get your business for the route they follow. So while there are many "#28" buses, each taking the same route, everyone is privately owned and they fight for your business. So, in order to attract you, they go to great lengths to make their bus cooler then the next. This involves elaborate "themes", mostly falling under one of three categories: music, sports or politics. Rappers are big, and you can easily find a mini-bus dedicated to Snoop Dogg or Eminem. Sports are second most popular, with football (soccer) being the most popular sub-theme. Finally there are political themes or just plain miscellaneous themes.
On top of the exterior paint jobs, the interiors are complete with black-light lighting, intense sound systems, custom seating and in some cases DVD monitors. Prices fluctuate as well with the newer and more "over-the-top" mini-buses charging more then the older, less flashy ones. At night, the mini-buses really come alive as all the exterior lights get turned on, the music gets cranked, and the interiors glow from either black-light or neon lighting. With upwards of a half-dozen buses all on the same street corner, and touts for each bus trying to get you to pick theirs over the one in front or behind, it all creates for a rolling disco on wheels that I haven't seen or experienced anywhere else. You best just check out the photos to see what I'm talking about.
For the business readers out there, apparently the owners of the buses demand a minimum amount of revenue per night from the driver and assistant. Whatever is made above the minimum is for the drive and assistant to share, so there is lots of competition and pressure to fill the buses since the more people they carry, the more the driver and assistant make that night.
And speaking of discos, I actually did make it out one night to one of the big clubs in Nairobi called "New Florida". Myself, Anna, an Irish traveler and Ben a Kenyan from Kisumo, all headed out on Saturday night for what was supposed to be just a cheap dinner and a stop at a corner store to get some drinks to have back at the hotel. Well, most corner stores were closed so we hit up a local pub, which was more a pub/sports bar then anything else. After a few drinks, we headed to another place that had a live-band playing salsa style music, with a good crowd watching on. Two western travelers were really tearing up the dance floor with some ballroom dancing meets salsa dancing moves that had all the locals impressed. No idea who they were, but they sure put on a good show.
After a few drinks there, we headed over to "New Florida", which is one of many meat-markets in Nairobi. And boy, was it ever a meat market. Normally, it's the guys desperately trying to attract the attention of the females, but in Nairobi, the tables are turned, at least if you're a Western guy. In that case, the girls just grab you, straight up grind on you, and in some cases plead for you to purchase them a beer at the bar. Anytime I was alone anywhere near the dance floor or the bar, I'd be approached. Just walking down the stairs to the bathroom would almost guarantee that at least one local girl would grab my arm or hand as I walked past.
And the reason for all this is very simple... Money. A quick look on the floor will show you that several, uh, older, westerners, most likely ex-pats living and working in Nairobi, had, uh, younger, local ladies with them. Either dancing, or, well, doing more then that. While I'm not about to make any judgements, I think it's kind of clear what the intention is for most of the girls that approached me. So, while initially flattered at all the attention, which was probably more attention in one hour then I've gotten in six years in San Francisco, after a short period of time it becomes rather annoying, so buy 4am, I left Anna and Ben and headed back to the hotel. It was fun to get back out partying with some other people after traveling solo for so long. Only wish I'd have gone out a bit more in Nairobi since I suspect the nightlife could be quite fun with such a large ex-pat community.
So with all that, I ended catching a shuttle from Nairobi to Moshi on Monday. Kenya is now behind me and it's time to focus on Tanzania. Hopefully I'll start climbing Kilimanjaro by Thursday or Friday of this week, which takes around 6 days. Afterwards, I'll head to the coast to enjoy Zanzibar before deciding which way to take to get to Cape Town... Till the next update...
Kenny
posted by Kenny Carruthers at 3/15/2006 02:49:00 AM
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