Nairobi: The City

I planned to spend two days in Nairobi on this trip because I wanted to know what an African city was like, outside of South Africa. Now I know, or at least I know enough to know that I could live here if I had to, but otherwise have no desire to come back. The city is definitely big enough to support what I imagine to be a healthy expat community, my hotel is just lovely, and people seem to be very nice. But the city is very congested, most of downtown was built in the 1940s (and reminds me of a very busy and safer Guayaquil), and there is really nothing touristy and fun to do (aside from safaris).

Today started with a visit to the Nairobi National Museum, Kenya's flagship museum showcasing their heritage. Other than me the only visitors were about 100 school children. Beginning to wonder if kids here actually go to school or just on field trips! Overall the museum was interesting and better curated than I'd expected, but still worlds away from something like the ROM. Highlights included the skeleton of Amhed, an elephant who had really massive tusks (to the ground!!) and to whom they assigned two guards to spend 24 hours a day with him to protect him from poachers. He eventually died of old age. There was also a stuffed animal we hadn't seen on safari because it only lives in the Congo - an okapi. It is most closely related to the giraffe but has zebra stripes!! They had tons of stuffed animals and the most impressive bird collection I could possibly imagine. As in it took me 5 minutes to walk from one end of the room to the other and I didn't stop to look at anything! There was also some interesting displays on traditions that take place at various life stages, as well as traditions like medicine men. I found the section on colonialism particularly interesting, and it made me think of other places I have been like Penang which have a very similar look to them. Kenya also apparently has the oldest and best collection of prehistoric human remains, so evolution also had it's own room. Creepy how closely our skeletons compare to chimps!

Next up was the city tour, which was basically just driving around downtown. Much smaller than I would have thought and very few tall buildings. Most large buildings were government. We drove past the US embassy which was bombed in 1998 and my driver told me an interesting but scary story; he was just a couple blocks away when it happened and his car was thrown up in the air then he hid on the car floor convinced the world was ending. We didn't stop anywhere really - not because it was unsafe but because there was really nothing to see. We did stop at the Kenyatta International Conference Center (KICC) because it's the second tallest building in Kenya and the tallest you're allowed to go up (27 floors). I went up to see the views, but guess what!? There were another hundred school girls up there! One asked if she could touch my hair - I said okay but only if I could touch hers too. Interesting request!

Last stop was a very touristy market which was crap really, in a parking lot in the baking sun. I found someone to make Mitch a custom gift (his love of monkeys and baboons is not widely shared here, and nothing can be found depicting them) but this was a large mistake. Not only do I not really like what I got (sorry Mitchie, will keep looking) but it was very annoying waiting for it with everyone else trying to sell me things. Not a good end to the tour!

So, I came back to the hotel and enjoyed an afternoon by the pool! Tomorrow I'm very excited to be flying to Mombasa (coast of Kenya) to stay in what appears to be a gorgeous resort that I somehow booked at a steal. I'll believe it when I see it but I'm very optimistic! For my mom and anyone else wondering where all these places are, firstly I am on the east coast of Africa, and secondly here is a map with a lot of the places I have been: the crater, Lake Manyara, the Serengeti, Zanzibar, Nairobi, Masai Mara, Mombasa, Arusha!!! And for those wondering how I have time to write so much while in Africa - exploring Nairobi alone at night is not inline with "being safe" so I have some time on my hands!