The city of traffic: Nairobi

Started the day off early with a hearty breakfast on the rooftop. It’s clear the rest of the city woke up way before us as the streets below are already hustling and bustling.

We decide to spend the day exploring Nairobi and decide to set off on foot. The receptionist has kindly given us a map to the big attractions in Nairobi: the National Museum and Snake Park. Thankfully it’s a two in one package so we manage to visit both in the matter of a few hours.

Throughout the museum now stuffed animals haunt the hallways with their fake eyes and awkward poses. In snake park, we’re told of all the animals that are edible and inedible. Seems that the black mamba didn’t make the cut for edible but we were slightly grateful for that.

Leaving the museum we are stopped by the security guard and informed that she can’t let her brother and sister walk around Nairobi. We simply must get a taxi she says! (Obviously in kahoots wifh the taxi driver). Reluctantly we get inside and are automatically filled with regret as we are stuck in traffic for almost an hour when the walk would have taken maybe 10 minutes.

We arrive somewhat near our desired destination: Swahili Plate. But not before one of the “brokers” from the “Masai Market” spots us and offers his assistance to get us where we want to be. In return, he’ll help us navigate the market once we’ve finished our meal.

Naturally, we take our time eating. We’ve heard the rumours that a fake market had been set up in the city centre and the “brokers” would take you around to buy overpriced souvenirs and take a cut out of the cost. No thank you.

We think we’ve spent long enough eating our first of many beans and rice meals and can’t see the broker in sight. So we decide to make a start out of the restaurant. Within seconds there he is by our side attempting to lead us to the market. Picking up speed we essentially run away from him with some excuse that we need to get back to the hotel as we have no money. Thinking we’ve lost him, we head toward the nearest ATM to get some extra cash to spend at the real Masai Market. Unfortunately, our friend didn’t seem to get the hint and continued to follow us. Opting out of getting some money out, we continue our journey toward the God’s Corner to visit one of the local Catholic Churches. Nobody can harass you at a church, right?

We end our walking tour of the day by visiting the true Masai Market and almost immediately regret it as we step in. It’s shocking how many vendors can sell identical merchandise. We spend all our money on a knockoff Kenya football jersey and a card with an elephant on it. Forced into trying on authentic Masai cloaks, we dress in these two but leave in an argument with the vendors as we refused to spend $150 USD on what looked to be a checkered oversized scarf.

We escape the hustle and bustle of the city by returning to the hidden rooftop. As we clink our glasses to celebrate the end to our first day we hear a man repeatedly scream in the alley below. Welcome to Nairobi.Read more