Nairobi (Part 2)

After my first ever safari, I went back to the Jabulani Backpackers Hostel 🏨 in Nairobi to unwind and prepare for my trip to the Naivasha region (my next destination in Kenya). Initially I wanted to stay only for one night in Nairobi but the camp 🏕️ that was recommended to me - Camp Carnelley’s - could not be booked via the usual platforms like booking.com or Hostelworld. Instead, I tried the old school approach and sent an e-mail 📧 (for which I got a reply only days later) to the address on their website. I also sent WhatsApp messages which were at least sporadically answered but my booking was never confirmed. Only a phone call ☎️ triggered the necessary chain of events that led to the confirmation of my reservation. Getting to this point felt so difficult that I was really questioning at some point how they actually make money. 🤭
Lisa (from the Netherlands) and Rhett (from Australia) - 2 other travellers that I had gotten to know in the hostel during my time in Nairobi - also wanted to go to Naivasha; but a day later. So, I extended my stay to a second night as well to join forces with them.
In the end it was for the better anyways because it gave me some extra time in Nairobi to organise some things like getting some cash 🤑 from the ATM, setting up my M-PESA account in a „Safaricom“ customer support centre and buy some groceries for lunch - the same stuff as Lisa and Julian (from U.S.) had to do. So, we went together to the Sarit Centre mall to get all these things done.
After some yummy DIY cheese and ham sandwiches 🥪 for lunch, I teamed up with Lisa and Harsh (from India) to visit the Karura Forrest in Nairobi. I honestly had no idea what a forest in Eastern Africa would look like but it was surprisingly similar to forests from Europe or the US. We took an Uber 🚗 to the forest and rented mountain bikes there before we biked through the Forrest for 1.5 hours or so. The 10 km route was really nice. It took us to a waterfall 💦 and through densely packed tree colonies. Although I know it is physically impossible, it felt almost the entire time as if we were going downhill. Unfortunately, it was already pretty late when we tried to visit the nearby café ☕️ that Susan (the owner of the Jabulani) had recommended. We could only order a drink for takeaway as it was closing at 5 pm. Then we took an Uber 🚗 back to the hostel.
In the evening, we went to the restaurant „Tamu Tamu“ which is in walking distance to our hostel in Westlands. I ate Ugali - a typical Kenyan dish - and it was delicious.
It is similar to very thick mashed potatoes but without any taste. You eat it with your hands 🙌 (only the right hand though) and you are supposed to mix it with the other ingredients.
I had beef stew as well as cabbage as sides for my Ugali.
After dinner 🍲 and back in the hostel, I finally finished my desired setup for charging my M-PESA account: after a lot of trial and error I am now able to send money to my M-PESA account directly from Apple Pay 💪
For me, the NALA app worked best for sending money to my account and M-PESA app for sending money to someone else. Now, I can do almost any payment digitally. With that I was all set for the coming weeks in Kenya.Leer más