Chiromo

I arrived here in Kenya 3 days ago. It was a pretty long and complicated journey all the way from Panama 🇵🇦 to here in Nairobi (Kenya). Everything had to work out well and there was not much room for delays or other complications. I am glad that it went so smoothly 😌

When I arrived at the airport I checked in the Uber and Bolt Apps for a ride to my hostel - according to some blog posts in the internet taking the public bus is not safe ⛔️ And taking Uber or Bolt doesn’t cost much in Kenya.
At the reception I was greeted by Susan. She is the owner of the hostel and has opened it just 4 months ago. She is a strong 💪 and quick-witted African woman who has built her own business - admittedly not quite what you would immediately expect to see as a European when you come to Africa. 😅 The hostel is almost always booked out and very lively. The other guest are from all over the world - even from some nations or regions that I haven’t met traveling before (like Alaska and China). But of course, I met somebody from Germany 🇩🇪 and the Netherlands 🇳🇱 as well - Luisa from Berlin and Lisa from Amsterdam. Dutch and Germans are simply everywhere. 😎
Over the past days we discussed a lot with Susan about misconceptions that might exist in the west about Africa - for example, that all people in Africa are poor and need to be saved by westerners. While it is true that poverty exists in Africa, it is equally important to distinguish between the people who have jobs or are business owners like Susan and the ones that live on the streets. Only the latter need support. Sadly, donations 💸 for Africa seem not to be the solution since most of the money does not even arrive where it is needed - but instead sticks with the middlemen.
I probably could not have chosen a better hostel 🏨 for my start in Kenya since Susan is a source of information concerning every day life, history as well as travel destinations in Kenya. So, I have learned o lot in the last few days about Kenya. 😊
Communication with the locals in Kenya is very easy since everyone speaks English. The country was a British 🇬🇧 colony and Jomo Kenyatta - the first Prime Minister of Kenya - made sure that English as well as Swahili are thought in school as official respectively informal languages after the country gained its independence. To this day, there exist a little more than 40 tribes on the land of Kenya 🇰🇪 Before the colonial period those tribes were largely incapable of communicating with each other because of their individual languages - putting them at a disadvantage in comparison with their conquerors. Only with the introduction of English and Swahili they gained that ability 🗣️ and could unite against the British forces that occupied their lands. Swahili has been greatly influenced by Arabic over many centuries though. The language has its origins due the contacts of Arabian traders 👨🏾‍💼with the inhabitants of the east coast of Africa. Under Arab influence, Swahili developed itself as a lingua franca used by several closely related tribal groups.

My hostel was located in the „Westlands“ district in Nairobi. It is supposed to be the district to go for Nairobi first-timers like me.
😅 On my first full day I went to the Sarit Mall to buy some ingredients for dinner and then went also to the lively area behind the mall.
There are lots of modern offices, hotels, bungalows and apartments as well as restaurants, bars and clubs there. Almost all the local people there were dressed quite nicely. Men wore colourful shirts 👕 and trousers - women wore dresses 👗
Other than that I simply stayed in the hostel, talked to my fellow travellers and tried to come up with a rough plan 🗺️ for the coming weeks in Kenya and Tanzania. To my surprise there were a lot of places to visit in Kenya - though very spread out throughout the country. In Tanzania all relevant places seem to be in the northern part of the country.
In the hostel, I also briefly talked to Monte from Munich. He was just coming back from a safari 🦁 to Masai Mara - a national park in the south of Kenia and neighbouring the Serengeti in Tanzania. He had booked the tour through our hostel and getting his review directly from him gave me confidence to also invest the 380,- USD (which is a good price) for the 3-day tour for a couple of days later. 😎

On my second day, I joined Lisa (from the Netherlands and Annemarie (from Norway) for a trip to downtown. We wanted to attend a Free Walking Tour 🚶But first we went to the mall to get some cash (USD for the safari) as well as some MPESA. From what I understood, MPESA is a digital 💴 that is used all over Kenya as well the close by countries Uganda and Rwanda. It seems to be essential since you can buy many things like bus or train tickets 🎫 only with MPESA online. In contrast to many other digital solutions that I know, MPESA and the balance of your account is related to your SIM card. The setup process is a bit tedious 😩 which is why most people let the staff of Safari.com (a well known provider in Kenya) do the job. We were able to withdraw cash but at the Safari.com customer service centre there was a huge line and we were pressed for time to attend the walking tour. So, we decided to try another day. 😤
We took a Bolt to the city centre. And quickly organised some fastfood before we went on the walking tour. Kennedy (our guide) led us through the Government area, passing by 🚶the Kenyatta International Convention Centre, August 7th Memorial Park, the Parliament of Kenya, the Kenyatta Mausoleum as well as the Office Of The President. The „August 7th Memorial Park“ is a reminder of the U.S. embassy which fell victim to a terror attack 💣 linked to Osama bin Laden in 1998. It is probably one of the reasons why no one is allowed to take photos of the government buildings anymore. When you get caught taking a photo then your phone/camera 📸 will be confiscated so that the photo can be deleted and you will pay a fine of up to 100,- USD. I took two photos without knowing these details but luckily I was not caught. 😇
As you might have seen above, many places (including the airport) are named after Jomo Kenyatta. He was the first Prime Minister of Kenya and played a key role in achieving independence ✌️for Kenya in 1963. He was a controversial figure nonetheless. During his presidency he was securing support from both the black majority and the white minority with his message of reconciliation. Conversely, his rule was criticised as dictatorial and authoritarian as well as favouring specific tribes over other ethnic groups and of facilitating the growth of widespread corruption. 😩
Just outside of the government area we found a little house with a big sign saying „Smoking Zone“ on top. 🚬 It is not allowed to smoke in the government area - neither in the buildings nor on the streets. You can only smoke in the smoking zone. Guess what happens if you get caught smoking outside of the smoking zone - exactly: you will pay a hefty fine 💰 All in all I had the feeling that the rules in downtown Nairobi were very strict. I saw also lots of police men 👮🏿 and women - armed with machine guns - patrolling on the streets.
In the past, downtown Nairobi was quite dangerous since thieves 🦸🏽‍♂️ could expect to go unpunished by the corrupt Kenyan justice system - even when they were caught stealing. This earned the city the nickname „Nai-robbery“ at some point 😂 According to our guide on of the former President’s put an end to this by giving the direct order to shoot them on sight when thieves are called stealing. 😲 That is a harsh reaction to the problem and police brutality as well as extrajudicial killings are a big problem today, but back then it was effective. Today, the downtown area is relatively safe in comparison to the past. 😌
Other places of interest, that we visited outside of the government area, were the McMillan Memorial Library, the Masai Market as well as the Jamia Mosque 🕌 Shortly after, the tour ended.
When we caught a Bolt ride back to our hostel - the traffic was just crazy. 🤪 I don’t know how you can drive a car in this city. Our driver did a U turn where we wasn’t supposed to do one and was caught by the police. Within seconds 3 police officers where all over him and he was begging 🙏 to let us go. The situation was quite intense. It might have saved him that we have been in the car with him because the police probably does not want to be perceived in a bad way by tourists. The driver told me later that he would have had to pay a fine of at least 3000 Kenyan Schillings (approximately 17 EURs) which is probably a days salary for him. 🤦

On the next morning I met Kellen and Kade from the U.S. at the breakfast table. They are two brothers and take a semester off from school to travel the world 🌍 They have already been in Tanzania and shared their experiences with me. We also talked about hiking Kilimanjaro. They had done it and were able to clear up a few questions for me. ☺️Though I am still undecided, I haven’t ruled out doing the hike myself yet. But one thing is already clear: it is going to be very expensive.

Shortly after our conversation, I got picked up by the driver for my Safari tour - but that is a story for another post 😉Read more