Nairobi, Kenya is often listed along with Lagos, Nigeria and Johannesburg, South Africa as among the most dangerous cities in Africa. Car-jackings, armed robbery, and muggings are said to be common. With these reports, we were understandably a bit nervous about what we might encounter upon our arrival in Nairobi. Although we can’t argue with the statistics, we had no problems during our stay in Nairobi’s city center, and in fact found the area to be safe and enjoyable. That said, we’ve been conscientious to avoid walking around any cities with a lot of extra stuff with us, often avoiding carrying a shoulder bag. But here in this reportedly dangerous city we meandered through the streets while carrying a bag - and nothing bad happened! Yet another reminder that the news doesn’t always get the story right (would you visit New York City if the only information you had was what CNN reports goes on there?).
View of some of downtown Nairobi from our hotel room.
While in Nairobi, we spent a leisurely Saturday with a veterinarian-friend of Rich’s and his family. The Chege family (Stephen, Catherine, and their daughters Brittany and Patience) took us to the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) headquarters on the edge of Nairobi National Park to visit the Safari walk and animal orphanage. Stephen works for KWS mainly in the field, but was proud to show us the very impressive facilities at their headquarters where they care for orphaned and seized animals. It was a peaceful walk through some “bush” and since we were with the boss one of the zoo-keepers took us behind the scenes to get unnervingly close to a full-grown leopard. It’s growls gave us instant goose bumps and we were glad for the fence in between us.
Rich, Carissa, Catherine, Patience, Chege (Stephen), and Brittany
Leopard
Carissa's favorite sign on the Safari walk at Kenya Wildlife Service headquarters
What do veterinarians go to eat after a morning with the big cats then? Nyama choma, a Kenyan specialty of grilled mutton. The forelimb of a goat was brought to our table and carved up for out gastronomic pleasures. Gnawing the bones is considered some of the best meat, but Rich made sure to avoid the bit of fur that was still on the elbow of his piece.
Visiting the Cheges’ home was our final treat for our day with them. Situated only minutes from the main highway, the dirt road that we drove down to get their home by no means felt to us like we were still on the outskirts of Kenya’s capital city. Dodging ruts and rocks, their village had a much more rural feel with small make-shift buildings selling any and all goods lining the road. Turning left onto a hedge-lined lane, Brittany hopped out to open the gate to the parking area in front of their 4-unit apartment building. Pouring over photo albums in their living room, we were surprised to be introduced to another adult that lived with the Cheges. A roommate? No, she was live-in help. Apparently having a servant is not uncommon for the middle class in Kenya.
Although our experiences in Nairobbery had fallen far short of its reputation, we knew there was still plenty to be cautious about. Reading the newspapers we heard about hot spots around the city where car-jackings were common and unfortunately the police do not seem to do anything about it. After our enjoyable day we got a first hand glimpse at the fear that this kind of security situation must instill in many people living in Nairobi as Chege drove us the 15 km back into the city centre. As we were getting onto a closed highway from an on-ramp, the car in front of us was driving very slowly and Stephen became very nervous. He explained to us that getting boxed in by cars in front and behind you was a common precursor to a car-jacking. As we fully rounded the corner of the on-ramp and the car ahead of us sped off, we were relieved nothing dangerous had happened and we were happy to assume that maybe its erratic driving behavior was ‘only’ due to drunkenness (a major but generally overlooked danger on Nairobi‘s roads).
On Sunday, January 10th, we celebrated Rich’s 31st b-day by doing three special things: eating, eating, and eating. No birthday cake, but Rich was happy to get a birthday pizza and a magnificent dinner at Haandi Indian restaurant in the fancy mall in the West Lands suburb. After our brief visit in Nairobi, we headed off to explore Uganda.
Rich with his birthday pizza
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