Kenya’s Capital – the Safari Hub of Nairobi

Intro

Nairobi’s reputation precedes it.

I found it to be OK, although many tourists pass through – it’s not really a tourist city.

It’s one of Africa’s powerhouse cities. A city of skyscrapers, crowds and shantytowns where money passes through the country. But the truth be told you won’t spend much time here. It’s more than likely that you will be here at the start and end of your safari. Which is a shame because it is a city with uniquely African attractions and it has a buzz and life to it that is worth experiencing?

You may not think so at first. Nairobi is exceptionally busy – traffic is at a standstill, people rush along the battered pavements and many of the buildings in the centre look as if they have decayed from their sixties heyday. But there is a sense of occasion here – a sense of being caught up in humanity. There are some bad areas and you must take the same precautions you take in any big city but at the same time there are some charming areas. The suburbs in the west are like green Elysian fields with mansions overlooking wooded canyons. Nairobi is a strange mix of have-seen-better days seventies architecture, modern skyscrapers, green parks, shanty towns and very heavy traffic.

But occasionally you get a flash of the exotic – a Maasai walking down the street wearing his red robes, marabou storks perching in the trees, safari vans roaming the streets and an African street market to end all street markets. Also, can you think of a capital city in the world which has a game park within its city limits? A stone’s throw from skyscrapers - zebras graze, giraffes browse and lions patiently wait for game.

Quick Tips

Nairobi entered my consciousness as a child. For me it was a place of landrovers, khaki decked rangers and bungalows where animals are hand reared (usually in films with Virginia McKenna). The reality is something different. It’s a big crushed city with the centre consisting of seven griddled roads in a square block. University Road is to the north. Uhuru Park to the west, the mighty Kenyatta Avenue to the south and infamous Moi Avenue to the east.

Everything you will need for your safari will be between these streets – Foreign Exchanges, safari operators, petrol garages, banks, clothing stores, supermarkets, Curio shops and government offices. Your hotel may be in this area (one of mine was) but more likely it will be in the surrounding green streets. Kenyatta Avenue is the main attraction and is lined with skyscrapers and impressive buildings. East of Moi Avenue is a supposedly dodgy area but you are unlikely to need to go there.

Nairobi has a reputation for crime. Nothing happened to me but it does help to take precautions such as leave all valuables back in the hotel like any other city. The worst thing you can do is let paranoia ruin your stay. The centre is perfectly safe in the daytime – in fact you will be ignored as another wuzungu (foreigner) as people move about their business. But if you take care to talk to Nairobi residents you will learn they are actually very charming and, occasionally, big fans of their city.

How to get about

Nairobi is most people’s first stop when arriving in East Africa.

Even if you are whisked off on safari immediately on touchdown you may need the city for those little essentials such as camera batteries and changing up money. Taxis are the best way of getting around and two good taxi ranks are Kimathi Street and the Muranga Road. The rates are reasonable costing about 1000 shillings out to the airport.

Most people get out to the suburbs in Matutus which are small buses which set off when there enough people in them. They are mostly used by Kenyans and are perhaps not the best way for visitors to get around. Intercity buses are in the notorious "River Road" area east of Moi Avenue and I would ask your hotel to purchase tickets for you rather then go to the agencies in River Road itself and also take a taxi to and from the station.

Interestingly there is a railway service from Nairobi down to the Swahili Coast. The train does a night service to Mombasa for about £60. It departs every two days and takes 14 hours, a slow but classy service which travels through Tsavo National Park just as dawn breaks.

The airport is five miles out and is a pretty modern effort with tight security. Arriving is not much of a culture shock as it has all mod cons and a taxi to the centre costs about £11. If you are flying down to Kilimanjaro and the Tanzanian "northern circuit" then you have to go via Wilson airport. The road into Nairobi skirts the national park and early in the morning giraffes or zebra can be seen from the road.

There are various thrills to travel but none but that rush of adrenalin when you "fit" into your new environment. The creeping realisation that no one is looking at you – no one is going to accost you. You can move from A to B with relative ease, there’s a buzz to fitting in to your new surroundings. You have mastered your new environment – it has not mastered you.

I felt that on my first day in Nairobi. This city, like Lagos or Johannesburg has a wicked reputation. It has a sense of edginess amongst travellers and is the recipient of many warnings in the usual guidebooks. But nothing happened to me. Every person I spoke to said that crime was exaggerated – my taxi driver to the Karen Blixen house even said it was safe at night. I wouldn’t like to test the theory out but since taxi driving is such a high risk proffession I trust his judgement more then most.

So the first morning after an overnight flight from London (no jetlag, I love Africa) I set off to run a few errands in central Nairobi. With a deep breath I joined the crowds down Moi Avenue. I was the only non-African as far as the eye could see. It was mainly Kenyans in suits walking purposely along battered pavements. I took the bull by the horns and crossed the congested traffic. Then got swallowed up by the flood of humanity in this city.

I was staying just off Moi Avenue. Opposite is Bishara Street – famous for its Asian shopkeepers. Here is also the Jiamat hotel and a number of persistent touts trying to get you interested in the Central Market. They usually comment on your shoes – and with my enormous feet they couldn’t believe their luck. But they aren’t as persistent as some countries and were easily shaken off.

Mbingu Avenue takes you south to the big Kenyatta Avenue – a wide street lined with skyscrapers. Some of the m very impressive such as the I&M tower and were as good as those in London’s Docklands or Shanghai. Can you imagine a villager up from the bush seeing skyscrapers for the first time? Kenyatta Avenue is bisected by a central reservation lined with palm trees. South of here is the government centre and Parliament. The northern side is crowded with banks. I found a chemist to buy some shaving cream but no one serving seemed to know what I wanted – one girl thought I wanted lady shave.

Mokdar Dadar Street is not far away is not far away and is tourist Nairobi. Obvious by the touts and taxi drivers who hang around Nginyo Towers (another skyscraper) waiting for custom. There are several good African restaurants around here with lunchtime buffets for about 350 shillings. There are number of mosques in this area and its pretty orthodox Islam around here with women in burkhas and men in religious dress. Watch the TV and you will see how solid religion is in Africa.

Central Nairobi does not have any obvious sights and is a busy place to wander around but you get a sense of achievement getting from A to B here. And the more time you spend here the less intimidating it becomes.

Who knows? It is almost possible to like the place. Stranger things have happened.

If stars could be given for friendliness then the Meridian Court hotel is five stars.

It’s a big monstrous sixties hotel. Bright orange in colour it has five stories with balconies overlooking the busy streets of Nairobi. It’s situated just outside the centre on the Muranga Road. Muranga Road leads from Moi Avenue down to the massive Matutu stand at the start of the "River Road" area – so there is a constant stream of humanity walking uphill past the Meridian. One word of caution, I thought I’d take a look at the notorious "River Road" figuring I was safe first thing in the morning – a bellboy ran after me and pulled me back. They look after you at the Meridian Court.

It is a big hotel and is grouped around an indoor courtyard. The rooms are suites and are good value (£30 a night for a single). They are like small flats with large beds, small lounge with TV room, power shower, kitchen etc. You won’t spend your evenings roaming the streets of Nairobi so the cable TV is very useful. My favourite was the view outside the window. There is a balcony outside overlooking the Muranga Road protected by a lattice of iron. From the balcony you can watch the crowds board Matutus and buses in the far distance. If you have a back room however you will overlook a mosque – and during Ramadan the muezzin will start wailing about four o’clock.

One thing about the Meridian is they do a fabulous breakfast. The dining room is crewed by some of the friendliest waiters I have ever encountered. You can indulge yourself in passion fruit juice, toast, jam and fresh omelette. It’s used by lots of business travellers and I was joined one morning by Moshi from Zambia who was there on business. It was interesting talking to him as Africans are just as nervous of Nairobi as everyone else. But he gave me tips of what to see in the city.

One more mention of the staff who were very friendly. Every request was met with a broad grin – no one quite does charm like an African.

There have been times when I have stumbled back from the Thai jungle, the Australian Outback, the Rajasthani desert or the Brazilian wetlands that only the smothering comfort of a really good hotel will do.

I spent three nights under canvas in the Masai Mara so when I got back to Nairobi I thought deserved a bit of luxury. On the hills overlooking Uhuru Park is the Fairview. It’s an old colonial building built out of stone and is tucked away in extensive gardens. Security is very extensive and you have to pass through a roadblock to get to it. Security is so tight as the Israeli Embassy is next door.

The forecourt is always busy with taxis and safari vehicles but once past that the lobby is quite beautiful and teak inlaid. The most basic single is a minimum of £90 and all types of credit cards are accepted. The rooms themselves are in different parts of the mansion and the mansion is ranged around green gardens and courtyards. The garden at the front is emerald green and decked out in tropical plants it has an enormous rockery/waterfall gushing into a pool. The first of the three restaurants overlooks this and specialises in delicious ice cream.

The middle courtyard was where I was. The restaurants acclaimed sushi restaurant adjoins this where a piano player entertainers diners in the evening. The restaurant also does a superb breakfast buffet each morning with chipolatas, toast, bacon, scrambled egg, baked beans, mushrooms and passion fruit juice. The central courtyard itself is gorgeous and is covered in topiary, trellises and bowers of tropical plants. The main selling point of the Fairview is the amazing gardens where African birds can be seen at close range.

My room is on the second floor of the courtyard block and although smaller then I expect it was still quite lovely with walk-in shower, writing desk, double bed and 24 hour cable TV. Any spare time I had at the Fairview was spent at the swimming pool. Its winter on the equator but it was still warm enough to enjoy the clear swimming pool and enjoy the sun loungers with a good book. Most of the tables around the pool were occupied by Kenyan business meetings and The Fairview is a little bubble against the real Africa.

But sometimes you need recuperation time – and this hotel is one of the best places in Nairobi to do it.

The highlight of the Nairobi Museum was Ahmed - a gigantic African bull elephant.

Or to be more explicit his skeleton which held court in the central hall and stood 15ft at the shoulder. His claim to fame was his enormous curving tusks which seven foot long. They were things of beauty – like great curls of yellow ivory. Ahmed is seen as special in Kenya. He was a denizen of Marsabit National Park and lived to be eighty. He roamed the mountain national park with a fortune of ivory on his person. The seventies were a time of increased poaching which pushed the elephants in Kenya to the brink of extinction. Letters of concern were sent to President Kenyatta and he arranged for Ahmed to have 24 hr protection with an armed escort. He lasted to 1974 when the last of his teeth wore out and he died of starvation.

It was this little tale that enraptured me at the Kenyan National museum. As Kenya is such a relatively new country alot of the exhibits were about its abundant natural history which I really enjoyed. The museum is worth a couple of hours of your time. It’s to the north of the centre on Museum Hill and costs about 300 schillings by taxi from any Nairobi hotel. It’s just undergone a multi-million schilling refurbishment and the dusty old seventies building looks bran new. But inside still has a feel of a ‘Victorian Collector’ with stuffed buffalo heads on the wall.

800 schillings gets you entrance and one of East Africa’s major draw are the remnants of hominids or early man. You don’t have to know your Homo erectus from your Australopithecus as it is a user friendly exhibit. Timelines that are almost so old as to be unbelievable (15 million years ago) put things into context and there were various skulls on display of old men, infants and young mothers. What I found interesting was the way mankind evolved – those who developed colour eyesight lived longer because they could tell the better fruit to eat, those with better grips did better than those who didn’t.

If the hominids were a creationist’s nightmare then the central rooms were a taxidermist’s heaven. Every single animal was stuffed and on display – with the big impressive ones having centre stage. I liked it because I could get up close to a Cape buffalo without being gored. And there was a wonderful set of scales which told you which animal you resembled in weight. I was a warthog – I’m not sure if that is a compliment. Much heavier than a cheetah or Impala but lighter than a zebra or Eland – I suppose that is some consolation.

The rest of the museum was made up of photographic exhibits that concentrated on Kenya’s wildlife – it consisted of huge black and white photos of lions, giraffes, wildebeests, aardvarks, bat-eared foxes etc from the many national parks. The most interesting exhibit was of 21st Century Kenya. There were National Geographic type photos of businessmen in Nairobi, a day at the races, street children huddling together, vendors selling puppies to motorists and Maasai manhood ceremonies.

It was easily the most interesting and affecting thing in the museum.

I got to see Karen Blixen’s tin opener ...

Some people get to see the Elgin marbles, some people get to see the Rosetta stone and I get to see kitchen implements from the 1950’s.

I’m being facetious. The Karen Blixen house is very interesting. One of the better things to do in Nairobi. It was time travel back to the Colonial days - of pink gins and pith helmets, of big game hunters and coffee plantations.

I two days to kill in Nairobi between the Masai Mara and travelling down to Tanzania and rather than wander the streets of the city centre I took a taxi out to Ngong for about 1500 schillings return trip. Every taxi driver in Nairobi knows where it is or your hotel can fix you up with an excursion.

The fame of the Karen Blixen is due to the book ‘Out of Africa’ published in 1952 and the 1985 film. I must admit I do watch it for the John Barry soundtrack rather then for Robert Redford and Meryl Streep. Most of it was filmed on location outside Nairobi in the house that Isaak Dinesan (Karen Blixen) and Denys Finch-Hatton shared for much of their lives. It’s in the west of the city in a lovely part full of bungalows, gardens, parks and racetracks. A real contrast to the congested and busy streets of the centre.

The house is set in expansive grounds and is built out of stone. It has a terrace and louvre doors as well as beautiful gardens. Entrance is 800 schillings and for that you get a charming human guide to show you the interior. I read Sara Wheelers book about Denys Finch-Hatton "Too Close to the Sun" so I knew a little bit about the subject but the guide was invaluable. The real Denys Finch-Hatton didn’t look like Robert Redford – he was long, stringy and bald as a coot.

Isaak Dinesan is famous in Denmark and her face is on the 200 kroner note. She came to Kenya to escape the crippling Danish aristocracy by marrying the wastrel Baron Bror Blixen. The coffee plantation was on land which gave no yield. Bror was never there mostly partying with his cronies though he did manage to give her syphillis – she had to take small amounts of arsenic for the rest of her life. So she had a thirty year affair with Finch Hatton who died in an air accident in Tsavo.

The guide explained all this as he took me around. The house was interesting as it was half authentic and half fabrication. Most of the heavy furniture was imported from Denmark. But there was an awful lot of furniture left by Universal Studios which made photos problematic due to Copywright. But there were a few things which caught my attention, the original gramophone, lion and leopard rugs and a kitchen which had the original implements.

I like the way she had to indicate to Finch-Hatton whether she was "in the mood". Lights on for yes, lights off for no..

Saucy minx!