NAIROBI AND … THE ROAD IS NOT ALL FUN AND GAMES

I would not willingly have chosen Nairobi for a two day stopover.  But time had been allotted for Uganda which wasn’t used, scouting reports indicating the roads north of Kampala being slow and in terrible condition.  So, I arrived in Mara Masai earlier than expected, and had time left over at the end before flying out of Kenya for Addis Ababa in Ethiopia.  This bonus time is generally hard to come by.

The traveling life is not all fun and games.  Extended journeys require a lot of miscellaneous effort and prep time.  For example:  There is clothes washing and drying to do.  Future reservations (bus or air) to arrange.  Camera pix to transfer to the computer, and then label.  Hotel arrangements to research and then finalize (sometimes very late at night).  Meals to fit in.  E-mail to check, and correspondence to maintain.  There is constant note taking.  The occasional Facebook post to fit in.

Scouting queries to make of others.  Bank accounts to rectify.  Bill payments to be made online.  Day to day accounting of trip expenses.  Cash machine or ATM withdrawals to make.  Packing, and unpacking.  Travel to undertake (during which it is very difficult to write).  Waiting … frequent waiting. Hygiene to attend to (not always easy on the road).  Visits to the bar, to get your next best road tip.  There is also constant inventory control.

Is anything missing at the hotel or airport or bus depot especially, when it seems as if thousands of handlers are reaching for your bag?  Everybody it seems wants a piece of you, and not always on the basis of fair play.

And then writing.  Yes, being a writer would be so easy and so much fun if only those magical words that pop into your head that uniquely and cleverly portray each travel moment with perfect clarity and the desired pop, actually made their way automatically to the page.  Alas, they don’t.  A lot of mental gear grinding is involved, and then of course … there is all that writing!  This frequently leads to many bedtimes circa 2 to 3 AM.

  So, back to Nairobi.  A gritty town.  Too much trash.  Too much pollution.  No main arterial roads leading into the city, so that every road of decent size becomes a traffic nightmare.  But not as bad as I’d been led to believe.  The touts here are said to be among the worst in the world.  And yet this was not my experience.  I found the Nairobi people to be very friendly, very helpful, and lacking the manipulative intent so often found on the road.

Lodging was found at the Kahama Hotel, highly recommended for its “economy with style.”  General Manager Tom Nyamongo took very good care of me for the duration.  His front desk people were quite lacking in helpfulness at times.  We discussed this at length.  But his restaurant staff was among the best I’ve ever seen, anticipating every need and making constant inquiries about desired needs without being obsequious or needling.  Low season pricing added to my enjoyment of the place (always ask).

Layover times like these are perfect for writing, if you are not exhausted from the road efforts and staying up on the latest roadside attractions.  I am always grateful to the Travel Gods and Creator of The Universe when a cool lounge with ice and a full bar, soccer on the tube, a working electrical outlet, and fast wi-fi is available.

Terrorism from Islamic extremists was an issue during my stay.  Kenya has been keeping troops in Somalia to assist an international effort to limit kidnap raids and piracy originating from that haven for extortionists majeur.  Islamic sympathizers in turn have taken to random shootings and explosions to convey their distaste with this reaction (just prior to my arrival, a bus explosion killed three people in Mombasa).  I was grateful to the hotel staff therefore for ultra-tight security, and a comfortable retreat to attend to my business safely.

Another thing I was grateful for in this city was the lack of begging.  You run the risk of being considered jaded and callous, when this is not your intent or what is in your heart.  But when the hand jabs for money and the pleading and weepy eye gambit and wailing and constant attempts to sell you something – anything !!! -- sometimes seems as if it will reach no end.  At that point you just want out.  You want to retreat to your sanctuary.  You desire an arms length visit, at least temporarily.  Kenya does not allow begging.  This is a most welcome change.

There is a wonderful streetside market just outside the Kahama Hotel and center of town in Nairobi.  Missing is the putrid smell found in most open markets, especially those involving fish or meat not kept under wraps.  The vendors are just as likely to want to chat as they are to sell you something.  The variety of perishables is amazing (including mint for caipirhinas and limes for gin and tonics).   The hawkers are very conversant in English, and quite willing to bargain.

But the best part of Nairobi is its National Museum.  Unlike most of eastern and southern Africa museums, this one has a modern structure (completed in 2008), knowledgeable staff, full descriptions of exhibits in multiple languages, and a design flow that lends to the visitor’s ultimate understanding of Kenyan history, culture, nature and art.

Of the 19 galleries located on site, five particularly stood out.  They were: The Hall of Mammals, which traced the development of warm blooded and hairy creatures over time with a focus on their adaptation to movement, feeding, and protection.  The exhibition directs the curious to points of both divergence and congruence in the evolution of the mammal world.

The gallery of highlights in Kenya’s history devotes itself to three phases: pre-colonial Kenya, the period of colonial rule (primarily under the British) and then independent Kenya starting in the 1960s.  Particular focus is given to the building of the Kenya Uganda Railway, colonial land grabs favoring white immigrants over natives, and how two world wars shaped the lives of Kenya citizens and prepared them for independence.

The very spacious Birds of East Africa” exhibit features over 1300 anatomically correct displays of birds from throughout Kenya and her immediate neighbors.  Almost all of the specimens have been prepared by a taxidermist and appear as if ready to take flight.  I particularly enjoyed the amazing displays of eagles, owls, and horn billed birds.

Cycles of Life – that is the theme for an entire upstairs wing devoted to how Kenyan communities transit from one stage of life to another: from birth to youth to adulthood to old age, death and transitioning into ancestry … something not thought about much in the western hemisphere.  These stages are filtered through and put into the context of Kenya’s rich culture.

Probably nothing epitomizes Kenya’s heritage more than the “Cradle of Humankind” gallery.  Here one gets the chance to view an absolutely unique display of evolution from apes to hominids to pre-humans through to the emergence of man anywhere from 200,000 to 60,000 years ago.   Such famous fossils as the “Lucy” skull (australopithicus africanus, about 2.5 million years old) are on display here.

Abundant credit is given in this spectacular gallery of primarily skulls to Richard Leakey and his wife and children, a famous family of paleontologists who have been credited with most of the major discoveries of the chain of fossils in the human evolutionary track.  Among these finds, the majority have been found in Kenya in the famous Rift Valleys, Olduvai Gorge and Lake Tahana areas.