There is not much colonial style architecture left in Nairobi.
Left Jinga after an early morning storm and the taxi had to take care with the motorbike taxis and bicycles on the wet slippery clay road. We arrived in plenty of time to get our bus connection to Nairobi and were lucky to have bought our tickets in Kampala previously as a few people hoping to get on the same bus were turned away as it was full.
The bus was promoted as a business class service. It had large seats with wide armrests between two seats and then just a single seat across the aisle. A most unusual seating plan for the countries we have been in so far as you can squash more people into a three and two seat configuration across bus and make more profit! It had air conditioning but it was inefficient and people kept their windows open. We were given an aluminium foil dish with a vegetable samosa and a piece of bread fried in egg as breakfast and it was included in the price of the ticket.
We were two hours from the Kenya border and exiting Uganda was a shambles with people shoving and pushing to get served and the moneychangers all wanting to get your money. The Kenyan border was even more disorganised where we had to wait to get a visa for $25 US each. There was a man in a white coat and a board with a sign saying it was a health checkpoint where they wanted to see proof of yellow fever vaccinations but as no one approached us we walked on and although we have had the vaccinations we didn't want to be held up in case we missed our bus. There were hordes of people trying to sell all kinds of things and loads of children begging and it would be the most desperate border town we have crossed so far.
The road was pretty potholed until we got to Kisumu. We passed dozens of tea plantations with gorgeous rows of whitewashed houses all joined together. The red rooves looked stunning against the green of the plantations and would have been housing for the field workers. They were in beautiful condition from the outside and the roadsides and towns nearby were well maintained and planted with beautiful gardens. We tried to get photos but the bus windows were badly crazed acrylic and it was impossible.
We stopped in Kenicho and Nakuru for toilets and food and arrived in Nairobi eleven hours after leaving Jinga. The towns in Kenya seem more prosperous than those we left in Uganda and we passed several wild zebra grazing on the roadsides.
Our guide book says the locals call Nairobi "Nairobbery" so many travellers we met told us about accommodation six or so kilometers out of the city, but we didn't want to be taking public transport in and out so chose a hotel in the city centre, and we were glad we did. We felt safe no matter where we went and other than taxi drivers approaching us we were pretty well left alone.
Left Jinga after an early morning storm and the taxi had to take care with the motorbike taxis and bicycles on the wet slippery clay road. We arrived in plenty of time to get our bus connection to Nairobi and were lucky to have bought our tickets in Kampala previously as a few people hoping to get on the same bus were turned away as it was full.
The bus was promoted as a business class service. It had large seats with wide armrests between two seats and then just a single seat across the aisle. A most unusual seating plan for the countries we have been in so far as you can squash more people into a three and two seat configuration across bus and make more profit! It had air conditioning but it was inefficient and people kept their windows open. We were given an aluminium foil dish with a vegetable samosa and a piece of bread fried in egg as breakfast and it was included in the price of the ticket.
We were two hours from the Kenya border and exiting Uganda was a shambles with people shoving and pushing to get served and the moneychangers all wanting to get your money. The Kenyan border was even more disorganised where we had to wait to get a visa for $25 US each. There was a man in a white coat and a board with a sign saying it was a health checkpoint where they wanted to see proof of yellow fever vaccinations but as no one approached us we walked on and although we have had the vaccinations we didn't want to be held up in case we missed our bus. There were hordes of people trying to sell all kinds of things and loads of children begging and it would be the most desperate border town we have crossed so far.
The road was pretty potholed until we got to Kisumu. We passed dozens of tea plantations with gorgeous rows of whitewashed houses all joined together. The red rooves looked stunning against the green of the plantations and would have been housing for the field workers. They were in beautiful condition from the outside and the roadsides and towns nearby were well maintained and planted with beautiful gardens. We tried to get photos but the bus windows were badly crazed acrylic and it was impossible.
We stopped in Kenicho and Nakuru for toilets and food and arrived in Nairobi eleven hours after leaving Jinga. The towns in Kenya seem more prosperous than those we left in Uganda and we passed several wild zebra grazing on the roadsides.
Our guide book says the locals call Nairobi "Nairobbery" so many travellers we met told us about accommodation six or so kilometers out of the city, but we didn't want to be taking public transport in and out so chose a hotel in the city centre, and we were glad we did. We felt safe no matter where we went and other than taxi drivers approaching us we were pretty well left alone.
Across from our hotel was a 24 hour supermarket/shopping complex where we could get food and snacks. John found he had a hot spot on his ankle which was an old football injury so we were able to see a doctor in the shopping complex. We were conscious of deep vein thrombosis as being a problem when you fly and we were about to fly to Madagascar. On the doctor's suggestion John took some low dose aspirin. We also stocked up on more insect repellent and toiletries. Once again we bought a local SIM card and loaded data to our mobile dongle so we could have an internet connection. We were so busy we didn't have time to get any postings done and hoped to be able to do them in Madagascar.
Nairobi was unrecognisable to the city I visited thirty four years ago as many of the old colonial buildings have been replaced with glass towers. Our hotel was surrounded by several new buildings under construction so there is still a lot going on.
We have contacted a guide recommended by some Canadian travellers we met and after paying a deposit to him we have arranged to climb Mount Kenya when we return from Madagascar. I had to buy some warm long pants and some more socks for the climb. We are able to get warm jackets through the guide if needed. We will have a porter and a cook accompany us.
We tried to do as much walking as we could each day to get fitter and walked out to the Westlands shopping centre to get a Lonely Panet guide for West Africa in readiness for the next section of our travels. The prices were certainly much cheaper than if we had bought the book in NZ.
Have posted home a small parcel with some things for our daughter and the Southern Africa guide book we no longer need. We always burn two CDs of photos and send one home and keep one until we know that the first has arrived safely. The Post Office as one of the places I thought I would recognise as that was where I would go to get mail from John when I travelled in 1976, but it was completely changed. However, the system for posting parcels etc is still as shambolic as it was then. You have to wait for the clerk to frank every stamp on your mail else someone will take the stamps off and resell them!
While in Nairobi we saw lots of people in Uhuru Park registering with a government department which had set up tents to cope with the crowds. We also saw government workers assembled outside the town hall and wanting information on the "Ocampo Six". The news on TV and in the papers was all about the President and five government officials being investigated by the ICC in the Hague on election violence at the last elections. We enjoyed our time in 'Nairoberry' and felt safe. One night we did want to walk down a hill but a hotel worker stopped us and advised us not to go there at night. Many shops have armed security guards at night outside the closed shops.
