Notes on Nairobi (10): “Pan” and farewell
October 23rd, 2015 by Roger Darlington
Our seventh and last day (Thursday) was a low-key affair. Richard was away in Uganda and in the morning Emily had matters to attend, so Vee and I chilled at the hotel, just packing and reading. We were collected by Emily and Catrin about 12.30 pm and made a return visit to the Westgate Shopping Mall.
After a light lunch, we all went to see a 3D version of the new children’s film “Pan” which offers an interpretation of what might have happened before the Peter Pan story with which we are all so familiar. Some critics have panned “Pan” but it was enjoyable enough.
Afterwards Catrin visited a play area in the mall with lots of different activities to amuse kids while their parents shop. I talked to the member of staff who was working at the mall when there was the terrible terrorist attack of 2013. She was trapped in the shopping centre for around five hours before she was rescued by the security forces. It was clearly a terrifying experience.
Vee and I returned with Emily and Catrin to the house for some dinner before our evening flight. Most of Catrin’s cuddly toys are still in the UK awaiting shipment to Kenya, so we took her a Paddington bear as one of her presents and this evening we gave her a cuddly penguin as a going away present. I read her four stories from her new book “The Seven Habits Of Happy Kids” before Vee and I cuddled and kissed her goodbye. It will be months before we see her again.
Kennedy drove us to the airport when we encountered the first rain outside of our sleeping time. We did warn him that, following our visit to a country, there is often an issue and it maybe that the forecasts of heavy rains – occasioned by a seven-year El Nino cycle – will prove accurate.
Our journey took us through one of Nairobi’s many informal settlements (often called shanty towns or slums), a place called Majengo. Kennedy himself – like most urban Kenyans – lives in such an informal settlement and told us of his family’s experience during the post-election ethnic rioting of 2007. The random shooting was so traumatic for his four children that he sent them away with his wife to the west of the country where he is from. They are still there.
The airport was another new experience. Our hand luggage was searched not once (as in Britain) or twice (as in Ethiopia) but three times. The last time was by British Airways staff themselves (maybe they do not wholly trust Kenyan security). The return flight – an overnight affair- was the subject of even more sustained heavy turbulence that the outward flight.
It has been a very enjoyable and fascinating trip. It was so lovely to see the family again after two months and it will certainly be longer before we see them again. For now, it’s back to Skype.
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Notes on Nairobi (9): National Museum and Snake Park
October 22nd, 2015 by Roger Darlington
Day six (Wednesday) of our trip started with a morning in which Vee and I did our own thing. We organised for Kennedy to drive us from the hotel to the National Museum which proved to be full of well organised, well labelled, and most interesting exhibits. On the ground floor, the Birds Of East Africa gallery has around 900 stuffed specimens, the Great Hall Of Mammals has dozens of stuffed mammals, and the Cradle Of Civilisation gallery highlights how the earliest humans came from the Rift Valley in what is now Kenya.
Upstairs is an extensive History Of Kenya exhibition focusing especially on the British colonial period, the struggle for liberation, and the post-independence search for identity in a country of 42 tribes. Also there is an exhibition of illustrations of fauna and native peoples by the famous conservationist Joy Adamson whose rearing of the lion cub Elsa in Kenya was depicted in the 1966 film “Born Free”. Vee, who is half Czech, was fascinated to learn that Adamson was born in a part of the then Austro-Hungarian Empire which is now the Czech Republic (her original name was Friederike Gessner).
In the same grounds as the museum is a small zoo called Snake Park and we visited this too. As the name suggests, the main exhibits are snakes including the puff adder, the black mamba, the African rock python, and the Gaboon viper (with the longest fangs in the world). Other animals on display include varieties of fish plus turtles, lizards and crocodiles.
The complex also includes a cafe, restaurant and craft shop and Vee and I had a light lunch in the cafe before Kennedy picked us up and drove us out to Richard & Emily’s place. While Richard worked, Vee and I played with Emily and Catrin. They had a new children’s board game called “Faireyopolly” which is described as “a magical game for little fairies”. Somehow the smallest fairy of the players managed to wipe the board with the rest of us.
As usual, we ate early and at a different place. This evening, we went to an Ethiopian restaurant called “Abyssinia” where all our dishes were served on one huge circular plate into which we all dipped with “injera” (a spongy kind of flatbread). I missed my dessert though so, back at the hotel, I had banana split before we went to our room.
Vee and I have now said farewell to Richard. In the last two months, he has already worked in Kenya, South Africa, Ethiopia and Zambia and tomorrow he flies to Uganda. We have no idea when we will see him again.
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Notes on Nairobi (8): beads, giraffes and Blixen
October 21st, 2015 by Roger Darlington
“Jambo!” (“Hello!”) as we say here in Nairobi.
Day five (Tuesday) of our trip was Mashujaa Day, also known as Heroes’ Day (“mashujaa” is Swahili for “heroes”). This is a national day in Kenya, which is observed on 20 October as a public holiday to honour all those who contributed towards the struggle for Kenya’s independence or positively contributed in the post independence Kenya. Richard still had to work but again Emily and Catrin collected us from our hotel mid morning. We drove out to the most fashionable district of Nairobi called Karen which is named after the Danish writer Karen Blixen (aka Isak Dinesen).
First stop was the location of the factory and a shop of a wonderful enterprise called “Kazuri” (the name means “small and beautiful” in Swahili). Founded in 1975 with just two workers, today this organisation employs 340, mostly single mothers who would otherwise find local employment hard to find. The main output is jewellery made of brightly-coloured ceramic beads, each of which is hand-made and hand-painted on the site.
Although it was a public holiday and the factory was closed, we were given a conducted tour of the site and an explanation of the manufacture of the beads and the ethos of the enterprise which has a private clinic for the staff and their immediate family. Emily already had a number of items of jewellery from “Kazuri” and Vee and I bought five pieces ourselves.
Next stop was another inspiring location: the Giraffe Centre of the African Fund for Endangered Wildlife. This was founded in 1979 to protect a particular giraffe subspecies called the Rothschild’s giraffe. At that time, there were no more than 120 of these beautiful animals, but today there are more than 300 with around half a dozen on display at any one time at the centre.
The great feature of the centre is that visitors can feed food pellets to the giraffes at either ground level or from a raised wooden structure. If one is so inclined, one can hold a pellet between one’s lips or teeth and wait for a giraffe to lean down and gobble it up while using its long and rough tongue to lick one’s face. Catrin had done this on a previous visit and both Vee and Emily did it this time (I gave it a miss and just took photographs of the encounters). Vee reckoned it was the most romantic kiss she has had in years and is hoping that the giraffe in question will be calling her before we leave the country.
At this point, we stopped for lunch at a place called “Tamambo” on a site that used to be part of Karen Blixen’s coffee plantation. The ambience was delightful: we ate outside on the well-kept lawn at a table with a large umbrella sheltering us from the sun. The food was excellent too with a wide choice of both main courses and desserts.
Our third and final stop of the day was to the Karen Blixen House. Sitting underneath a large tree in the extensive grounds, a guide told us the story of the house (built in 1912) and Karen Blixen (born 1885, time in Kenya 1914-1931, died 1962) before taking us on a tour of the house itself. Internationally Blixen is best known as the author of the biographical work “Out Of Africa” (published in 1937) which was made into a film of the same name in 1985 starring Meryl Streep as Blixen and Robert Redford as her lover Denys Finch. In the museum shop, Vee and I bought ourselves a souvenir of Kenya-: a wooden set of wild animals sitting round a table having tea.
We were back at the hotel at 5.30 pm where we were joined by Richard. We always need to eat dinner early because of Catrin’s bedtime, so we all ate this evening at the hotel.
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Notes on Nairobi (7): baby elephants and babysitting
October 19th, 2015 by Roger Darlington
Day four in Nairobi was a Monday so Richard was at work, but Emily & Catrin picked up Vee and me from the hotel about 10 am. Nairobi roads are pretty amazing – choked with cars, lorries, buses, colourful minibuses called “matabu”, policemen, vendors walking between vehicles, and even on occasion lines of cows.
Eventually we reached our first destination: the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust which is located on a plot in the south-west corner of the Nairobi National Park. Sheldrick was an anti-poaching warden of one of Kenya’s national parks and today the organisation he founded looks after orphaned baby elephants. Visitors gather round a muddy watering hole where a handler introduces each of the elephants by name and explains how they were found and what was their condition. There are sad tales of elephants being found in snares or down wells or having been abandoned by herds or attacked by hyenas or being wounded or starving.
The current population of the trust is 32 elephants aged one and a half to three and a half years old and we met 29 of them. We saw them being given human formula milk from large plastic bottles and perhaps the the funniest sight of the visit was witnessing some of the creatures feeding themselves from a bottle held in their curled trunk.
Our afternoon was spent at Nairobi National Park itself. This is a remarkable location: the only national park in a capital city anywhere in the world. It extends over 117 sq km and over 100 mammal species (including lion, buffalo, leopard and rhino) and more than 400 bird species have been recorded there.
Vee and I have been to national parks in South Africa and Botswana and we know that what you see depends on the time of year, the time of day, and sheer luck, but we did pretty well thanking to Emily’s careful driving and keen eyesight. We spotted lots of oryx and gazelle, some ostriches and baboons, a family of five giraffes, and no less than 20 or so zebra actually on the road all around us.
Now since Richard and Emily moved to Nairobi two months ago, they have not had an evening out with just the two of them because they do not have any babysitting – sorry Catrin, childminding – arrangements yet, so I volunteered to do the business. Once we had finished at the national park and braved the horrendous downtown traffic, we dropped Vee back at the hotel and went on to the house.
While Richard and Emily went out for a meal, I ate dinner with Catrin and then gave her a bath before reading to her and then lying by her until she was asleep. I read several stories from her new book “The Seven Habits Of Happy Kids”. Thanks to her wonderful parents, she is a happy kid but this book teaches some life lessons in story form.
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Notes on Nairobi (6): just chilling
October 18th, 2015 by Roger Darlington
Day three in Nairobi was Sunday and even more chilled out.
It rained heavily in the night and was still raining over breakfast, so we thought that we might have to abandon the plan for Richard and Catrin to make a return morning visit to use the swimming pool at our hotel. But the rain stopped and soon dried up, although it was cooler than yesterday morning. So, arriving about 11 am, they managed almost an hour in the pool – I joined them – before we needed hot drinks around the pool to warm up.
At 12.30 pm, Richard drove us to the house where Vee and I distributed various items requested by Richard or Emily and some presents for little Catrin. I thought that Catrin’s favourite present would be the “Frozen” wellingtons with flashing lights in the heels, but she said that her favourite was “the minties” (three packets of sugar free Polo mints).
We then had lunch of roast chicken and salad. At this point, Vee and I indulged our preferences. Vee loves to spend time with animals, so she went off with Richard to take the dogs Luna and Harley for a walk. She found the terrain tough going and slipped over once. I love to spend time with children, so I played with Catrin in the garden and living room. This was not tough going at all because she is such fun.
Finally the five of us went out for another early dinner. This time we went to a place called “Amaica” which serves all sorts of local food (the name means “kitchen” in the Bantu language of the Luhya tribe owner). The menu was amazing. One option was something called “tsiswa” which is flying white ants. At first, I was pleased to note that it was only available seasonally and then I found that, since we have now entered the rainy period, this is the time for this delicacy to be on offer. However, I declined and – like Vee – went for something called “karanga” ( a type of beef stew).
We were dropped back at the hotel towards 7.30 pm with more tears from Catrin (“Don’t go!”).
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Notes on Nairobi (5): swimming and fun fair
October 18th, 2015 by Roger Darlington
Day two in Nairobi was Saturday and very chilled out.
At 11 am, Richard and Catrin arrived at our hotel and we spent the next two and a half hours at the hotel’s outdoor swimming pool. It was a bit overcast but warm. Vee read a book while we three swam. Catrin loves the water and is very confident in it. She looked like a little champion in her swim suit, swim hat and goggles. She loved my trick of throwing her up into the air and catching her as she crashed back into the water.
The four of us finished the morning with a light lunch by the side of the pool. Before we left the hotel, we gave Catrin one of her presents from London: a Paddington bear. She declared “I love him. He’s so cure.”
At 1.45 pm, we were collected by Emily with the dogs Luna and Harley and the seven of us drove to a small shopping centre in a nearby district called Muthaiga. At this point. We split up. Vee went off with Richard and Emily to walk the dogs in the adjoining Karura Forest while I stayed at Mathaiga with Catrin.
Right next to the shopping centre was a large area of land with an extensive children’s amusement park and a cafe where we had a break for ice cream and cold water. It was now really hot and, being so near the equator, the sun does not go round but up and then down.
There were lots of things to do in the park but none of it was free, so we bought a ticket which enabled Catrin to go on almost everything and she certainly ensured that we had our money’s worth. Over the next two and a half hours, she went on various types of bouncy ‘castle’, various vehicles and a swinging roundabout, a climbing wall with harness, a large trampoline with harness, and even a quad bike with driver. She loved it all and did not want to leave.
Around 5 pm, we were all back together again and had an early lunch at the shopping centre. The venue was called the “Chinese Kitchen” which describes itself as “the best Chinese restaurant in town”. Richard and Emily confirmed that it was the better of the two they have tried so far.
I think Catrin enjoyed being with us because, when we were dropped back at the hotel, she cried. After all this fresh air and exercise, we will all sleep tonight.
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Notes on Nairobi (4): Grandparents’ Day
October 17th, 2015 by Roger Darlington
Our first day in Nairobi was a Friday and the last day at school for Catrin before she starts a week’s half term break. Vee and I flew out just before the start of half term because the Friday morning was designated as “Grandparent’s Day” to quote the flyer (I’m sure that should be “Grandparents’ Day” but a school can’t get its punctuation wrong, right?).
So Kennedy picked us up from our hotel at 8.30 am. It was immediately apparent that four features characterise Nairobi roads: there are no pavements, there are lots of pot holes, there are plenty of speed bumps, and there is tons of traffic (hence the local expression “pooh-lay, pooh-lay” meaning “slowly, slowly”). The driving is so aggressive that all vehicles have scratches and indentations
At the Montessori Learning Centre (MLC), we were all welcomed at the entrance by the inspirational headmistress Mrs Ali. We were surprised at how large the school is. There are 225 children and 55 staff in classes according to age with the names (starting with the youngest): Sunshine, Ruby, Topaz, Emerald and Diamond (Catrin is in Emerald). As well as the classrooms and administrative buildings, there are extensive grounds with lawns, trees, play areas, and a swimming pool.
We had not seen Catrin for two months and I wondered how she would react to us but, when we arrived in her classroom, I received a huge hug and it was clear that she was thrilled to see us. For our part, we found a little girl of four and three quarters who was already taller, more fluent and more confident.
I volunteered to read a story to the class, so all the children sat in a semi-circle in front of me and Catrin sat on my knee. After the story, all the children sang us a song called “I have a body”. As the song concluded, Catrin announced to me that she was going to “throw up” so I rushed her to the toilet at the end of the hall. Sadly I was not In time for the projectile vomit but I soon cleaned her up.
Then it was time for all the grandparents to gather in front of a small stage. Although about 50% of the children at the school have parents of Asian descent, the vast majority of the attendees at this event for grandparents were of Asian descent with a few black grandparents and a mere handful of white ones. Everyone was incredibly friendly and conversational.
Mrs Ali opened the programme with something she called “two minute chit chat”. She walked round with a basket containing six slips of paper and invited grandparents to pick out a paper and talk briefly to whatever was on the paper. Naturally there was some initial reluctance among the grandparents so, in the spirit of international fraternity, I volunteered to take the first turn. My piece of paper read “my favourite teacher”, so I talked about an English teacher who used to tell us “Remember that the majority is not always right”.
Next we had a Zumba session for the grandparents before the children arrived from their various classes. On the stage, the children sang the national anthem, recited the school creed, and then sang several songs. The song involving Catrin and her class was sung to the tune of “You are my sunshine” with verses in which the word “sunshine” was replaced by “grandma” and “grandpa”.
Once the event and refreshments were over, Catrin wanted to play on every item in every play area, climb the tree with the most branches, and explore all the hidden corners of the gardens – and she insisted that granddad join her for every single activity (which I was more than happy to do, of course). Then, around midday, Catrin’s mummy Emily arrived with a picnic for us to eat on the lawn. It was a lovely 23C (twice the temperature in London) with a welcome breeze.
After lunch, Emily drove us to their home in Westlands where Richard awaited together with their two dogs: a German shepherd called Luna and a Labrador called Harley. There was more food – the local dish called ‘ugali’ which is boiled maize – and then thankfully the opportunity to have an afternoon nap. Suitably refreshed, Vee and I joined Richard and Catrin in taking Luna and Harley for a walk on the red earth by the local coffee plantation.
Finally we went for an early dinner at the Westgate Shopping Mall which was the location of the terrorist attack two years ago (there is no memorial to the victims) and which, following a major refurbishment, reopened only three months ago just before Obama’s visit. We had a good meal at “Urban Burger” before we were dropped back at our hotel at 8 pm.
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Notes on Nairobi (3): arrival
October 15th, 2015 by Roger Darlington
Vee and I flew from London to Nairobi on a daytime British Airways flight, so we arrived mid evening. It took just over 8 hours but, since Kenyan time is just two hours ahead of British time, there was no jet lag.
We were met at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport by our son Richard and the able taxi driver Kennedy whom the family always use. We tried to obtain some local currency at the airport, but half a dozen ATMs were either out of action or out of cash. Clearly this is a country where everything does not always work smoothly and Richard explained that this is a “work around” society.
We were driven into town along the Mombasa Road. Apparently this was smartened up for the recent visit by President Barack Obama but he took a helicopter from the airport to town instead. Our accommodation for the week is the Jacaranda Hotel which is located in the fashionable Westlands area right next to the Sankara Hotel where Obama stayed.
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Notes on Nairobi (2): the city
October 15th, 2015 by Roger Darlington
Today Vee and I fly out to Nairobi to see our son and his family for a week.
Some facts and figures on Nairobi:
- The city was founded as a rail depot by the British colonists in 1899 and made the capital in 1907. The name comes from the Maasai words ‘uaso nairobi’ meaning ‘cold water’.
- The elevation of the Nairobi is 5,889 feet (1,795 km) which gives the city a pleasant climate in spite of it being only 90 miles (145 km) south of the equator.
- The population of Nairobi is over 3 million.
- Nairobi has the world’s second largest shanty town (after Soweto in Johannesburg in South Africa) called Kibera (the name is derived from a Nubian word meaning forest). This is home to as many as one million people and sprawls over 2.5 square kilometres on the south-west of the city.
- In August 1998, al-Qaeda bombed the US Embassy, killing more than 200 people.
- On 21 September 2013, the Islamist terrorist group al-Shabaab attacked the Westgate Shopping Mall and 67 people were killed in the assault.
The best story I heard about Nairobi before travelling there for the first time was from a professional colleague of mine who was visiting the city to do some telecommunications consultancy.
She hired a taxi to take her to her meeting and, as so often happens in Nairobi, the heavy traffic came to a standstill. The taxi driver had his window open and was using the time to make a call on his mobile when suddenly a man leaned into the window, snatched his phone, and ran off.
The taxi driver immediately jumped out of his vehicle and pursued the thief, leaving my friend in the middle of the traffic jam. Ten or 15 minutes went by as hooting from other vehicles became louder and more insistent. Eventually the driver returned – with his mobile and with the thief. He locked the young man in his boot, abandoned any attempt to reach my friend’s meeting, and promptly drove them all off to the nearest police station.
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Notes on Nairobi (1): the country
October 14th, 2015 by Roger Darlington
Two months ago, our son Richard, his wife Emily and their daughter Catrin relocated to Nairobi in Kenya as a result of his work. He is now the Head of Strategic Advocacy for an organisation called Well Told Story.
So this week, Vee and I are going to visit them for the first time. It may not be the best time weather-wise to go over there – the rains are starting – but we are travelling there to coincide with Catrin’s half-term.
In my bucket list, I have the dynamic objective of – as long as I am able – having visited as many countries as my age in years. I am 67 and Kenya will be my 68th country.
I’ll try blog each day about our experiences.
Meanwhile a few facts and figures on Kenya:
- Situated on the equator on Africa’s east coast, Kenya has been described as “the cradle of humanity”. In the Great Rift Valley, palaeontologists have discovered some of the earliest evidence of man’s ancestors.
- The country obtained its independence from Britain in 1963.
- Today the population of Kenya is about 45 M (two thirds that of the UK). It is a very young population with half under the age of 18 and almost two thirds under the age of 25.
- Although Kenya is the biggest and most advanced economy in east and central Africa, and has an affluent urban minority, it has a Human Development Index (HDI) of 0.519, ranked 145 out of 186 in the world. The important agricultural sector is one of the least developed and largely inefficient, employing 75% of the workforce.
- Following the election in 2007, there were serious ethnic riots in which an estimated 1,300 died and some 600,000 were forced to flee their homes. Subsequently, in 2011, the International Criminal Court indicted six prominent figures for crimes against humanity committed during the post-election rioting.
- The current president of the country – elected in March 2013 – is Uhuru Kenyatta, the son of the first president of independent Kenya Jomo Kenyatta.
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