A Trip to Nairobi in Kenya

Thought we had never contacted him before, we knew we had a cousin from New Zealand, living in Nairobi for many years. We had planned a couple of big adventure trips based out of Kenya so thought it would be a good time to catch up with our cousin at the same time and see what he has been up to.


The road from Arusha north to Nairobi is about 300 km (180 miles). The border is little town called Namunga. We drove our Pajero up there and in order to drive a vehicle across an international border there are a few rules to follow otherwise it won’t happen. As you approach Namunga there are no signs to tell you where to go or what to do. Turns out you have to go to Tanzania immigration to fill out a departure card, hand in the original vehicle registration card for the vehicle in another building, then go to Kenya immigration fill out a arrival card and get a visa, then in another building, sign your vehicle into Kenya. Not too bad really but with no signs or officials there, it is confusing.  All the while there are merchandise vendors following you trying to sell you Maasai jewellery, international vehicle insurance, vehicle fire extinguishers and more. So anyway we got through after an hour and continued heading on to Nairobi.

The roads are currently very bad, with diversions in many places, but all along in both countries the roads are being worked on by road construction crews. So some time next year that road all the way from Arusha to Nairobi will be a beautiful sealed road and a pleasant drive. Our average speed was about 50 km/h (30 mph) for the 7 hours.

With texting our cousin Steve along the way we were able to meet him on the road before entering the CBD. We followed him out to his house out south West of Nairobi. We were there for a few days then took off on a 6 day hike to Mt Kenya then back to Steve’s again for a couple of more days then off to Uganda for 6 days to see the Gorillas in the jungle. Then back to his house for another day then headed back to Arusha in Tanzania.

Out of Africa
Steve and his partner live out west of Nairobi in an area called Karen which is where Karen Blixen had her farm early in the 1900s. Karen Blixen was the feature of the movie ‘Out of Africa’ with Meryl Streep and Robert Redford. By now, 80 years later, the farm has all been subdivided into ½ to 10 acre blocks. It is where a lot of the wealthier expats and locals live in Nairobi. The roads are quite good; all the houses are surrounded by big well trimmed hedges and fences. Steve’s house is about 300 m from her original house. The Blixen house has large well trimmed grounds, all of which has been turned into a museum now. The movie was filmed in this house. Some of the nostalgia of Karen’s time in Africa still remains in the neighbourhood; it is quiet, groomed with big trees. You can feel the past as you walk around the grounds imagining the nearby coffee farm, the elephants in the then bush running past the house and of taking tea with friends in the warm evening sun and looking up into the distant Ngong hills where she buried her friend Denys Finch Hatton after his plane crashed in Tsavo.

Etara
On the first day we were there, they took us to a local pre wedding ceremony. The groom to be was a Kikuyu (the main tribe about central Kenya and also the president is a Kikuyu as well). The bride to be is from Uganda. This ceremony is an old tradition where the bride and her relatives are invited over to the grooms house to meet the family and perform an Etara ritual. In the earlier days, after the wedding, the bride would take over all the house hold duties of the groom and that involved collecting firewood to cook on. They would store the firewood on a mantel above the fire so it would dry out faster. The mantel is called Etara in Kikuyu. The people now days get all dressed up in their finest to attend this ceremony. The Kenyan men were all in suits and the ladies in designer dresses. The Ugandan men were in a traditional skirt like wrap and the women were all dressed in traditional Ugandan dresses. Very colourful and impressive. Steve’s partner loaned us some clothes to get dressed up a bit. The ceremony was out the back of a big house in a marquee tent. Lots of food and drink. They had an MC to conduct the afternoon and several people gave speeches about what the commitment to a marriage means and not to be taken lightly. Some were serious and some quite funny. Quite a contrast to Tanzania. The higher degree of wealth is quite obvious.



Steve has an amazing range of stores to tell of what he has experienced in Africa, some quite potentially dangerous to him and other so absurd you have to laugh even though that stuff really goes on. He has learned so much in order to survive as a mzungu in an African country. Way more than we have ever seen and learned in our brief time here. One evening out by the BBQ he said the Kikuyu have a saying here, ‘when you get the dust of Africa on your shoes, it is hard to get off’

One morning he took us around the corner to a Giraffe center where people can hand feed the Giraffes. The people stand on a deck around a display room, up above the ground and wardens give out food pallets. These ever so elegant animals come over and slowly and gracefully eat the pallets out of your hand. Very cool.