Touristing it in Nairobi (includes dos and don’ts)

November 27, 2011

Being a tourist in Nairobi is not uncomplicated and you have to be prepared to make mistakes.

After a lengthy and informative Friday, Saturday was the day off before everyone, but us, headed off to their placements on Sunday. And what better way to spend a day in Nairobi, than to live up to the stereotype and be touristy.

We opted for the Karen Blixen Museum outside the city centre and after a lot of bargaining and money counting, we left with a small group of the others who wanted to see other things in the vicinity of the museum. They were to drop us off at the museum and go on from there leaving us to our own wits in terms of getting back to the city after that. I’ll spare you all the boring details of the prize, but let’s just say that we ended up paying several times the amount we could have, if everyone involved had done their proper homework. But oh well, I guess you’re not a real mzungu until you have paid a ridiculous overprize for something.

The Karen Blixen house - front

Prepartions to hold a wedding on the grounds

The Karen Blixen house - back

The museum is in the house that Karen Blixen lived in and that was bought by the Danish government and given to Kenya as a Happy Independence present back in 1963. It’s really a gorgeous house and we were both ready to move in and start our own coffee plantation(I’ve seen the movie and heard the guided tour, so I know a coffee plantation right there would be ill-advised, but houses can be moved, right? Or replicated…)The house was full of replicas of things used at the time, actual things she used and things donated by the creators of the film. It made for a nice mix. The tour was short and obviously the one the guides give 20 times a day every day, but it was nice nonetheless. We went for a walk around the grounds afterwards and after trekking through what I’m sure was really closely related to jungle, we came upon an old machine used for drying and preparing the coffee. It was part of the museum, just hard to come by and we definitely took the long way round.

The machine used for processing the coffee beans

We were both a bit uncertain as to why Karen Blixen was so incredibly popular here, but as it turned out she had actually managed to step out of the stereotype of the typical mzungu at that time. She employed the locals for decent wages and really cared for her servants, staff and community. Although she was popular at the time, the movie really did the trick. When that came out, the Kenyans realized that it was a money machine waiting to be powered on, and also in the wake of the movie, the tourists wanted the Blixen experience. The part of the city where the museum is located is called Karen, so she’s everywhere now and I choose, completely uncritically, to believe that she really did make a difference.

Coffee

Enough about Blixen. As you might remember from a couple of paragraphs ago, we had been left at the museum to get back on our own. Lonely Planet advises that a matatu runs right outside the museum grounds, but a word to the wise is to never trust a guide book blindly. The best way is to read about it and then ask a local. On that note, another tip for the Kenyan traveler: when in doubt, always ask the security guards! They know everything. The sweet guard at the museum assured us that a bus would come by eventually and to just relax while we waited. He was right and with a “God bless you” and a smile, we were on our way.
Matatus might be an experience, but the buses – that’s in a whole category of its own. You want to get on a bus? Better get ready, because they’ll hardly stop for you to get on. You want to get off a bus? Better get ready, because they’ll hardly stop for you to get off. And you gotta know where you want to get off, because actual bus stops are rare. Oh, and it’s a bumpy, cramped and noisy ride where there might be occasions where you fear it’ll tip over. On the plus side, it’s a study in culture like no other, you can get real close to people(actually, you don’t really have a choice) and it’s cheap. We were on it for about an hour for 50 KSh and it got us downtown as was our intention.

We headed down the busy Kenyatta Avenue, stopped at a Safaricom store to buy internet, detained our desire to raid a book store and eventually got a late lunch at the cosy and recommendable Thorn Tree Café. Afterwards we continued the hunt for the cinema, which we found only to be informed(by a security guard) that it was closed due to renovation. On our way back we stopped at an enormous Nakumatt, the Kenyan version of Bilka I guess, where they’ll sell just about everything your heart desires, granted that you manage to locate it. We did need a few supplies, but mostly we just wanted to get away from the people constantly trying to sell us safaris or other random touristy things. They won’t take no for an answer and will follow you for several blocks if you don’t manage to get rid of them. Really annoying. Glad I’m only in the city for a few days, I would go crazy being a mzungu in Nairobi. It’ll be interesting to see if the story repeats itself when we go north.

The Kenyatta Conference Center

Sunday morning was spent saying goodbye to the others as they left the YMCA at different intervals. Cecilie, who did an internship in Isiolo and was to return to Denmark on Sunday night, and I decided to continue the line of tourism and went to the Kenyatta Conference Center for a view of the city from the top. Unfortunately it was a bit foggy, so we couldn’t quite see the edge of the city, but the view was nice nonetheless and it only added to the experience that we could hear the songs from several congregations around the tower as we were there in the middle of church time. Word to the wise: do go on a clear day if you can and preferably on a Sunday morning as you will have the place almost to yourself. Don’t be too afraid of heights as the fence on the helipad at the top is not particularly high.

View from the top

Cecilie needed to spend her last KSh, so we went to Westgate, the most Western mall in Nairobi. In a brief and fleeting moment, I had a flashback to my American life and a dash of something reminiscent of homesickness. It really was as close to an American mall as they come. Complete with Christmas decorations and a variety in the skin color and nationalities of shoppers. Fascinating indeed.
 A Safaricom man helped me get online(finally!), I had a milkshake(ok fine, two) and made the foolish decision to buy a multitude of books I now have to carry around for the next couple of months. But all-in-all, I had a great American day.

To conclude, here are a few tips for the tourist in Nairobi:

 - Do get a map, it really is easier finding your way around with it.

 - The city is not that big, so walk if you can(although not at night).

 - When going on a “field-trip” out of the city centre, ask the receptionist at your hotel what   the cheapest and easiest mode of transportation is. Alternatively ask the prize for different modes. We went through a company that organizes trips and it was way more expensive than taking a taxi would have been.

- Be ready to be harsh towards people on the street trying to sell you something. It seems the only way to get rid of them.

 - Ask security guards for direction, tips on where to eat pizza, what bus to take or anything else you need to know.

 - Westgate is a good option for a rainy day if museums are not your cup of tea. Should cost no more than 600 KSh in a taxi from a downtown location.

 - Avoid at all costs being in traffic after 4pm, it will take you hours to get to your destination.

 - The Central YMCA is a decent budget hotel. A bit run-down but the staff is friendly and it really is centrally placed. Also, it has a pool.