Nairobi at Night...
They say not to arrive in Nairobi at night...I flew in at 7pm. Fact of the day: It turns out the sun sets in Nairobi at 6:30 pm every night of the year.
Many of you know how apprehensive I was about going to Nairobi...After hearing first hand stories about getting stuck in traffic and having the trunk crowbarred open and bags stolen. About not stopping at lights, just slowing down to avoid carjackings. Even the tourist video on KLM calls it "Ni-rob-ya! So I was pretty worked up after my 7 hour flight there.
I had e-mailed the hostel at least 5 times to schedule an airport pickup but it always came back undeliverable so I wasn't sure what to expect at the airport. I was quite relieved to see a sign with my name on it as I went through customs. We threw my bags in the trunk and Sammy and I were off. My high spirits were quickly squashed as we drove down the highway into town. If you can picture scenes from futuristic movies such as The Terminator or Children of Men...that's how it looked. There were people everywhere walking down the pot-holed highway. Tin shacks everywhere. Smoke from the open fires on the side of the road made for a permanent fog overhead. The acrid smell was burning my nose...
Then Sammy decides to pull into a gas station. (I'm thinking to myself...why the *%#@ couldn't he have filled up earlier) There are about 15 cars trying to get to a pump and at least 100 people milling around the station. And Sammy just keeps on driving around it. He's looking for someone he says...So I just about lose it when a guy with a crowbar starts pounding on our trunk...It turns out that it's Sammy's cousin Kefar...earlier that day, Sammy had helped him change a tire and Kefar was just wanted to give him the tire back...ugh
I was never so glad to see my hostel....Thanks to all of you that were on MSN that night and helped me calm down...Mom, Sonya, Brandi, Tamarra....
But everything always looks better in the daylight...and I'm now on my way to Madagascar. The flight attendent just came on because the top of Kilimanjaro is coming through the clouds for us to see...(I'll post the picture for you soon Tim...and here it is now...)
Many of you know how apprehensive I was about going to Nairobi...After hearing first hand stories about getting stuck in traffic and having the trunk crowbarred open and bags stolen. About not stopping at lights, just slowing down to avoid carjackings. Even the tourist video on KLM calls it "Ni-rob-ya! So I was pretty worked up after my 7 hour flight there.
I had e-mailed the hostel at least 5 times to schedule an airport pickup but it always came back undeliverable so I wasn't sure what to expect at the airport. I was quite relieved to see a sign with my name on it as I went through customs. We threw my bags in the trunk and Sammy and I were off. My high spirits were quickly squashed as we drove down the highway into town. If you can picture scenes from futuristic movies such as The Terminator or Children of Men...that's how it looked. There were people everywhere walking down the pot-holed highway. Tin shacks everywhere. Smoke from the open fires on the side of the road made for a permanent fog overhead. The acrid smell was burning my nose...
Then Sammy decides to pull into a gas station. (I'm thinking to myself...why the *%#@ couldn't he have filled up earlier) There are about 15 cars trying to get to a pump and at least 100 people milling around the station. And Sammy just keeps on driving around it. He's looking for someone he says...So I just about lose it when a guy with a crowbar starts pounding on our trunk...It turns out that it's Sammy's cousin Kefar...earlier that day, Sammy had helped him change a tire and Kefar was just wanted to give him the tire back...ugh
I was never so glad to see my hostel....Thanks to all of you that were on MSN that night and helped me calm down...Mom, Sonya, Brandi, Tamarra....
But everything always looks better in the daylight...and I'm now on my way to Madagascar. The flight attendent just came on because the top of Kilimanjaro is coming through the clouds for us to see...(I'll post the picture for you soon Tim...and here it is now...)
Life doesn't get any better than this....
Take care
Michelle
posted by Michelle Burlock at 12:11 PM
3 Comments:
Hey Michelle,
Some parts of Nairobi were quite scary so that I had 4 university students from KEMRI with me while shopping for school supplies for the school in Mwanza. They even carried the cash. I was accidentally left in a bar at 1am and probably shouldn't have taken a ride from a kind woman who did only take me home. I heard some terrible stories about car jackings as well. Be safe on your journeys.
Bob Gough
3:54 PM
Yes nairobi has some areas that are scary...guess what so does the rest of the world even "first world countries". I find it very "euro-centric" and somewhat "racist" of you to got out of your way to mention this very negative part of nairobi. Thank you for adding to the negative mindset about all third world-countries. Job well done!
9:09 PM
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