Hakuna Matata!

View of the Rift Valley

Like in Tanzania, they speak Swahili in Kenya and you hear this a lot actually! Sometimes it can confusing, like when you are trying to bargain with a curio shopkeeper. He names a price. You name your price. He says “hakuna matata.” Umm… does that mean deal or no deal? (Didn’t make much sense to me but usually it meant there would be more negotiation.) Generally, I like Kenya. I didn’t see too much of it, but it’s definitely a place I’d come back to someday. Kenya, btw, is getting a late report because although we crossed in from Tanzania weeks ago, we did the gorilla loop through Uganda and Rwanda before coming back to see Lakes Nakuru and Naivasha. I thought it might be better to report on Kenya after seeing more of its sights. :)

Nairobi: So affectionately dubbed “Nairobbery”—by Lonely Planet among others—Nairobi was surprisingly wonderful! I think it’s my favorite African capital so far! It is super clean with a lot of nice buildings and nice people milling about them. Peering into the gate to the Kenyatta International Convention Center (a building famous for being architecturally ahead of its time), an armed guard beckoned to us. Scary! He apparently just wanted to chat with us and gave us tips about going inside. :) Because we were warned not to take anything of value into the city, I unfortunately didn’t have my camera on me. I would have liked to take pictures of the city and its sights – the 1998 U.S. embassy bombing memorial for example. Instead, I carried a bottle of water (not even my Nalgene because it is “an item of value”), popcorn, and toilet paper in my purse – a decoy in case I needed it. Turns out, I felt safer in Nairobi than I did in a lot of other African cities we’ve visited and escaped using local matatus (mah-TAH-toos; shared taxis) and buses unscathed.

Fun Rules: I happened upon the public library in Nairobi and while one of my companions searched for David Livingstone’s diary, I read the library rules posted on the wall. I obtained a copy because I particularly liked Rules 7 and 9:

7. LOST OR DAMAGED BOOKS “Books must be protected from rain, babies, and other hazards.” (Babies! Lol)
9. INFECTIOUS DISEASES “If borrowed [books] must not be returned if there is a case of infectious diseases in the home until the risk of infection has passed. Staff should always be informed.”

Karen: Only a few of us actually ventured into Nairobi because the truck was parked an hour outside of the city in Karen. Tons of overland trucks tend to park there because the risk of getting robbed or hijacked is just too great in Nairobi itself. A lot of people ended up visiting the Sheldrick Elephant Orphanage and the Giraffe Centre in Karen. I elected not to and apparently missed out on placing a food pellet on my tongue and letting a giraffe swoop in and take it from my mouth. I’m okay with that. :)

Bowels: In Karen, I had one of the best meals I’ve had in all of Africa! Unfortunately, service was abysmal and so was the state of my bowels after. Seven of us ventured off to the Tokyo Restaurant. I was excited and the Asian owner even smiled at me as we walked in. I guess we were kindred in our Asian-ness or something. After ordering, the waiter asked if he could bring dishes out as they became ready. This made sense, we agreed. Mine came in a timely manner and was delicious! I got the dinner box which consisted of rice, salad, tempura, tuna and salmon sashimi, grilled octopus, fish, shrimp, beef, and chicken. For the others though, entrees came before appetizers and one girl’s soup that was supposed to have shrimp, chicken, beef, and other goods in it… just didn’t. She sent it back and received it reheated with one additional shrimp. She was mad, very very mad. Chalk it up to Africa though – you never quite get what you are expecting in a restaurant and service is often beyond terrible. I should have known better than to order and eat raw fish but I dearly missed Japanese food and I think my 13 trips to the toilet in a 24 hour period was worth it. Kind of. (I didn’t quite break the record of one of my truckmates: 22 in one day.) In terms of bowels in general, people have taken turns feeling poorly on the truck – perhaps it’s something in those Kenyan samosas we all like so much. I have recovered, others are on their way.


Nakuru and Its Lake: When we returned from Uganda, spirits were high because we all saved $50 by lying to the customs officials and telling them we’d only been in Uganda. (You are allowed to visit one other country on your visa and not have to pay again. We went to both Uganda and Rwanda. Our Rwanda stamps were quite obvious but we ended up not having to pay the recently-upped-to-$50-from-$25 visa fee!) There was nothing on the agenda for Nakuru except a pretty fantastic morning game drive in the Nakuru National Park. The elusive leopard remained elusive, but we had the best rhino sightings of the trip – 14 of them!


On the lake, there were tons of pink flamingoes, pelicans, and storks; around the park, there were a lot of antelope, buffalo, and other birds. At one point, we saw a male lion hanging out by himself – he kept looking out at the distance at something. We were about to drive away but then one of the vehicles got stuck and needed us to push headfirst into it into starting. In doing so, we saw what the lion saw – another male lion approaching! We thought there’d be a fight but instead, Lion A walked up to Lion B, nudged him affectionately, and the lay down beside him. Super cute! Lions are apparently lovers and not fighters and according to a postcard I read, mate 360 times a week! The day was really great except for our guide who was rubbish at being a guide. In one example, there was clearly some variety of stork outside and we asked the driver what kind of stork it was. He said it was a flamingo. (Not remotely possible…) We asked him what type of flamingo it was. He said “the main one.”

Stereotyping: I had lunch with two truckmates at a café in Nakuru. The owner (I think) walks up to me and says, “Do you speak Japanese?” I said no. He said “Oh, because I just bought a stereo for my car and the manual is in Japanese.” “I’m sorry, I don’t speak Japanese.” …. Seriously!! The best/worst part is that he was a Middle Eastern/Arab looking man (complete with a kufiya) in Africa, stereotyping fellow-minority me. Food being the exception, have I mentioned my rule about not buying anything from anyone who addresses me with a “Ni Hao” or “Konnichiwa”?

Naivasha: Naivasha is known for its Crater Lake and Hell’s Gate National Park, but I didn’t visit either. To me, the crater lake didn’t look too impressive in pictures and people who went to Hell’s Gate decided to cycle instead of walk. 26k on a bike and paying $40-something to do it sounded miserable to me, no thank you! I think everyone had an awesome time though and maybe one day I’ll have a partner to walk through the park with :) Most everyone went to high tea at Elsamere afterwards as well. I didn’t do this either because I don’t know anything about Joy Adamson (tea was at her former estate) and paying $10 for cake I don’t really want seemed like a bad idea. I will perhaps read her book Born Free sometime but just in general, not fussed about high tea. I didn’t like Naivasha so much actually because I kept getting bitten by mosquitoes, and at the worst times: Twice on my body in the shower and once on my forehead while doing laundry. Hmpfh! It was cool though to see hippos roaming on the outskirts of camp at night – we had to have a lot of trust in the electric fencing though because apparently, people had died there in the past – crushed by hippo. The camp was also frequented by colobus monkeys. They are awesome:


Equator: We crossed the equator an uncertain number of times, anywhere from 4-8. We are sure we did it four times, but we may have crisscrossed it or something on some of the roads. We’re not sure if some of the zero degrees/equator signs were authentic, or just curio shop owners being crafty. Hmm…


So that was Kenya for me: Not getting robbed or crushed by a hippo, but suffering from opportunistic mosquitoes, loose bowels, and a Japanese face. All is good now though, hakuna matata! Currently in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and really loving it so far. :)