Nairobi
The Carnivore in Nairobi
August 4, 2003
As we approached Nairobi by air, our pilot said we would be landing within minutes,
but our altimeter read 5,600 feet and we were still in the clouds. A couple minutes
later we touched down in a complete fog at about 5,400 feet, a city that stands
higher than our famed mile high city of Denver.
As our plane was pulling into the jet way our pilot announced the jet way was broken
and we were going to have to walk down a set of stairs to the runway then back up
another set of stairs into the airport... welcome to Kenya.
Shortly afterwards, however I had almost completely forgotten about the instance.
As we entered the airport itself, we saw a sign that read: Do not attempt to bribe,
or give a bribe if asked by any employee of the airport. This assured me of the
situation I was getting myself into... and it sparked an aura of excitement of the
unknown ahead.
After gathering our bags we walked through customs without being asked a question
or even having to be stopped, they simply waved us through to the “lobby,” which
was more like an outside walkway. The day was dreary, and the land was drab; it
was the dry season.
No sooner had we found the man holding a sign that read “Alpine Ascents” than did
we see another man walking around swinging a semi-automatic. Later we learned this
is normal and we soon became accustomed to the sight and learned to ignore it. They
are here for our safety and the safety of everyone flying into or out of the airport.
Many people looked at us at the airport and I felt watched as many people stared
us down; I've never been a minority before and the feeling was at first uneasy.
Once much of our party had arrived we got in the car and began our ride to downtown
Nairobi, where our hotel, the Serena Nairobi was located. The ride was fascinating,
just outside of the gates of the airport we saw men with sickles cutting down the
tall grass in the middle and outsides of the “expressway.” A couple more miles down
the road we saw a bank with an armed guard on the roof, as well as other buildings
surrounded by barbed wire and armed men.
As we got closer to downtown we came upon much of the city’s housing: make shift
blankets or tarps over sticks in the downtown park; it was sad, especially seeing
all of the children standing by the roadside with nothing better to do.
The ride however was short and we came to the Serena Nairobi to find a completely
different world. At the gate of the hotel there were armed guards who searched our
van for bombs before opening the gate and allowing us entrance. The day was still
young so a few of us decided to make dinner arrangements at the world renown Carnivore
for dinner and to take a nice stroll around the city to the national museum to spend
the afternoon.
The city was interesting and we were strongly advised not to go, we however respected
their opinion and left anyway. The sidewalks were mostly mud, but at times had some
semblance of concrete. The streets were dirty, and the roads hectic; it seemed like
there were no rules of the road and cars were going in every direction. The cars
consisted of everything from Mercedes to old Volks Wagons vans (these were the public
transportation).
Transportation here works quite differently from America: here the buses were marked
and many passengers were literally hanging out of the vans, hanging on by one hand
and one foot. Downtown was a sight: half the people were in suits and the other
half in old tee-shirts and ripped pants, some of whom were shadowing, but not threatening
us.
We left downtown and entered the university campus area, reasonably nice and an
area in which we all felt much safer than we did downtown. The museum was run down,
but had such incredible archeological finds that it was still first class. Much
of human evolution is traced back to this area of Africa and so many of the historic
finds by the Leakey’s are documented here. Although the museum was nice, it was
small and we were soon on our way back to the hotel.
The walk back was shorter since we decided not through downtown this time. We went
to the main park in the city center and talked to a couple of men playing checkers.
Here in the park many children came up to us bagging for money, but after we would
say no, their parents would talk to them and they would soon be back for another
try.
Another thing in the park that caught my eye was the clothing everyone wore, I saw
one person wearing a Miami Dolphins Starter jacket and everyone else seemed to be
wearing American clothes as well.
That night we went out to the Carnivore and we were in for quite an experience.
The food served was zebra, crocodile, Grant’s gazelle, hartebeest, and ostrich.
I found the Grant’s gazelle meatballs to be revolting and the crocodile to be very
unpalatable, however everything else was good, especially the ostrich. We went on
with our feast in ordinary fashion and ate everything offered except the liver of
some animal. Throughout the meal the waiters would come out and sing a song we found
quite catchy and very fun. We didn’t know what the occasion for the song was, but
we cared little, for it was fun and exciting none-the-less.
Serena Nairobi Hotel
August 5, 2003
We awoke early to get on the road and on our way to Tanzania. The road was in poor
shape and the landscape was barren; on both sides of us we constantly saw termite
mounds, stone piles perhaps representing graves of the fallen Masai warriors, and
donkeys along the roadsides. Here, unlike in Nairobi, the clothes were very colorful,
reds, yellows, oranges and blues. Many shirts were tie-dyed and represented every
color, whereas the Masai wore only red.
The towns were sad: children in the streets, every other building contained a bar,
and all stopped to stare at us as we drove past. Not far from one village, in the
countryside we saw the Masai Ostrich Farm, a place that transported me into a different
century and a different country. The scene was identical to many drawings I’ve seen
in American history books, slaves working the plantations, but this here was life,
it was reality, and it was the best job they could find.
There were probably a dozen women in the fenced in farm, carrying baskets and picking
fruit from the trees. I felt they were caged in, they had no machines, only their
hands and baskets, lined up in rows, picking on their hands and knees. There were
many women for the tiny area and I believe the abundance of labor was due to the
small cost to hire them, but it still seemed like a plantation, not different from
those I’ve only seen in history books.