Nairobi

Monday 25th June 207 Bush camp Nairobi
Nairobi…….forget all you have experienced and heard! This city is beautiful. The ‘new’ government which has been ruling for 5 years, and will, by all accounts rule for another 5years, has changed things around. Anyone caught littering is put into jail and brought before the courts the next day, so the city is clean. There are no street hawkers, and very few beggars. The men in the CBD are dressed in smart suites, the women in slack suites, and all chick and smart and business-like. The city is very reminiscent of London, rather than an African city. There are steel, newly-painted and attractive barriers along the streets to prevent indiscriminate jay-walking. The roundabouts are all planted with attractive gardens. Signs advertise the fact that there is a programme of tree-planting and beautification. In the industrial area, as all industrial areas, it is dusty and busy, but there are street sweepers and cleaners, and frequent little piles of burning rubbish instead of huge accumulations which await removal, spreading in the wind. We ‘walked the CBD flat’ today and loved the interesting, modern and unique architecture. There were no empty and derelict buildings. We had lunch in a choc-a-block little coffee shop, expensive but quality. We spent part of the day walking around a huge supermarket with the slogan, ”you want it, we have it”, and we could get anything there. There are the usual traffic delays, but traffic wardens direct the traffic efficiently and to the best of their ability. So Nairobi is worth a visit, even only to change the perception of it being “Nai-robbery”.
The Landrover garage found lots of things wrong with Brian’s Landy, so it will only be ready tomorrow at 10am, so we caught another taxi to the camp. This taxi driver quoted KSh350, put it up to KSh500, then when we arrived said he wanted KSh1000 (R100). Well, a nasty scene ensued with Nev refusing the higher amount, and paid him 500, which was a fair price. Eventually the owner of the camp, Martin, took over and the driver ended up by wanting to refund all the money!! We didn’t take it, because KSh500 was fair, but it shows what power black has against black at times.