A Country of Contrasts
Kenya is beautiful, lush and green, with mineral-rich, deep red soil. Nairobi sits on the equator but at 6000 feet high so the sun rises and sets at 6:30am/pm everyday and the temperature hovers between 60 and 80 degrees year round. It is sunny most of the year though summer is technically in Dec/Jan/Feb. Homes do not have A/C or heat, mostly because you just don’t need it.
Nairobi feels like the heart of Africa, full of modern highways, tall buildings and embassies, all with high fences draped in purple jacaranda. A very Christian country due to the incessant work of missionaries, even Jesus has an embassy here. The sidewalks and streets are busy with people, cows and goats. Vendors sell everything from knock-off Adidas to toys to ugali, a local cornmeal cake that is a staple of the Kenyan diet. I even saw one vendor hawking the bestselling book, Atomic Habits.
The roads are crammed with cars and scooters but they are ruled by matatus, the privately owned minibuses that fill the public transportation gap (there is none). Matatus are decorated in reverence to something or someone; we saw two Baltimore Ravens matatus and hundreds where Jesus is definitely co-pilot. Each bus is tattooed with a name such as ‘Rap Radar,’ ‘100% Blessings,’ ‘Rampage,’ ‘Imax,’ ‘Gods Grace', ‘Playboy'. At night they are moving discos with neon lights, loud music and flatscreen TVs. They have a driver, of course, but it’s the second guy who hangs out the side, a human turn signal. He points and waves and the matatu gets its way. The matatus always claim right-of-way. Unless, of course, the cows are crossing.
There are many large shopping malls with restaurants, food courts, all sorts of stores (though very few brand names), a variety of entertainment for kids, and plenty of the French-owned Carrefour supermarkets. Each car goes through security to get in, then people pass through a metal detector and bag check, but it all seems perfunctory aside from deterrence.
The main road to our neighborhood and resort, the Northern Bypass, seems to divide the developed and less developed world. It is lined with corrugated steel buildings that are businesses and homes. The main road is paved but all the side ‘streets’ are narrow alleys of dirt. Businesses sell everything from fruit to kukus (live chickens), sofas, building materials and bus tickets. My favorite transportation vendor is the Climax Coaches Booking Office, though it took me weeks to figure out which version of ‘coach’ they meant. Next to the ramshackle buildings are piles of trash where goats and chickens eat and children play. The road is bustling with people and commerce, where a kilo of mangoes costs less than 25 cents.
An upscale area full of white expats is called ‘Karen’ named for Karen Blixen. You can’t make this up. In contrast, most Kenyan businesses have names that are aspirational and patently untrue, such as the Luxury Italian Court (not luxury and definitely not Italian). Other names are comical and horrifyingly true, such as hotels and butchers that oddly often share the same space. It gives a whole new meaning to Hotel California for the goats tied up outside.
We found the healthcare to be wonderful and affordable by western standards. Our providers were well trained with appointments available within a day. We didn’t have or need insurance. Rosie was ordered an EEG (she’s fine) and we walked into a modern, private hospital, got it done within two hours, paid about $80 USD and walked out with a full report. Prescription meds were just a few dollars - again, without insurance! Our bi-weekly appointments with a lovely psychiatrist in a phenomenally upscale mental health facility were $50 per visit. This mental “institution” has a restaurant in the lobby and the triage guys looked empathetic rather than scary. The directional sign pointed to various levels of private wards, VIP and VVIP suites. Heck, I debated checking myself in. But, this is all private healthcare where the average monthly wage for “well-paid” household workers is $200-300. Just as it is in the US, healthcare proves the ultimate contrast between haves and have nots.
When you leave Nairobi, whether by car or plane, the expansive country is revealed. Rolling green hills are home to massive greenhouses growing roses for the world. We visited prolific farms producing tea, coffee and vegetables. And of course, beyond, is the vast savanna of the Masai Mara, the arid desert of Samburu and the infinite plains bound only by world famous mountains - the Great Rift Valley, Mt. Kenya and eventually Kilimanjaro. Out there, we experienced land untouched by modernity and met warriors unspoiled by technology, where the only healthcare needed is provided by nature.
Kenya is magnificent, stunning and gracious. Truly a country of contrasts, the city magnified our wealth while the countryside accentuated how in some ways we are poorer for it.
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Please keep in mind that I photographed the things that were different, rather than those that were similar to what we’re used to. At first I was afraid to insult anyone by taking photos, but most often I was not ready at the right moment. This is definitely not a total picture of Nairobi in any way and certainly doesn’t do the city justice.
