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On Thursday I got invite to the Rangers Restaurant , which is just inside the Nairobi National Park in Langatta, for lunch at 2:30pm by a friend of mine Allen. As it was across town the only way to get there was to get a Matatu into town, walk to the other side of town down Moi Ave to the train station and then get a matatu right to the gate of the park and make sure I get home before dark. All sounds pretty simple right? Well that is what I thought when I set off.
Decided to leave home at about 1:15 to give me enough time to get there. On the way the matatu took a different route to normal, when I asked the conductor what was happening he said there was a big traffic jam going the normal way. Didn't think any thing of it as traffic in Nairobi can be bloody terrible at times.
Got to the north end of town where the matatu stops and started my walk to the south of town, via Moi Ave to where next my next matatu leaves from. As I got about half way, about 5 mins
walk, my eyes started to sting a bit but just thought that maybe it was the pollution. But then it started to get worse and there were people all around me covering thier mouths and noses with hands and tissue.
As I got a bit further I crossed a main road called Haramee Ave and saw police in riot gear, shields and helmets and what looked like grenade launches. Turned out the grenades were tear gas grenades. The strange thing was there wasn't any sign of trouble.
So I continued my journey to meet Allen. Got to where I need to get my next matatu and off I headed to the national park. Told the conductor where I need to get of and paid him 40 shillings. Half way into the journey the matatu turned of it's normall route, again due to traffic, this time the conductor told me before I had to ask and said he would show me where to get off.
Next thing I know we are in the middle of Kibera slum. Now Kilbera is the second largest slum (one million residents after Soweto in Jo'burg. You are told that mzungu's (White man)
should not go there on there own. So I was now getting just a little bit nervous, to make things worse we stopped and most of the passengers got off so did the conductor who then started chatting to two other guys while pointing to me. Time for heart to really start pumping, couple of other guys get on as well as the two guys the conductor was talking to but not the conductor and off we went.
Ok so right now all kind of things were going through my mind. What were the guys talking about, why were they pointing at me and where the fuck (excuse the language) were we going?
We then get to a cross roads and stop, one of the guys that the conductor was talking to pointed to me to get off and then said keep going down this road and the entrance to the park is on your right, so off I head and guess what, he was right. You can imagine just how relived I was to eventually arrive at the park. Turned out the guy the conductor was talking to and pointing me out to was just the another conductor taking over and was being told where to drop me off.
At long last I reach the park and found the restaurant where I was meeting Allen. Told Allen about what happened in town, it is was then he told me that there was a student protest in town a few hours earlier, hence the riot police and tear gas. Apparently the students were demonstrating for the resignation of Education Minister Prof Sam Ongeri over the loss of some Sh4.2 billion meant for the Free Primary Education and secondary school programs, mainly funded by the UK.
Check out
http://www.capitalfm.co.ke/news/Kenyanews/Police-snuff-out-fire-in-unga-protest-13500.html
and you tube
&feature=player_embedded
Had a bite to eat and a few drinks while over looking the National Park. Got to see Baboons, dear and an Eagle, who when I went to take it's picture looked right at me. After a few hours of drinking, eating and chatting it was time to head back home, otherwise I'd be getting matatu's at night which is not recommended.
So off I head back into town, problem is I had forgotten to allow for traffic. Now it starts to get dark in Nairobi at about 6:30/7pm and I had headed off at about 5:30pm and it had taken me 1 hr 15 to get to the park. So guess what happened, I got stucked in the evening peak traffic. Eventually got into town at 6:15pm just as it's starting to get dark. Got up to the matatu stop, where I needed to get my matatu home, only to find none of the matatu's had numbers on them. Now I need to get the 118 from town to where I'm staying and this is one of the main matatu terminals so there are loads of matatus around. I ask a few people if they knew which one was going my way but with no joy.
Now a Matatu is just a small mini bus however on some routes bigger bus with the same numbers follow the same route but they don't have as many stops as the matatus. I've so far not used one as matatu's are more frequent and stop where ever you ask them to. So I saw this bus with 118 on it and thought it's getting dark, it's going past where I live so just get on it, at least I'm heading in the right direction I think.
Off we go, as we head off I ask the conductor if he can let me off at my place, but he is not sure where it is, after mentioning a few different places near to where I live I eventually work out that it is at least going the right way. After about 20 mins travelling I noticed that no one has got on or off yet, now on matatu's there are people getting on and off every 100/200 meters. I'm starting to think that maybe this is an express bus. As we were getting to my place I asked the conductor if he can let me off and luckily he stops the bus and off I get. Home at last after a exciting and eventful day.
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rickster
non-member comment
gulp
This all sounds far far too dangerous Chris....have u taken leave of your senses?! Get some beers delivered and spend the rest of your holiday, erm, life-experience, on a lilo getting drunk in the pool! X