Blogs from Nairobi Province, Kenya, Africa - page 6

LAKE VICTORIA, EAST AFRICA JOURNAL 1.1.16-20.3.16. FRIDAY 1.1.16 Departed Brisbane on New Year's Eve, Africa bound. Non stop supposedly to Abu Dhabi, connecting through to Nairobi.The flight was diverted as we approached the WA border, due to an onboard medical emergency. So we flew to Darwin where the seriously ill passenger was offloaded and the plane was refuelled, a 3 hour deviation, sitting on board, resulting in an 18 hour journey. The plane landed as my Nairobi flight departed, an auspicious start. Etihad were very good, they put me up for the night at the Hilton on the Abu Dhabi Corniche ( beachfront), limo transfers and all meals.Impressions of Abu Dhabi were that it is very spread out, wide highways and some futuristic buildings. Mem and i will explore at the end of this trip. The ... read more

NAIROBI: This morning a few of us visited the KIBERA SLUM, the biggest slum in Africa. We visited a volunteer organisation teaching kids how to use computers. Over 1000 have graduated with Microsoft accreditations, enabling them to escape the slums. A very sobering experience, but an overwhelming part of Africa I think. I have posted selected photos.... read more

We arrived in Nairobi at 15:30 on 4th December. We were surprised how small an international airport can be. As soon as we entered the terminal we were met by 5 visa lines which went fairly fast. As soon as we got our passport stamped we were literally in front of our baggage conveyor and as soon as we left that room we were out! We booked a taxi for 2000 Kenyan shillings (about £12) and headed off to our taxi. We could have got a bus for 40 shillings but that would have increased our chances of getting mugged significantly. On arrival to the Meridian hotel we checked in to a very welcoming reception desk. Everyone was really friendly. We headed for dinner after dropping our bags in our room. We got a lovely selection ... read more

Yesterday morning at about 6:30 we got a cab from our house to the bus station. Denver to DC was an easy 3 hours. We had enough of a layover to eat and then we were off to Zurich for a 7.5 hour flight. They had TVs, although Sarah's sound didn't work so we had to run a splitter off of my sound and try to time up the movies. Worked great for Inside Out (Katy, really funny movie but I can't see the kiddos watching it) but not so great for Jurassic World (sorry Cliff, it just wasn't good). Switzerland was all clouded over so we didn't get to see the Alps. About 2 hours later we were on our next flight from Zurich to Nairobi...for another 7.5 hours in the air....ugh. Swiss Air was ... read more

Nairobi (= Ort des kühlen Wassers) liegt etwa 1700 m hoch, an der Grenze zwischen Hochland und Trockensavanne. Noch bis Ende des 19.Jh. wäre niemand auf die Idee gekommen, in dieser moskitoverseuchten Gegend eine Stadt zu gründen. Aber 1899 erreichte die Ugandabahn die Wasserstelle und es wurde ein Basislager für den Bahnbau eingerichtet. 1900: tausende von indischen Vertragsarbeiter lebten hier, während noch die Löwen um die Zelte strichen. 1905: Nairobi wurde statt Mombasa zur Hauptstadt des britischen Protektorats. Die heutige Metropole (ca 3,2 Mio E, 60 % der E leben in Slums) liegt zentral im Land, an der Kreuzung Great Northern Road/Trans Africa Highway und hat einen für ganz Ostafrika wichtigen Flughafen. Soviel zum Überblick. Damit mir nicht langweilig wird, fuhr ich heute mit dem öffentlichen Bus in die Stadt. Ich bin sehr erstaunt, wie zivilisiert ... read more