Blog #2 - Nairobi, Kenya

Blog 2

Nairobi, Kenya

Hello from Nairobi! Arrived yesterday (Sunday, 7/2/23) and have spent a busy day connecting with our other safari friends and seeing the city!

Our flights from Portland through Amsterdam were long but uneventful – no lost luggage, departure delays, or the other challenges people face in airline travel these days. We were met at Nairobi airport and escorted to our hotel – where we immediately went to bed to make up for the long day of travel. Our hotel is lovely – I rarely do justice to interior pictures, but if you’d like to take a look – here’s the link! https://www.hemingways-collection.com/nairobi/

Up early on our only day in Nairobi, with plans to visit some of the city’s most important sites.

After a lovely breakfast at the hotel, our day guide met our group, who escorted

around the city. Nairobi is very busy with traffic, and cars are new to some of the population – suffice it to say I’m glad I wasn’t driving. Our first visit was to the Karen Blixen (Isac Dinesen) Museum, where her old farmhouse has been converted into a museum, with lots of memorabilia regarding her life in Kenya. While I’ve read some of her books, and know her story well, one thing that wasn’t really evident was her impact on Kenya. There is a large area (our hotel is in it), which is called the Karen district – a reflection of her contributions to education, improved treatment of indigenous peoples, and her love of Kenya. So happy to have seen this!

With Karen behind us, we visited the Giraffe Center. This is famous in Nairobi for its commitment to saving giraffes across Kenya and Africa. The absolute highlight of the visit was feeding the herd (called a tall). They were very friendly – and the baby was only six months old! We attended a lecture from the resident giraffe expert – did you know it takes one acre to support a single giraffe? This has been one of the challenges faced by giraffe conservationists – but hopefully, they are making progress.

Of course, we had to eat – had lunch at a lovely art gallery. With vittles taken care of, we moved on to a Maasai bead center, designed to assist women in finding and sustaining employment. It began during the pan Kenya suffered both the challenges of the pandemic, combined with three years of drought. As the Maasai are herding and farming people; they have been recruited and trained to make the beautiful Maasai beads to offset the losses suffered by the tribe over the last few years. which are fashioned into headdresses, necklaces, bracelets, and other items of jewelry. The local women sang for us and showed us their lovely handiwork (ok – I admit it – not patience for this!). And finally, we rounded out the day with a visit to a craft market – lots of fun shopping and chatting with the locals!

Our weather today has been on the cool side (about 65F). It is winter here – our guide and hotel staff are all running around in fleece and sweaters!

Up bright and early for our flight to our first safari camp – more soon!