Nairobi, Kenya!

Emily, Katie, Dani, Elise, Amber, and I decided to spend the weekend in Nairobi, Kenya. What a perfect way to end my trip!

We caught a bus, and slept most of the way. The departure from Tanzania, and arrival into Kenya was a bit confusing with visas, and the need to walk over the border. There was an “Ebola Screening” area where a man with a mask and hand sanitizer stood, but we never got called over.

Nairobi! We have arrived! Traffic was horrendous! It took forever to get dropped off. Nairobi was completely different than Arusha. It was developed, had big buildings, giant malls, and advertisements on every corner (“is your child being abused? Get a nanny cam!”) We caught a cab to our hostel which was called Milimani Backpackers. I recommend it for everyone who goes to Nairobi! It was clean, cute, and the owners were fabulous. The 6 of us stayed in a 6 room dorm, it was perfect. The showers were even lukewarm! Score! It was also the first time I had seen a TV in 6 weeks. What is that?

We went to David Sherwin Elephant Orphanage where we watched baby elephants being fed and saw them play. Most were orphaned because of poachers killing the mother, but also from falling down a well, or Maasai people killing the mother. They would wrestle and play in the mud. I wanted to take one home.

We then went to a giraffe center where we met Stacey, Daisy, and Jacque, the cutest giraffes ever. They would head butt you if you didn’t feed them fast enough. There were also wart hogs, including a baby. I wish Shelby was here!

We were taken to a few Maasai markets, but they were no different than the Maasai markets in Arusha.

I wanted to purchase a Doppler u/s for Levolosi Hospital, but it ended up being more difficult than I expected. First off, Arusha doesn’t even sell them, so I was hoping to get one in Kenya. Turns out stores are closed weekends. I was able to get a hold of a store that sold Dopplers and was willing to open the store for me. However, all he had was a $6000 machine. I wanted a small handheld one, but that wasn’t available.  I even spoke to the Nairobi hospital pharmacy, and their supply store. No luck. So I was definitely disappointed.

Saturday night we went to a restaurant called Carnivore. It was the same idea as Saboroso in Saskatoon where it is all-you-can-eat and servers constantly come around to serve meat off a skewer. Lamb liver, chicken gizzard, ostrich, ox balls, and crocodile to name a few. Game meat has been banned since 2004. After 6 weeks of almost no meat (other than goat on Thursdays) it was a treat! We also had amazing dessert. It was the perfect Goodbye Supper for me.

The Nairobi marathon was happening this weekend, so we went to watch. There were huge crowds singing and dancing.  We had a slum tour planned for the morning, but I had to catch my bus early afternoon and with roads being closed and traffic terrible, I didn’t want to risk missing my bus.  The girls ended up doing the tour that afternoon, and they said it was incredible.

Kibera, the largest slum in Africa (seen from the road)

My last goodbye to my roommates/Tembo Sistahs

My bus back to Arusha was uneventful, and a bit lonely. I had to go through an Ebola screen at the Tanzanian boarder. I stood in a circle while they did a test using a thermal scanner. I passed! The sunset was so incredible, I am sure it was more beautiful than normal tonight to celebrate my last night in Africa.    

Tanzanian/Kenya border

Hard to capture on a moving bus.