The Second Week in Nairobi

So there I am, having breakfast, sitting on the (ground floor) balcony of the ArtCafe (no less!), at the new Westgate Mall (dahling). I see this bobbing bald black head out the corner of my eye. The head attracts my attention, being visibly that much higher than all the other heads passing on the pavement. I turn slightly in my seat to get a better view. And there I see a Maasai warrior in full regalia – spear and knobkerrie held together behind his shield - walking with his buddy who is in a suit! The warrior is wearing the traditional swathe of red fabric, layer-upon-layer, and is chatting animatedly in Swahili to his chommie…

The contrasts of this place astound me! Anyway, need I say more than that it was a stunning sight? The Maasai are a majestic tribe of tall, fine-boned, almost elegant people. And to see such, in full kit, in the streets of Nairobi, was quite special.

While sitting on the balcony, the local semi-rock station (Classic FM) is being piped through the speakers and the patrons are being fed a diet of The Police, the Stones and the Doors, ending with Pet Clark’s "These Boots Are Made for Walking". What a mix! But the last track has the entire contingent of waitrons bopping and singing “…and one of these days these boots are gonna walk all over YOU!” So cool. That’s it for Kenyan coffee shops.

I got issued a four-week visa on entry to Kenya – we South Africans being lucky in that we are one of the few countries that get issued visas on entry – but it is going to expire in three weeks time, while our offices are closed for Christmas.

Lo-and-behold, if the boss (I'll call her Jane from now on) doesn’t call me into her office to tell me that I will have to go to Dar Es Salaam on 4th January, to beat the expiry of the visa (which I had forgotten about!). I am, of course, going to meet the staff at our Dar Es office - but not before I’ve had a chance to get to the beach for the day (bra!). I’m hopefully going to be booked into one-or-other beach hotel (if there’s a room available during high-season time). I will get to spend a few days just “getting to know the place” as Jane put it. I guess I’ll just have to suffer through the experience, pretending to enjoy myself.

Sorry guys, I really don’t mean to sound glib. It’s just that I can’t fully believe what’s going on in my life right now (and in the foreseeable future) – to the point where I battle to take it seriously. But serious it is. And I must say that I have worked far harder in the last week than I did in seven months at my last job!

This weekend will be the first one where I’ll have a vehicle. Not yet the company car, but a company car, I’ll at least have transport for this long weekend (tomorrow is a holiday here - but no-one can tell me what holiday it is!). I told Jane I was thinking of driving down to Mombasa. She looks at me, straight faced and says “no, you will not be driving to Mombasa…” I get a bit of a fright and wait expectantly for the rest of the obvious admonition.

She continues, “If you want to go to Mombasa, ask Mueni (our office assistant) to organize you a flight. You shouldn't drive on that road. It’s 400kms but will take you 12 hours. The Mombasa-Kampala railway is closed – no-one knows why – so you have to deal with every truck travelling from the port to here. Sorry, but I don't think you should drive”.

I say, “Jane, it’s not a problem, there’s plenty for me to see in Nairobi”.

She says, “Yes, that’s a better idea”.

So I guess I won’t be going to Mombasa this weekend and will have to suffer staying in Nairobi. Maybe it’ll be the Maasai Mara this weekend instead, where I can stock up on giraffe, elephant and the occasional lion-kill... I can’t tell you how much I love this place already.

Apart from my Dar Es trip I have also just been booked as part of a trade mission that is going to Uganda and Rwanda in March. It’s a seven day trip, consisting mainly of briefings on the economic, social and political systems, etc, etc. but it should also be great. I’d love to get to the Chimp orphanage we saw recently on TV in SA. And the Rwandan Silverback Gorillas (a la Gorillas in the Mist) would be great too.

What do they say about “be careful what you wish for…”?

Truth is, I couldn’t have dreamt up – never mind wished for – what has been given to me from the HP source. I walk to work every day smiling, thinking how far this already is from a life I left a mere week ago. And I thank the source on a daily basis.

Love and Peace.

B