Thanksgiving in Nairobi (Thursday, Nov 23)
So instead of the hillsides of New England and delicious turkey and football ice-cream cake (a special shout-out to the Staley family), this Thanksgiving I spent wandering (or better put, being driven around) the busy streets of Nairobi. If I had thought that DC traffic was pretty bad, it definitely took traffic in Nairobi to realize that we are actually doing okay in DC. Despite the constant traffic jams, I managed to make it to the office of our collaborators for a bit of work and lunch, pick up my safari tickets, do some souvenir shopping (of course), and visit 2 places I have wanted to see since I have found out about the trip, i.e. the Langata Giraffe Center and the Karen Blixen Museum.
The giraffe center was an answer to the constant strife I experience when visiting the DC National Zoo and seeing Oliver (our local giraffe): I finally got to pet, feed, and even kiss a real giraffe!!! They were very gentle, sweet, a bit shy, and soooo cool! I even got to see a week-old giraffe with his Mom grazing at a distance.
The Karen Blixen museum was a neat intro into her book, which I started reading right away the very same night. Karen Blixen was a Danish woman who married her Swedish cousin, a hunter in Kenya, had a coffee plantation at the foothill of the Ngong Hills, divorced the husband some years later due to lack of love between them, and had an affair with an English pilot. All of this and more is captured in some of her books (the most famous is “Out of Africa”) and immortalized in a Meryl Streep/Robert Redford movie under the same name.
That night at the hotel I had to “process” my thoughts and emotions from my first day in Africa, which led me to realize that I was experiencing a bit of a culture shock. The poverty around me was overwhelming, even though I was in the capital city. There are some nice parts populated by mostly ex-pats and wealthy locals, but the rest of the city is just plain poor and underdeveloped (even though I did find an awesome supermarket/grocery store where I had to physically pull myself away from the tea aisle). I also got a brief look at Kibera, the largest slum in East Africa, and the size of it was overwhelming. So, in short, Kenya is poor, but has an indescribable charm to it that makes you want to explore it more and learn more about its people.
The giraffe center was an answer to the constant strife I experience when visiting the DC National Zoo and seeing Oliver (our local giraffe): I finally got to pet, feed, and even kiss a real giraffe!!! They were very gentle, sweet, a bit shy, and soooo cool! I even got to see a week-old giraffe with his Mom grazing at a distance.
The Karen Blixen museum was a neat intro into her book, which I started reading right away the very same night. Karen Blixen was a Danish woman who married her Swedish cousin, a hunter in Kenya, had a coffee plantation at the foothill of the Ngong Hills, divorced the husband some years later due to lack of love between them, and had an affair with an English pilot. All of this and more is captured in some of her books (the most famous is “Out of Africa”) and immortalized in a Meryl Streep/Robert Redford movie under the same name.
That night at the hotel I had to “process” my thoughts and emotions from my first day in Africa, which led me to realize that I was experiencing a bit of a culture shock. The poverty around me was overwhelming, even though I was in the capital city. There are some nice parts populated by mostly ex-pats and wealthy locals, but the rest of the city is just plain poor and underdeveloped (even though I did find an awesome supermarket/grocery store where I had to physically pull myself away from the tea aisle). I also got a brief look at Kibera, the largest slum in East Africa, and the size of it was overwhelming. So, in short, Kenya is poor, but has an indescribable charm to it that makes you want to explore it more and learn more about its people.
posted by HM | 10:45 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home