Lake Naivasha

Sascha and I (Gerard is back in Cambridge :)) took a day trip to Lake Naivasha on Saturday with our driver Sami. It was a little less than 2 hours drive  north of Nairobi. It was good to get out of the city, at least for a day. The road was very good, mostly a highway with one lane per side making for some stressful moments passing stinking trucks spilling out black clouds of exhaust.

Lake Naivasha is one of the biggest flower growing centers in Kenya, supplying Europe with roses, carnations, chrysanthemums and lilies. The areas around the lake are littered with greenhouses. But, the industry provides many jobs and that is sorely needed in Kenya.

To get to the lake you have to either visit a camp or lodge, or a park. We spent some time at Conelley's Camp which has campsites and rustic cabins, then took a boat trip to see some hippos. Also sighted a few Giraffes and zebras on land. After this we went to Crescent Island Nature Reserve where you hike among giraffes, zebras, wildebeests and antelope. The most dangerous animal in the reserve is a python, but noone seemed concerned about them. It was very cool to have a giraffe come walking by at close range. They seemed at ease with us being close by - something like the rabbits in the city that are accustomed to people. It turned out that all of these animals had been brought to this island (now peninsula) for the filming of the movie "Out of Africa" and now remain. Hearing this felt like a bit of a letdown, but it was still was neat getting so close to the animals. But, we did come home with a wildebeest skull.,,,,

Sascha with our guide Bernard

Taking a break with giraffes in the background

Yellow Acacia trees, which is what the giraffes eat.

Life is good!

Our guide and Sami, our driver

peek-a-boo

Sascha is becoming a master photographer

A busy Saturday scene at the lake's edge. People were bathing, washing clothes, trapping fish, hanging out.....

Safe in Nairobi

Just a quick note to say that we are safe and sound in Nairobi today, despite the ongoing tragedy at the Westgate Shopping Mall. We have in fact been to this mall a few times and were in fact having coffee there last Saturday around noon. But, luckily we weren't there today!!

The attack is a big shock to Nairobi and specifically to the expat community here. Nairobi is supposed to be safe and this kind of thing is not supposed to happen. Anyone could have been there today. We're just all hoping the hostages will get out safely and things will end without too much bloodshed.

I went to the hospital to donate blood this evening since there was a special appeal for my O- bloodtype. It was chaos there and I did in fact see a body being wheeled through the hospital while there. Absolutely horrible thing to happen!

Scenes from School

Sascha is starting to really enjoy her school. She is making a few good friends (all blond German girls so far) and enjoying the project orientated school days. Fridays are spent outside - today she reported she had played in the mud making pies which she certainly looked like she'd done. The school day goes until noon when they go to the cafeteria for lunch. Then, after some time outside to play, they have special AGs (classes) in the after-school program which includes ballet, swimming, arts/crafts, music, sports, yoga. It's quite the offering. In addition I convinced the music teacher to give Sascha recorder lessons (15 minutes a week) which she is very excited about and spent the first evening giving performances of her first song.

swimming lessons at the school pool

With Ute, Sascha's German-speaking teacher. Her other teacher Lili is Kenyan and speaks English and Kiswahili.

City Market

I went to City Market, a large vegetable and fruit market, with Knight this morning to do some shopping. It's the best place to buy fresh produce cheaply. But it is a bit overwhelming and I was glad to have Knight there to help bargain and navigate the place. I love markets and I visit them in every country I go to. Often they are housed in beautiful buildings and are an attractive place to visit. Not so here. There ceilings are very low, essentially just a roof held up by stilts. There is practically no lighting, so it's very dark and the stands are packed in extremely close together. We didn't see much of the place as for Knight we were just there to shop and get out. I will have to go again to look around a bit more.We came away with two huge baskets full of fruit and veggies for about $13, with the baskets included in the price.

Visit to the Goethe-Institut Nairobi and Downtown

This week I made a trip down into downtown Nairobi to visit the Goethe-Institut there. Where we live feels like the suburbs, with large beautiful gardens (all gated of course) and streets that are relatively calm. No matter where you go in Nairobi, there are always lots of people walking on or on the side of the road, but the streets are wide and the buildings well spaced with lots of green (and walls) in between. Downtown Nairobi is a whole other story, and rather overwelming at first. Cars and people filling narrow streets and 4-5 story buildings lining the streets. Most of them are made of concrete slabs which are in disrepair.

The Goethe-Institut itself is in a rather rundown looking building. The offices and classrooms are on the second floor and rather cramped. There is a nice balcony, but after experts came to look at it, it was decided it wasn't safe to use. Tomorrow the Goethe-Institut will sponsor a street party in front of the building with DJs from the UK, South Africa and Kenya in honor of the director who is leaving next week. Here's a pic of the building:

I met up with Barbara Reich of the program department (since 20 years!) and Thomas von Keller, who was visiting for three weeks from Munich. We took a walk to the former royal theater which is in a complex that house the only music conservatory, a nice gallery (unfortunately empty since funding is scarce) and the office of the director of the arts center.

Barbara Reich and Thomas von Keller in front of the Royal Theater

entrance to the Nairobi Conservatory of Music - looks quite forlorn and in need of funding.

The Giraffe Center

Now that we're getting somewhat settled we can start exploring the city and soon beyond that. Today we started by taking a trip to the Giraffe Center down on the other side of the city. It was me and three kids since we invited our neighbor's kids to join us. That's Rafik, who's 8 years old, and Naima, his 4 year old sister. Gerard bowed out and went off to a meeting. Luckily I didn't have to drive as our rental car comes with a driver called Sami.

Although it didn't look far on the map, with all the traffic it took us a good hour to get to the center. Ouch!! Probably not something we'll be doing too often.

The center (http://giraffecenter.org/) is neat because you get very close to giraffes to the extent that you can get sloppy kisses from them. The center was started to save the endangered Rothchild Giraffe but has become a popular attraction for tourists and local kids. There's a tower from which you can stand at the level of the giraffes and literally drop grass pellets into their mouths. It's off putting because giraffes have tongues up to 45 cm in length (that's almost half a yard!!) and Sascha was hesitant to get too close at first, but quickly you realize that they don't bite and it's only a bit of slobber anyway. Add to the that: giraffe slobber is an anesthetic so their tongues can heal quickly from the wounds they get from the thorns on their favorite trees. Here are a few pictures:

Naima, Sascha and Rafik in the tortoise pen

petting the tortoise....

More pictures of the house

I wanted to share a few more pictures of our house and compound since it has been the focus of our experience so far in Nairobi. We're meeting more of the neighbors, all of whom are quite interesting. It's a very international mix in our area mostly due to the proximity of the UN and many of the embassies. In our street (Muthaiga Road) practically every second house is an ambassador residence or embassy.

Last night a branch fell on a transformer causing a huge flash of light and a number of very loud bangs. Gerard and I went into overdrive, having no idea what it could have been. To me it sounded like gun shots very close by. The living room and dining room have essentially a wall of glass looking out to the garden and suddenly we felt very exposed. Shortly afterwards the electricity went out and the compound generator went on. AT that point we actually felt relieved even though we were in for 24 hours power outage.
I can tell you, I'm so glad we are living in a compound with a generator! The electricity goes out regularly, a few times a week for sure for hours at a time.During this time the generator allows us to turn on all the lights and use a few sockets as well. The hot water heater doesn't work, but the tanks seem to be very well insulated and 2 hours of heating in the morning gives us hot water for the rest of the day. Seems quite economical. Anyway, as a result of the blown transformer we met our neighbors to the other side, who kindly lent us an extension chord so we could plug our frig into the working wall socket at the other end of the house. The tricks of people experienced at living in Kenya.

We have also decided to get help for the house and garden. We could do it ourselves but we might as well go with the flow and hire a housekeeper/cook and a part-time gardener. The costs are very minimal. My neighbor tells me the minimum pay is $70 a month for a full-time housekeeper. Unbelievable and almost embarrassing. I guess that's why literally everyone with some money has someone working for them. In fact, it's almost expected of you as it creates employment and there is so much unemployment in Nairobi. The grounds manager was visibly disappointed when I declared we wouldn't be hiring anyone upon his inquiry on the first day. Now I've asked him to send along his contact (surely a family member of some kind) on Monday for an interview. It will be weird to have someone puttering around the house all day, but it could be a good opportunity to learn some Kiswahili. Stay tuned..... Usiku mwema! (good night)

Looking into our dining room from the terrace.

Looking back at our house from the garden. I'm standing under our avocado tree.

The garden had a homemade swing and tree house left from previous renters.

I'm trying to figure out how to harvest the hundred or so avocados on our tree. They apparently don't ripen on the tree, but you still have to pick them at the right time otherwise they won't soften but will just shrivel up. We're testing some right now but after a week they are still quite hard. When they're finally ready to go, we'll be eating only avocados for a few weeks to keep up with the harvest.

Another door to the garden from the living room.

Around the other side of the garden, the laundry drying area - leads to the wash room just off the kitchen.

View from the dining room looking into the living room and the kitchen on the far right. That's our new table which looks better than it is. We discovered why it was so cheap: the workmanship is lacking big time. Already a week after purchasing the glued seams are coming apart and we can see through the openings to the floor. We could take it back, but figure it's no use as the problem would most likely not get fixed. It is what it is.....

Life at home in Nairobi

It turns out that you spend a lot of time at home in Nairobi. It's where you feel safe and far away from the chaos of the streets. I was questioning whether we really needed the big house we have here (4 bedrooms and a large garden) but I now realize that this is a very good thing. You want to have a beautiful, roomy home to recoup energy needed to tackle Nairobi. Also that the house is in a secure complex with 9 other houses is a great setup. As a result Sascha has a large area to ride her bike safely in and the kids in the neighborhood have the freedom to run in and out of each others houses at will.

Here are some pictures taken along our daily commute to and from the German School. The huge billboard signs are typical as are the private minibus mutatus which function as the main transportation system for the Kenyan population. It costs something like 60-80 cents for the ride, often many miles long. But, this is on the limit of affordability for many Kenyans but if they have to cover long distances to work they don't have a choice.

At the end some pictures of our compound and the house. I'll follow up with more tomorrow.

The sides of the road are often filled with makeshift plant stores, each plant growing in a plastic bag. It makes for nice scenery while driving.

Our front gate. The security guards know us by now and don't hesitate to let us in anymore. No hooting allowed!

The first thing you see when you enter our compound. We live around to the right. More pictures tomorrow.

The table serves inside and outside purposes.

My home office, for the time being.

Ta da! Our new stove with first home-cooked meal.

Our first dinner in the house

A Walk in the Forest

It was a quiet day here. The weather was so so with temperatures around 65-70 and clouds in the sky most of the day. A perfect day for a walk in the Karura Forest which is just down the road from us. Our neighbors, a Kenyan Indian / Irish family with kids 4 and 7 years old also at the German School, invited us to come along. I was relieved to hear that there was such a place and so close to our house, as I was afraid there wouldn't be a place to get out into nature in the city without putting your life at risk.

Karura Forest is managed by the Kenyan Forest Service. It was saved from numerous housing projects in the late 90s becoming a symbol of a successful campaign against land grabbings in Kenya. Only in the past few years a fence was built around the forest, transforming it from a dumping site for hijackers and murderers to a beautiful park with waterfalls, caves, marshlands and woodlands. Of course, as a result it is only used by those who can pay the entrance fee (only $2) which ends up being expats and wealthier Kenyans. Another example of the great divide in Nairobi which you can not escape. More on that another time.

The forest has mainly deciduous trees, none of which you could find in New England or even much of the US. The soil is a rust color (as it is everywhere including our back garden) and looks/feels like clay. It apparently has a lot of iron and aluminum in it and gets its clay-like consistency from long periods of heavy rains and intense heat. Right now it's rather dry and creates this reddish dust that gets into everything.

The advantage of the clay is that the paths through the forest are hard enough for some good biking. Sascha and her two new friends biked a good few kilometers to Butterfly Lake (a dried out pit at the moment) and back. So, getting exercise and fresh air in Nairobi does not seem to be a problem despite my fears.

Butterfly Lake?