The journey into the city centre was an adventure all of its
own. We decided to use motorbike taxis to avoid the worst of the traffic and it
worked: potholed sidewalks; people; gaps between bumper-to-bumper cars, buses
and trucks; the only motivation being to arrive at the destination with the
least delay. About midway through the journey, the clutch cable of the bike I
was on broke, but after a few minutes we were on our way with a replacement.
We dismounted on the outskirts of the CBD: a sprawling,
bustling, pulsating mass of humanity and commerce, but first things first:
where to have a smoke? The first option was the casino and at eleven in the
morning we sat alone at a roulette table with an ice cold Tuskers.
We walked to the east city and for block after block the
streets are lined with auto spares. Small kiosk style stores with an assortment
of new and used spares for every conceivable make of vehicle. The Nairobi City
Market is housed in a beautiful old building with a vaulted roof with stalls
selling everything from flowers and fruit to crafts and impressive ebony
sculptures.
The National Museum is alongside the botanical gardens and
late on a Saturday afternoon the space was teeming with lovers, families,
school groups and tourists. Unlike South Africa, Kenya has different entrance
fees for locals and tourists and in all the exhibition halls young Kenyans were
engaging with the national narrative.
It was late afternoon as we headed home in a taxi and still
the traffic was crawling, but one quickly adjusts to the slow pace and
seemingly random changing of lanes. Once again I was amazed by the endless rows
of informal nurseries and the furniture manufacturers who lived and plied their
trade along a particular stretch of road that extended for more than two
kilometres with everything being made for the local market.
Posts
