After the safari we spent another day in Arusha, but changed the hotel to a nice Ethiopian B&B and did nothing more than organizing our onwards travel.
The next morning we boarded a shuttle bus which should bring us across the border to Nairobi within 5 hours. As we have so much routine in border crossings now it was unspectacular and only the waiting time was annoying... especially as we could watch the immigration officer handling the passports in a secret sequence which made our passports always be on the bottom of the pile. The whole bus had to wait for us and eventually the bus driver came up and talked to the immigration officer to hurry up.
We could tell by the traffic that we were approaching Nairobi, the most international metropolis in East Africa.
And here we found it again, what we haven't seen since Cape Town: Western Lifestyle, highrise buildings, expensive cars and women in jeans (and with hair!). But this doesn't mean you can't find African tradition, slumlike shacks, old minibusses and streetkids around.
Our hotel was a bit outside of the citycentre at a newly built outbound road. the neighborhood consists of shabby housing, the local minibus stop (which means conductors shout out their destinations from the slowly driving minibuses constantly and the condition of the cars made the traffic noisy & smelly) and numerous market stalls selling everything from vegetables to clothing. The hotel staff however was so friendly that we felt quite comfortable there. One night some drama happened just underneath our hotel balcony. We woke up from several people shouting at each other. As with African language you never knew if people are fighting or just exchanging news, I got up and had a look and apparently there was a serious discussion going on. It was cold and rainy outside so I didn't stay long plus I didn't want to be seen and be a possible witness at the end. But a few minutes later a police car stopped on the road and the police officer was talking to the 8 discussing people at the side... Until with an enormous bang a car came from behind around the corner at fast speed and crashed in the police-car making it jump a few meters. Suddenly everybody was quiet, nobody was discussing anymore and in silent agreement they tried to secure the scene... I don't know how serious people were hurt, I made sure I disappeared in the hotel room again... crime scenes in Africa is nothing you want to be caught in...
The next day we bought ourselves a Kenya guide and by scanning the sights spontaneously decided to take the train to Mombasa. I mean, it was cold & rainy, and Mombasa was hot & sunny, any further questions? There is a convenient overnight train connecting the 2 cities in about 14hours. The last cold day we spent at the National Museum of Kenya circling through school classes reading about the cradle of humankind and Kenyan's colonial history, a short visit to the connected snake park and that was enough Nairobi for us at that time.
Unfortunately the so conveniently looking train journey turned out to be a real marathon. The scheduled departure should be at 7 p.m. and we seriously waited until 2 a.m. in the morning (!) in the cold until we could board the train which was delayed from Mombasa. The booked dinner which should have been served at departure time was now served at 2:30 a.m. We skipped that and went straight to bed (2 bunk-bed compartments with a sink) being totally frozen and tired. The next morning breakfast was scheduled at 8 o'clock and after that you should arrive - under normal circumstances. But we had to spend another 11 hours on the train, without food (only 2 meals are provided and no kiosk was on the train) and with a hole in the ground as toilet... We couldn't even sit and look out of the window because the compartments were made for sleeping only, so the glass was milky and when sitting you could only watch the opposite wall...
Anyway, we got to Mombasa eventually just to be caught up in the next traffic jam by taxi making our 26hours journey complete. We truly deserved a holiday!
The next morning we boarded a shuttle bus which should bring us across the border to Nairobi within 5 hours. As we have so much routine in border crossings now it was unspectacular and only the waiting time was annoying... especially as we could watch the immigration officer handling the passports in a secret sequence which made our passports always be on the bottom of the pile. The whole bus had to wait for us and eventually the bus driver came up and talked to the immigration officer to hurry up.
We could tell by the traffic that we were approaching Nairobi, the most international metropolis in East Africa.
And here we found it again, what we haven't seen since Cape Town: Western Lifestyle, highrise buildings, expensive cars and women in jeans (and with hair!). But this doesn't mean you can't find African tradition, slumlike shacks, old minibusses and streetkids around.
Our hotel was a bit outside of the citycentre at a newly built outbound road. the neighborhood consists of shabby housing, the local minibus stop (which means conductors shout out their destinations from the slowly driving minibuses constantly and the condition of the cars made the traffic noisy & smelly) and numerous market stalls selling everything from vegetables to clothing. The hotel staff however was so friendly that we felt quite comfortable there. One night some drama happened just underneath our hotel balcony. We woke up from several people shouting at each other. As with African language you never knew if people are fighting or just exchanging news, I got up and had a look and apparently there was a serious discussion going on. It was cold and rainy outside so I didn't stay long plus I didn't want to be seen and be a possible witness at the end. But a few minutes later a police car stopped on the road and the police officer was talking to the 8 discussing people at the side... Until with an enormous bang a car came from behind around the corner at fast speed and crashed in the police-car making it jump a few meters. Suddenly everybody was quiet, nobody was discussing anymore and in silent agreement they tried to secure the scene... I don't know how serious people were hurt, I made sure I disappeared in the hotel room again... crime scenes in Africa is nothing you want to be caught in...
The next day we bought ourselves a Kenya guide and by scanning the sights spontaneously decided to take the train to Mombasa. I mean, it was cold & rainy, and Mombasa was hot & sunny, any further questions? There is a convenient overnight train connecting the 2 cities in about 14hours. The last cold day we spent at the National Museum of Kenya circling through school classes reading about the cradle of humankind and Kenyan's colonial history, a short visit to the connected snake park and that was enough Nairobi for us at that time.
Unfortunately the so conveniently looking train journey turned out to be a real marathon. The scheduled departure should be at 7 p.m. and we seriously waited until 2 a.m. in the morning (!) in the cold until we could board the train which was delayed from Mombasa. The booked dinner which should have been served at departure time was now served at 2:30 a.m. We skipped that and went straight to bed (2 bunk-bed compartments with a sink) being totally frozen and tired. The next morning breakfast was scheduled at 8 o'clock and after that you should arrive - under normal circumstances. But we had to spend another 11 hours on the train, without food (only 2 meals are provided and no kiosk was on the train) and with a hole in the ground as toilet... We couldn't even sit and look out of the window because the compartments were made for sleeping only, so the glass was milky and when sitting you could only watch the opposite wall...
Anyway, we got to Mombasa eventually just to be caught up in the next traffic jam by taxi making our 26hours journey complete. We truly deserved a holiday!
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