The press about Nairobi as a city to visit isn’t very positive. Safety is the first question that people ask. While the stories maybe true, there is clearly a positive side to the story as well.

The airport experience on landing was amusing at best. The aircraft parked at an aerobridge, and we saw a swanky airport. Just before we could enter, there was a small detour to a staircase that led to a waiting bus. The bus took us to a temporary shed setup for immigration. The process was a little chaotic but didn’t take too long. This is when the good stuff began…

We walked past some ATMs and kiosks selling local SIM cards. We considered buying one to enable the use of M-Pesa the local digital wallet, but decided to stick to cash as most of the tour was prepaid. It was about 9 pm and the weather was fantastic, just a slight nip in the air. A warm and polite tour guide greeted us and just took over. We were ushered into a bus and all the luggage into another cab. The hotel was a 30-minute ride away and the city looked quite modern from the bus.

The hotel looked quite nice, though the higher level of security at the entrance was evident. Check-in was smooth and the rooms were nice and cozy. There wasn’t enough time to go anywhere to eat, so we stuck to the hotel dinner buffet and beer. It was a small buffet and possibly a bit overpriced but our first taste of a new cuisine. The ugali seemed promising and the beef and chicken were well-cooked. the head chef happened to be an Indian and came by and told us about Nairobi. He spoke about the safety issues as recoonended any late evening trips be coordinated so that there was security from the hotel or the restaurant/ bar walking us to the cabs. He also promised aloo parathas for the breakfast in the morning.

It was late by the time we had finished dinner and one of the families arriving from Ghana had only landed at 5 am after an 11-hour delay. We decided to delay the start of our day to 10 am – it wasn’t a packed schedule anyway. Breakfast was nice and we had some interesting local fare. The usual international hotel chain flavor was enhanced with a few local dishes. I think I tasted them all and even took a bite of the aloo paratha, just a bite though – it wasn’t bad. The local food was quite good, but very heavy – it was meant to keep hunger at bay through the day.

A small bus picked us up at about 10 and started the trip – the first stop at the Elephant orphanage. It was about a 30-minute ride from the hotel and the guide set the expectation high when he told us that we could expect to get our clothes muddied up a bit. It was a little underwhelming. There was a circular area cordoned off by ropes and there was a small rhino walking around when we entered. Someoene with a mic was telling his story of injury and rescue. Then the care-takers of the elephants waved large bottles of milk as about 10 small elephants walked in. They drank the milk and hung around for a bit before the pattern was repeated with another 12 slightly older elephants. The guy with the mike told each of their stories. You could touch them if they came close to the ropes but there wasn’t much playing with the elephats and getting muddy. There were also a lot of people there. Great stories if you are an animal lover, but no great experience.

The next stop was the famous Giraffe Center. This one lived up to the hype even though it is quite a touristy experience. If feeding Giraffes is your kind of thing then this is the place for you. If you crave a more intimate experience of giraffes poking their heads into your dining room or even the bedroom and then you feed them, then there is a giraffe manor right next door – we didn’t go there. Giraffe center is quite a simple place – they house a number of giraffes in a semi-wild setting. There is an elevated walkway that the visitors can go on with a dry coconut shell bowl full of ‘pellets’ of giraffee feed. I have no clue what the feed is made of but the giraffes seemed to like it. They would get their heads close and stick their toungue out. Then you calmly place one pellet on the tongue and the massive giraffee gobbles up the 1cm length tiny pellete. There was no real time limit you could feed them to your heart’s content. We spent about 30 minutes there and then walked out through the cafe and gift center. Lunch was next, so we skipped the cafe.

Lunch was nearby at Karen Blixen Coffee Garden & Cottages – a fine dining restaurant inspired by a book called Babette authored by Karen Blixen, a Danish author. The Kenyans sure knew their literature and also how to mix it with food – a restaurant called Hemmingway was nearby. It was a fantastic lunch buffet with some live BBQ chicken, a delicious beef stew, some local flavors, and even a few Indian options. It all worked magically well with Tusker beer. We spent some time there as there wasn’t much on the agenda for the rest of the day, besides another massive dinner.

Even before we flew to Nairobi some friends had spoken about the Village Market – in essence, a mall with a focus on locally made goods. this was our first experience with Nairobi traffic. It took us almost an hour to get there and we barely had any time left to navigate it. Nevertheless, it was a fantastic place to shop for some amazing (and very expensive) local clothes, glassware, lighting, jewelry, general retail, and even books. We spent way more time and money here than planned including a coffee/ icecream break at a cafe.

There wasn’t enough time left to go back to the hotel and rest/change, as was the original plan. We headed straight to Carnivore, the most ‘famous’ restaurant in Nairobi and completely a tourist trap. The restaurant used to boast of a menu full of exotic bush meat till it was banned after COVID-19. Now the menu and the service are more like a Brazilian Churrascaria with on-table service of freshly grilled meats – mostly different cuts of beef, pork, alligators, crocodiles, and the like. It was a good experience but none of the meats were really spectacular and some were downright tasteless. The best thing I had there was a vodka version of the local ‘dava’ or medicine. It was just vodka with a lot of simple syrup and lime – delicious. There is a basic menu for any vegetrians but I assume its nothing to write home about.

By the time we got back to the hotel any plans to go clubbing in the night had withered away. We were fairly tired even though it was just around half past nine. Even the faint discussions about going for a drink at a nearby bar didn’t lead anywhere as the kids had to be put to bed. We would leave for Lake Naivasha – a two-hour drive – right after breakfast.