@ claremont you must be having good time. Well I got into Nairobi early in the morning with my family. we went thru the visa process and got it. outside at the airport i changed us dollars into currency at the airport at 85KS to 1dollar, first rip off in kenya,cos it is actually 87 in bureau de changed. But i also have heard that kenyans try to rip off foreigners, but i dont mind since it is my first day of going into a city I know nobody with my entire family at nite, 1.30am, it is really a high risk now that i think about it. But been a sales man I always think i will always survive. But my wife must really believe in me to take the risk with me.
Well that nite i left my family inside the airport to go negotiate with a taxi company to take me to a self cathering apartment that i had discussion with but we couldnt conclude cos I couldnt make payment with pay pal from Nigeria.
Luckily I saw a couple who spoke yoruba also coming out of the airport, spoke with them and they told me they are missionaries but we take me to where we could lodge and pay 7000ks(80dollars) as against 9,500 i already negotiated with the other apartment while in Nigeria.
Alas when we got to the apartment on Ole Dume road, they said thay are fully booked for the next 1week, gosh, moreover they insisted we could only get apartment from them at 12,000KS which is way above my target.
But i must mention that unlike Nigeria immigration at which every officers beg you for money, i didnt experience such in both Addis ababa and Nairobi. They just did their work.

Now, where do I sleep with all the stories about robbery in Nairobi, but the taxi man said he cant leave us because i have my young family with me, then he suggested a hotel in river road area and my nigerian helper said no way that the area is crime prone, that now he is suspecting the driver, at that point I was in between, the Kenyan driver said no he doesnt trust Nigerians, my Nigerians friend who is a pastor said for the guy to have suggested that area then he suspects him. But i knew both sides were trying to help me.

By now it was 3.30am, then i took a quick decision, said to the driver take me to the nearest hotel for me to sleep, i will take a decision on where to stay tommorow, because it is peak period of summer, most apartments in Kenyan where fully booked and occupied.
Well alas all of a sudden after driving for about 15minutes the driver parked in front of a dingy looking place and said this is a hotel he feels we will not pay too much and be comfortable.
Now my wife who has been quiet all this while screamed and said i must not get out of the car and if this is the last place left she will rather go back to he airport, by now my Nigerian friend has gone after i told him to go with is family that I cant continue to put him through stress.

I guess at this point the driver was now tired, and i said to him, even if the nearest hotel is a five star i dont mind, just take there. Behold five minutes later he parked in from of Meridian hotel in Nairobi city centre. Woh, woh.

I got in spoke with the receptionist, 2minutes later struck a deal, and I got for my family a one bedroom apartment with a sitting room and extra bed to go with for the nite. Was i happy, yeah you can say that again. Cos initially i had a plan to sleep in a luxury hotel with my family on the last day of our visit but at least it is coming up first. though the meridien hotel is very old one, it cannot be compared to its nigeria counterpart in terms of being modern,it is not as modern as nigeria, but was it a luxury hotel yes it is. Even my wify that is very finicky and choosy when it comes to hotel had very lovely time staying for the nite.
1st nite in Nairobi, the story continues shortly, But i am loving my stay here. SURE YOU CAN SAY THAT AGAIN. The story continues.

@Most High, not only cow dung, also water hycinth for those living around the riverine area. my sister understudied biogas production in kenya earlier this year.

bluerange: @Most High, not only cow dung, also water hycinth for those living around the riverine area. my sister understudied biogas production in kenya earlier this year.

Hi bluerange.

Is your sister still in Kenya

I am just looking for contacts that I can chase up.

I am really eager to visit Kenya to see how far our brothers have gone with the sustainable lifestyle

Would you be able to help me with any contact there pls

@ moderator, why did you hide my post. I really want to know, if I posted something I shouldn't have.
I don't like going against rules. kindly respond.

regards

which of your post is hidden?

Sorry moderator i missed it all up. I thot it was my post that was hidden.

@ Dis guy, thanks for your advice on my Nairobi trip, i am presently there now for my holiday.

@oolumide am glad you finally made it to kenya.

@Most High, she is currently in ghana bt heading back to kenya within the next 2 wks. .

Yeah I did by Gods grace. i almost chicken out. Will be on visit to Nairobi National Park, Shadrick and giraffe centre on thursday.

will also be on a long trip with a fellow xtian family i met to country side.

Reminds me of my first time in kenya. was to stay with some Rev. Sisters in kasarani, days before my leaving Nigeria l lost touch with my contact in kenya, with faith l left lagos, arrived nairobi @ 1.35 a.m. left airport @ 6, took a taxi to town.

That is interesting. So u went shopping for accommodation?

No l didn't go looking for accommodation. Like I said earlier I went to town then took a 40 Kenya shillings bus (matatu) to Kasarani, it is about 10km from Central Nairobi ( I was just following the location of the place on Google map I had already memorized back in Nigeria). I had to bone face, make the locals no feel say I be JJC though I looked so different from the locals and they knew am a foreigner. I already knew the bus stop I would be stopping. When I got to the gate of the Rev. Sisters' residence where I stayed, I heaved a sigh of relief as the images of Lagos reeled in my mind-the hold up along Airport road, waiting to collect to my Yellow card from the Nurse there at the Muritala Mohammed Airport, then arriving Addis Ababa , waiting for about 2 hours before the flight to Nairobi, the waiting at the Jomo Kenyatta Airport . The Reverend Sisters were shocked when they saw me, wondering how I made it. It was a wonderful experience.

Great one. I think what make mine look out of place is the fact that I was with my family. Children ages 5 and 7.so qhat did you do to catch ur fun

Sorry to ask you bluerange are you a lady or a guy. Cos I assumed you are a guy to have done this. But when you say you stayed with Reverend sisters I start wondering if you are a lady.

bluerange: @Most High, she is currently in ghana bt heading back to kenya within the next 2 wks. .

Hi bluerange.

Is it opssible to get her contact

She sounds like the exact person i need to talk with right now

thanks.

hi ooluumide glad to hear you got here safely after such a long night,hope you enjoy the national park as much as i do,make sure you go for a game drive and have a barbeque at the view point

Proudly female. After a week with the Sisters I had to attend a training program in Karen which is about 13 km from Nairobi and because of the usual traffic gridlock in Nairobi, it made no sense commuting daily from Kasarani to Karen which could take 90mins, I needed to relocate to somewhere nearer, a cousin who was then staying in Eldoret (another city in Kenya) got a Kenyan couple who were friends of hers who stays in Karen to look for accommodation around Karen for me (Karen is an upscale neighbourhood). Housing there is expensive. They invited me to stay with them, an ensuite bedroom to myself and for the over two weeks I was with them it was fun. Every morning the wife drives me to my training centre and in the evening picks me up on her way back from work.

They took me to places of interest, went to the cinema and the Pizza Inn, Dormans coffeeshop at Crossroads Café. Crossroads café is at Karen junction and a complex that houses the coffee shop, Nakumatt supermarket, Bata shoes and other big brands, you will always see many expatriates around there shopping or drinking coffee while working on their laptops.

I had difficulty adjusting to the little/no pepper in the food way of Kenyans. They don’t know what it means to prepare stew to eat with their rice that is so tiny, so the first time I was in their kitchen blending tomatoes and pepper to prepare stew both the wife and their cook were observing me with awe. I introduced stew, plantain and moi moi to them

@bluerange thats true even most kenyans hate pepper,a friend of mine makes sure he removes any trace of pepper from pizza,i cant eat plantains at all!lol

@Most High, drop your email address.

bluerange: @Most High, drop your email address.

cool

tumoje@yahoo.com

Thanks.

@ianeki what don't you love about plantain? the first time l ate chapati, l was crying inwardly!

i didnt like the taste reminded me of pumpkins and i looveee chapati did you have pilau?

l did. there was a day we were at table having ugali for supper, l mixed the fried meat & the vegetable together in one plate,sliced fresh pepper into it, l dipped the ugali into the mixture and swallowed it the Nigerian style, everyone was laughing.

haha spent christmass at a nigerians house last year,the dipping was funny!tho i found the green stew bitter,i love how you cook meat,i found myself eating it though am not a meat person btw pilau is rice with spices and meat

l think that green stew is bitterleaf soup. l always skip that cold boiled sweet potato on the breakfast table. l just focus on the bread. that boiled banana is something else.

bluerange: l think that green stew is bitterleaf soup. l always skip that cold cooked sweet potato on the breakfast table. l just focus on the bread. that cooked banana is something else.

Hi bluerange

@most high l have taken note and have forwarded your contact to her. wait for her mail.

bluerange: @most high l have taken note and have forwarded your contact to her. wait for her mail.

Thank you.

i opt for sweet potatoes and arrowroots for breakfast i cant stand bread then our government has decided to tax milk its now a luxury to take milk 55-65kshs imagine!

@Aineki, I finally made it.......

Day 2, I woke up early around 8am even though i slept at 5.30am, but i needed to get a line to be able to call family and friends back in Niger that we are safe. Alas i got a place bought a line and since my phone is samsung note 2 i needed to cut it off, after all done, the chap told me the line is 150KSH and for cutting it 50ksh, i felt well he could be swindling me, but being Sunday morning I careless. Only for me to find out some minutes later from where I was registering the line that it is 50KSH i was furious went back there and the chap told me it is business already done there is nothing he can do about it. Well i raked a bit and left, you know this is not Niger before they bit blue black.