KENYA
July to September 2018 - Morocco, Kenya, Uganda, and Egypt
Our African adventure began in Casablanca, Morocco where we stopped for one night on our way from Chile. In Casablanca we met our friend Embe at the airport, then we all flew together to Kenya the next day. We arrived into Nairobi at 4:00am with no hotel reservation.
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Very few tourists in this situation would head straight into the heart of the city, with loud music pumping and prostitutes pimping, especially in a place notoriously known as "Nai-Robbery" - but that's what we did, and we felt quite safe too, because all three of us had previously toured Africa before - the hard way - so we were not intimidated, and Embe knew where to find the cheap-but-good hotels on River Road... Karibu Kenya!
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Wow. As we recovered from jetlag, we were continuously delighted when everyone we met was charming, with a great vibe. We were delighted with the good infrastructure, the buzzing middle class, and the proliferation of delicious restaurants. We were also amazed by the 100% complete lack of other white people. Seriously, none, and we stayed 4 nights in central Nairobi, but this was true in general: the "safari tourists" all stayed in expensive hotels away from downtown, eating only expensive "safe" food, and we never met any of them.
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We did not go on a safari tour in Kenya, but we did see plenty of "free" elephants and giraffes as we cruised around in those shared minivans known as matatus. These are overcrowded, slow, and dangerous but that's the price we happily paid to remain independent from tour guides, to understand Africa by travelling, eating and sleeping as Africans do, which by the way simultaneously helped us to keep to a low budget. Despite this, as the rare mzungus (white people) wandering around independently, everyone naturally assumed that we were fabulously wealthy anyway.
We mostly travelled as Brazilians because we speak that language, and Brazil is also a developing country with poverty and corruption, and this somehow helped us find common ground with locals. Once people got to know us, they could believe that we were not fabulously wealthy. We discovered a proud and progressive, safe Kenya full of genuinely nice people. We ate a lot of rice and beans and eggs.
As we adapted to life in Africa, we had to remind ourselves to check our bills, count our change, deflect dodgy dudes with humility and patience, watch out for potholes in the sidewalk, keep our small cash topped up, speak simplified English, agree to prices in advance, and always get a receipt when paying for a hotel. By the way, we never bought bottled water; we filter and/or boil it (and thereby make tea and coffee in our room).
We never felt threatened but we we're constantly the victims of petty attempts to get us to hand over money. For example, most police and security guards have learned that they can intimidate mzungus into paying a bribe any time they see the mzungu take a photo, because "photography is prohibited here." We did not pay any such bribes (this trip), but oh they did try! It can be intimidating to stand up to a police officer in his own country. Africa has no shortage of opportunistic thieves and bullshit artists, so we used a variety of tactics to minimize the chances of something going wrong. For example, we have a locking "PacSafe" bag. But the most important tactic for avoiding problems while travelling is maintaining a calm and polite attitude, with a sense of humor, unafraid and confident, with patience and humility. It also helps to dress appropriately. This is especially true for female travellers in socially-conservative areas. Also it is important to hide any expensive gear, and carry a bare minimum of stuff. For this we brought small backpacks only, easy to carry onto an airplane or matatu. Anyway this was our approach, and everything went smoothly.
Compared to the last time we travelled in Africa 13 years ago (on a 6 month overland adventure / honeymoon), so much has changed that it's just amazing, but those matatus are still dodgy, and worth it to experience the real Africa. As a bonus, unlike before, whenever we rolled into a new village or city, this time we could count on finding good local food and a clean, cheap room.
Here are examples of progress in Africa: mobile phone technology, a middle class, more hotels and restaurants, more hospitals, more colorful paint, and more big machines building more big infrastructure. There are more paved roads, more small businesses, more mosquito nets, more potable water, fewer beggars, and more cheap stuff from China. There is also more optimism. People in Kenya know exactly how shitty things used to be, and they know how shitty things are now in neighboring states, so they see their ongoing growth as excellent news (despite the corruption). Kenyans smile a lot.
Kenyans use their mobile phones all the time, even to pay for things like grilled corn from street vendors (using the M-Pesa system). People asked us for our phone number every day, and they were shocked to learn that we do not have this technology (we did bring a smartphone, but we always kept this a secret on the street). Our small camera remained hidden too, and we strictly enforced our own rules for photo etiquette. Why did so many people ask us for our phone number, every single day? Many people were reaching out to be friendly, but others just wanted money somehow from a fabulously wealthy mzungu. The easy answer to them was, "We don't have a phone because we're old-school travellers, and by the way, we can't remember the name of our hotel either."
Kenya has had a stable government plus a good economy for longer than most other African countries, and it shows. A vast transformation is in progress in terms of technology, infrastructure, and cheap stuff from China. Good news! Go visit Kenya. Expect well-stocked supermarkets. Most people are really nice, and they speak excellent English also.
Kenya has banned guns except for legitimate security personnel, and they have zero tolerance for violations. Life in prison is a common sentence. Several people told me that in some places thieves and illegal-gun owners are killed by vigilantes, and this has helped the local population to become more honest. Sometimes thieves are beaten and stripped naked. All of this makes Kenya surprisingly safe.
Kenya has built many new schools including ones just for girls, which is great, but the population is growing too fast for the schools to keep up. Furthermore most of these schools are Christian or Islamic, and these never call out the elephant in the room: overpopulation. Today's Kenya needs more scientists and engineers, not biblical scholars promoting large families. To put this another way, we should thank Allah that the government put land aside for National Parks when they did, or else by now there would be no wild elephants in Kenya. We saw people inhabiting even the dustiest, driest scrublands right up to the National Park borders.
On the Indian Ocean coast near to Somalia; we wanted to visit Lamu (an ancient trading center and world heritage site) but Al-Shabab terrorists were active along the road, so we didn't go. All the "safari tourists" fly to Lamu but that's not how we roll. We did however visit many wonderful places, notably Loitoktok (with a magnificent view of Mt Kilimanjaro), Wundyani (a hidden gem in the Taita Hills), and Kericho (where tea is grown for export). At Lake Naivasha we cruised through giraffe country by bicycle :-) We also took the new Chinese-built train from Mombasa to Nairobi, a modern marvel.
By the way, this train will continue all the way to Kampala, a huge economic boost for Uganda when their shipping containers will suddenly have direct access to the Mombasa sea port. More cheap stuff from China! Speaking of Uganda, that's where we went next...
PS: Embe made a VIDEO. Enjoy!
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