Central Park, Nairobi
Nai-soggy
The usual morning racket of gulls rudely awakens me at 4.00a.m. Wait. Rewind. This is not Colwyn Bay, it’s Nairobi and the racket outside my window is worse than any gull could make. What sort of prehistoric creature could be making that noise at this hour? It’s far too early to investigate, so I pull the pillow tight over my head and try to sleep.
Moments later, it is the soulful sound of an African choir which rouses me at 8.00a.m. As I look out the window to the building opposite, it is hard to believe these are pre-school children singing in perfect harmony to start their day and mine..
As promised by my taxi driver, the day starts overcast and should clear for the afternoon before the clouds return for the evening, without rain to ease the tension in the air.
After breakfast, I meet up with fellow traveller, Sally, by the poolside who has just arrived from Melbourne. She will also take the full trip to Cape Town. Not long after Katherine joins us and we decide to take some exercise walking into the town.
‘It’s not far, just down the road and left at the bottom’ the receptionist tells us. Walking down the road, getting to know each other, trying not to trip on the uneven, dusty surface with open drains, Katherine and I quickly become aware that our combination of shorts, tshirts and pale skins are not the norm around here. I wish I’d thought to wear some long trousers to go out. Self consciously we continue down past the park as directed. Although there are many tall buildings along the opposite side of the road, there are no obvious shops or apparent entrances to the tall buildings which are surrounded by railings. We carry on, trying to ignore the stares our lack of modesty in apparel is causing. There appear to be no other tourists and we are convinced we have taken a wrong turn somewhere. Eventually, we ask a local for directions to the town centre. After some initial confusion over which town centre we were looking for (any!), our new tourist guide takes us across the road and points to a side road where, apparently we can exchange money and find a cafe. This IS the centre of Nairobi. Colwyn Bay on a Wednesday afternoon (that’s ½ day closing ) looks more exciting. We change money and grab some lunch in a cafe before making our way back to the hotel.
Down by the pool we meet another 2 fellow travellers, Rosie & Harry, but, just as we are exchanging stories, the heavens open, the rain starts to fall, the lightening cracks and the thunder rolls at the same time. What a great way to start a camping holiday! I could’ve done this in North Wales!
The usual morning racket of gulls rudely awakens me at 4.00a.m. Wait. Rewind. This is not Colwyn Bay, it’s Nairobi and the racket outside my window is worse than any gull could make. What sort of prehistoric creature could be making that noise at this hour? It’s far too early to investigate, so I pull the pillow tight over my head and try to sleep.
Moments later, it is the soulful sound of an African choir which rouses me at 8.00a.m. As I look out the window to the building opposite, it is hard to believe these are pre-school children singing in perfect harmony to start their day and mine..
As promised by my taxi driver, the day starts overcast and should clear for the afternoon before the clouds return for the evening, without rain to ease the tension in the air.
After breakfast, I meet up with fellow traveller, Sally, by the poolside who has just arrived from Melbourne. She will also take the full trip to Cape Town. Not long after Katherine joins us and we decide to take some exercise walking into the town.
‘It’s not far, just down the road and left at the bottom’ the receptionist tells us. Walking down the road, getting to know each other, trying not to trip on the uneven, dusty surface with open drains, Katherine and I quickly become aware that our combination of shorts, tshirts and pale skins are not the norm around here. I wish I’d thought to wear some long trousers to go out. Self consciously we continue down past the park as directed. Although there are many tall buildings along the opposite side of the road, there are no obvious shops or apparent entrances to the tall buildings which are surrounded by railings. We carry on, trying to ignore the stares our lack of modesty in apparel is causing. There appear to be no other tourists and we are convinced we have taken a wrong turn somewhere. Eventually, we ask a local for directions to the town centre. After some initial confusion over which town centre we were looking for (any!), our new tourist guide takes us across the road and points to a side road where, apparently we can exchange money and find a cafe. This IS the centre of Nairobi. Colwyn Bay on a Wednesday afternoon (that’s ½ day closing ) looks more exciting. We change money and grab some lunch in a cafe before making our way back to the hotel.
Down by the pool we meet another 2 fellow travellers, Rosie & Harry, but, just as we are exchanging stories, the heavens open, the rain starts to fall, the lightening cracks and the thunder rolls at the same time. What a great way to start a camping holiday! I could’ve done this in North Wales!
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