The city of Nairobi buzzes - it’s a 24/7 hustle here, no one ever sleeps.
The streets are constantly busy, much like the Bree or Noord taxi rank in Joburg when commuters are travelling to and from work.
At 9.30pm you can still see small children with their mothers selling tomatoes in front of the grocery stores. The stores stay open until late as well.
Della Mbaya, a twenty-something woman living in Nairobi, can’t imagine living anywhere else. “Once you’ve been in a city that in many ways does not function like it should, you start to become accustomed to it and accept it for what it is as opposed to trying to make things better.”
undefinedFrom my brief visit, I think Nairobi is a typical African city, with typical African problems... but wi-fi isn’t one of them.
There are internet connections everywhere. And that’s why when Google wanted to show off how easy it is to use their apps anywhere in the world, it chose Nairobi, not Sandton.
Dorothy Ooko, communications and public affairs manager for East and Francophone Africa at Google, says Kenyans have embraced technology really fast.
“We were the first ones to really use mobile money (M-Pesa) and make it very effective and popular. People no longer question how money can go from one mobile phone to another. The people of Kenya are open to new ways. They are willing and ready to adapt.”
Let it also be known that the wi-fi network in Nairobi is an unexpected breath of fresh air. The last time I had such an amazing connection was in the European city of Stockholm.
And for those of us shackled to paying Telkom and other service-providers, here’s a shocker: In Nairobi it’s FREE! It's also strong and accessible in most parts of the city, even in the Karura Forest.
To put the network and Google to the test, we were each given a Motorola Nexus 6 to document our journey through some of Nairobi’s famous sites.
Our first stop was at the Great Rift Valley view point. The valley is a ridge system that runs all the way from the Beqaa Valley in Lebanon to central Mozambique. It is about 6 000km in length. The view point is amazing. We used the Google photo app to try to capture it in all its glory. The best way is to use the panorama or photosphere options for maximum exposure. And, with the Google photos application, there is an automatic back-up that allows you to take photos without ever worrying about them getting deleted or lost.
The Mai Mahiu Catholic Church, formerly known as the Sanctae Mariae Angelorum, is the smallest church in the country and was built in 1942 by Italian prisoners of war. Nowadays it is used for prayers, weddings and baptisms. It was one of the famous sites we saw along the Great Rift Valley view.
There is no such thing as peak hour in Nairobi. It’s traffic all day. People say you can be stuck in one spot for an hour.
The transport system, though chaotic, works in its own way. If you’ve never been exposed to the organised chaos of the taxi industry, the commotion would shock you. The queue marshals call out to commuters to take them home. One co-ordinator even threw his sjambok on to a matatu (minibus taxi) when the driver did not wait his turn to pass.
Matatu means three in Swahili. It used to cost just 3 shillings (50 SA cents) to get to town back in the day, hence the name.
However, now with so many matatus on the road and more routes, the cheapest ride will cost you about 10 shillings (R1.50).
Kenya is known for its tea brewing and the Kiambethu Farm in Limuru is one of the oldest tea plantations in the country, being founded in 1910 by AB McDonnell.
It is still owned by the McDowell family and is a tranquil getaway from the city, home to the colobus monkey and perfect for picnics and lunches with friends and family.
It’s also a good idea to take in the rich family history of the McDowells and learn a thing or two about the art of brewing tea. The food at the farm is grown and hand-picked there making it an even more special experience. Google Maps also allows you to rate and review the places you visit. I gave the tea farm four out of five.
They say a walk helps with better digestion and burning some of those calories. The trails along the Karura Forest provide a cool alternative to walking in the street.
The urban forest is a key favourite with cyclists and runners. The forest takes up 1 063ha and is home to wildlife including monkeys, porcupines and bats. The forest was nearly demolished to make way for urban development but was saved by the Green Belt Movement lead by Nobel Peace Laurette Professor Wangari Maathai. We had been longing all day to taste some traditional cultural food and at the Amaica Restaurant we got our wish.
The spread of different foods to taste ranged from Maize Ugali (white corn meal) and Chapatti (pan-fried Swahili bread) to Lisebebe (pumpkin leaves) and Mchuzi wa Kunde (Cowpeas curry). The ugali tastes just like pap, while Chapatti is like another version of roti.
The lisebebe wasn’t a new taste to my mouth. In Matatiele, my mother’s home town, it is eaten as a type of spinach. The cowpea is a legume crop that is eaten as a grain or vegetable.
Restaurant owner Pamela Muyeshi quit her day job as an IT programmer to start it. The rise in fast-food outlets has become a threat to traditional healthy foods, much like in other parts of the world.
Muyeshi’s restaurants have allowed tourists and Kenyans to enjoy the true taste of the country.
The elephant orphanage in Nairobi National Park is one of the places you can find on Google Street View. The interactive app by Google is taken for granted in South Africa where it is available almost everywhere. But in other parts of Africa, Street View is still trying to find ground and negotiate with governments to allow them access to document different places in the countries.
The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust is a home for orphaned elephants. More than 200 have been rehabilitated. The process of rehabilitation back to nature takes a long time with a minimum of three to five years in the rehabilitation centres, to a maximum of 10 years before it fully happens.
Many of the elephants have lost their mothers due to poaching. Statistics show that one elephant is killed every 15 minutes. If this continues we could see a loss of wild elephants in Africa by 2025.
The GoDown Arts Centre is a space that tries to develop the sector of arts and entrepreneurship skills to grow businesses.
“Art is a very important part of society, it provides us with identity. It's the place where innovation and imagination is stretched and some of these things then feed our progress as communities and societies,” said general manager at the centre Judy Ogana.
The centre has a partnership with the Google Cultural Institute where it has digital exhibitions on the site. Artists are able to share their work virtually, with a bigger audience.
The best place to view the Nairobi skyline is at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre on Harambee Avenue, where the helipad on top of the centre gives you Nairobi in panorama. It’s a whole view of the city that never sleeps; the streets, the run down train lines and the everlasting traffic.
Della Mbaya, who is a radio presenter and news anchor for a local Nairobi urban radio station, says there are as many highs as there are lows to living in the city.
“One of the downsides is that we have all of these people who live here who are intelligent and driven but have become complacent. I am one of them and that’s something that kind of disturbs me.
“Like most African countries, the government tends to fail us but we also fail ourselves because we keep electing the same people.
“It’s just kind of a circle and you hope that circle will break at some point. So it’s up to us, I guess.”
Nairobi continues to rise. More and more people are hungry to do better and live better lives.
“Some of the highs include the attitude of the people; you have to have a certain level of humour and strength because things happen and you have to laugh at yourself and realise the ridiculous nature of life. Sometimes it’s comical, other times it’s tragic.
There’s a certain resilience that Kenyans have and indeed the rest of Africa as well.”
Mpiletso Motumi, Saturday Star
Pictures: Mpiletso Motumi and Google