Nairobi - capital of Kenya

Shanty town.

Nairobi is mostly known as a dangerous city where crimes, often violent, are very frequent. Obviously, most travellers are somewhat afraid of the city. We tackled the city carefully, and it has turned out to be a nice city.

It is important to understand that the crimes often occur in shanty town surrounding the city. If a traveller is careful and stays in the more secure area, no problems should occur. We have walked more than 20 km from the campsite to the downtown area and we also passed with the van through the heart of Nairobi and the suburbs after taking a wrong turn. The result: nothing, no problems.

Giraffe Centre

An interesting activity to do is going for a visit of the Giraffe Centre.

In this place, Rothschild's giraffes, a threatened species, are protected. They are raised in captivity before being released in the wild. It is possible to see them up close and also touch them.

It is possible to feed the giraffes.

Manor converted in a luxury hotel. Giraffes can sometimes be seen in the garden.

Sandal Recycling

In this recycling center, old sandals are collected from everywhere in Kenya. Several employees are busy converting these old foot wears in work of art.

These works of art are as simple as a ball up to very complex figures.

One can find anything, even... sandals.

What to do with the leftovers? A carpet in a kid playground, for example.

Beads factory

They are not candies.

In this factory, workers are crafting using beads.

The small beads are all made from terra-cotta.

Preparing the raw material before the oven.

The ovens in the background.

The raw materials heated and painted.

The warehouse.

Moulds.

The factory.

David Sheldrick Sanctuary

This sanctuary protects baby elephants whose parents have been victims of poaching. Too young to survive in the nature, they are taken in this park and bottle-fed until they are old enough to go back into the wild.

In order to get funding, the sanctuary is open every day for an hour so that visitors may see the baby elephant being bottle-fed, play in water, and take a mud bath.

A baby is thirsty.

The show occurs a few metres away from us.

Mud bath.

An elephant is vacuum-cleaning...

A rhinoceros saved from poachers.

Bomas of Kenya

In this museum, one can see replicas of the different types of houses of several Kenyan tribes.

The most interesting part is the traditional dance show showing various tribal customs in the country. The show was good if one forgets about the very bad quality of the music and the amateurish look of it all... The dance diversity was interesting.