Afro Travel: Kenya - The Jewel of East Africa

Written by Lerato Mogoatlhe
Friday, 19 August 2011 16:06

Destination Kenya has it all. A pulsating capital city, breathtaking coastline, iconic and obscure tribes and a landscape that makes Kenya one of Africa’s most iconic travel destinations, as travel writer LERATO MOGOATLHE recently discovered.

Downtown Nairobi is bustling on the first day of my trip to Kenya. I am surrounded by the usual signs of a vibrant modern city – skyscrapers, thousands of people walking with a purpose, shops, restaurants and billboards telling readers that Michelle Obama’s biography is on the shelves, and shops crammed with electronics, trendy fashion and killer heels. It is love at first stride on Tom Mboya Road. A few steps later, I am on Albert Luthuli Street. Around the corner is busy Lagos Road.

Other streets here are named after Africa’s liberation heroes including Kwame Nkrumah, Eduardo Mondlane and Kenneth Kaunda. The city is proudly and boldly African.  Nicknamed Nairoberry Nairobi is also worldly, thanks to its status as African United Nations (UN) headquarters. Besides the UN, multinationals and a thriving economy have ensured the presence of a significant number of foreign workers.

The most stable country in East Africa, Kenya has communities from Somalia, Sudan, Rwanda, Uganda, Burundi, Ethiopia and Eritrea. Their influences are most visible on Nairobi’s menu, with restaurants that serve Ethiopian, Eritrean and Asian food alongside favourite local dishes such as of nyama choma (barbecued meat). Like all cosmopolitan cities, Nairobi never sleeps, with night clubs ranging from scrubby downtown joints to chic cocktail bars straight out of the Western park scene providing entertainment at all hours of the night.

Nairobians are proud of what they wear – be it power suits or traditional attire. The most exciting aspect of the city’s wardrobe is the kanga, a colourful cotton cloth that has a proverb or statement on the hem. Kangas are found all over East Africa. But unlike other countries in the region, a Kanga in Nairobi is not just yards of cloths used to cover a woman’s body in the name of culture and religion. Here kangas are worn as scarves, skirts, tops and belts. Their versatility hits me one Sunday at a “Blankets and Wine” event. Blankets and Wine is a monthly Sunday picnic where local musicians and hundreds of revellers party on the rugby field of St Mary’s School. It is a party unlike any I have ever been to. This afternoon, there are kangas all around me and bold African accessories and dainty women accessorised with poodles. The mood is decidedly Afropolitan, and between live acts the DJ plays music from around the continent and the diaspora.

Nairobi is arguably one of the most exciting cities in Africa. The air is thick with ambition. There is also a literary and reading culture with countless bookshops and book vendors lining the streets. Besides its pumping nightlife, easy lifestyle and convenience, Nairobi also has much to offer those searching for an authentic cultural experience. Just go and see for yourself at one of several Masai markets dotted around the capital – here one of Africa’s iconic tribes sells their equally iconic beaded accessories.

There is also a thriving poetry and arts scene. Nairobi has its own Soweto in Kibera, the second-largest slum in Africa. Life here is tough with scant space and sanitation. But Kiberians are also a spirited group of people whose lives have featured in movies such as The Constant Gardener, books and documentaries. This bustling settlement is a true tourist destination unlike Soweto, where visitors watch a slice of local life from an air-conditioned car before popping into a local bar for beer and some nyama choma.

The Swahili coast:

The Swahili culture boasts Persian and Arab influences since merchants from these cultures participated in trade in the country. Intermarriage between the Arabs and local population produced the Swahili language, culture and people. The word Swahili comes from the Arab word for coast, sawahil. The Swahili coast spans Zanzibar and Kenya. The coast in Kenya starts in Mombasa and ends in Lamu with Mombasa being its heartland.

Rich in history, Mombasa has an old town, and if you’re there it feels like you’ve stepped back in time. In and amongst the dilapidated old buildings, you’ll find many prime examples here of the ornate carved doors that also characterise most of the other Swahili coastal towns.

Despite being run-down the town is still charming. Built by the Portuguese in 1593, the partially ruined Fort Jesus houses a museum with objects donated from private collections such as the remains of a Portuguese ship that sank here in 1698. There’s also a hall devoted to the different Mijikenda tribes and cultures that can be found along the coast.

Just north of Mombasa is Kilifi, a picturesque town where the living is large. This is where big-spending expats moor their yachts and travellers come to experience a resort holiday. But this is the Swahili coast, remember, so beach bumming can be interspersed with stepping back to the 14th century at the Mnarani ruins. Other sites include carved tombs from the 16th century. Like Mombasa, Malindi is gritty and crowded. But this is also home to some of the finest beaches on the coast, pulling in crowds that royalty and celebrities such as Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt.

But it is Lamu that is the real gem of the Swahili coast. The island is truly one of the most amazing places in coastal Africa. Time has barely touched the island. Arrival remains by boat, giving a magnificent first impression of a waterfront where windswept mosques rub minarets with faded buildings and scores of boats bobbing on the water. There is just one car and three tractors on the island, and the narrow alleys brim with hundreds of donkeys that remain the primary mode of transport here.

Donkeys are an integral part of life on the island. They are how people, goods and produce get around Lamu. Alongside them are local Muslim men, women and children, the women in traditional black bui-buis with glittering patterns and the men in white kaftans. Unlike Zanzibar, where an unrobed woman invites scorn, Lamu is a friendly and tolerant place. Tourists have a right to bare their arms, even in the marketplace. As Lamu is a small island, the people all know each other, and strangers are welcomed. When I say I’m from South Africa, I am welcomed. “Welcome home to Lamu,” many people tell me and inevitably invite me for sweet, milky tea or Arabic coffee – served sweet, bitter or infused with ginger in shot glasses. Lamu is just the place for romance, and I give in to my romantic side by taking a night boat to a floating bar. We set sail under a full moon and a sky splattered with stars. The captain and his crew of local youths believe that it is not a tourist experience without the clichéd song and dance, so one of them hauls out a drum. The beat turns into typical touristy Swahili songs Nakupenda Malaika, Jambo Sana and Hakuna Matata. We arrive at the bar, which is packed with travellers and plays dull Eurocentric music. I’m scared it’ll sink under our weight.

The only thing Lamu cannot do is throw a good party. Everything else it does superbly. The restaurants vary from local joints serving simple fare to elegant restaurants offering luxurious dining experiences.

The street life is easy-going in the mornings, when one can pass time visiting museums and monuments. It picks up around 3pm when qat vendors pull out their sacks to satisfy the locals’ appetite for the bitter-mild narcotic. Night fall brings out the best in Lamu’s street life. Hot grills are piled with all kinds of street food including fish and kebabs. The smell of popcorn fills the air, and passers-by are generous with their conversation.

It is Shela beach that truly makes Lamu a great destination. Here you can do all things water-related: sun, swim, kite surf, snorkel and fish – without being bothered, for the most part at least, by the notorious beach boys of the Swahili coast.

The Safari Trail:

There are more than 30 parks and reserves in Kenya, all encompassing vast rolling plains and a rugged landscape that has inspired many photography books. The most famous of these parks are Amboselli, Tsavo, Samburu and the Masai Mara. The Masai Mara’s vast grassland plains and wooded river valleys make it one of the stars of the African safari trail as a whole. The park is famous for the migration of zebra and wildebeest – and their predators – to the north in June and July. If you’d like to visit the park during this very special time, there’s a two-year waiting list! But the Masai Mara is the ultimate bush experience any time of year. There’s big five, and you’ll feel like you can’t get any closer to nature. Entrance fees are quite steep ($60 or roughly R420 per person), but it’s worth it to see the Masai Mara – the place where God put all the animals that did not go into Noah’s Ark.