Security in Nairobi

I guess Nairobi has never been the most safe city, but it has apparently gotten a lot better over the years. In the 1970s, when the term ‘Nairobbery’ was coined, the city was notorious for theft and violence, which continued right up to the last decade. The violence after the presidential election in 2008 is still fresh in people's minds and extensive coverage is given in the news to the international criminal court case on the post-election violence.

Don't get me wrong. There's still a lot of crime in Nairobi, like in any other city. Everyone has a story to tell or at least knows someone who´s been a victim of crime. Street mugging and petty theft (e.g. pick-pocketing) is common and more serious crimes like car jackings and armed robberies daily. Often you are taken as a hostage and forced to go to an ATM machine to withdraw the daily maximum from your account, as the time resets at midnight you may be kept until you can withdraw another daily maximum and then released. The key is that do as you are told and do not resist the hijackers. If you comply, there is every chance that you will be released unharmed.

If you kept alert, stayed away from the less common areas and avoided driving around late in the evening chances are you'll not become a victim.

Yesterday things took a turn to the worse when 2 separate grenade attacks took place in downtown Nairobi, only about 100m apart from one another. In both cases a hand grenade was thrown into the public resulting in a few casualties and large amount of injuries. Although no one has been arrested yet, there´s speculation that it is the works of Al Shabaab, a terrorist group of militants fighting to overthrow the government of Somalia and with ties to Al Qaeda. The attacks are suspected to be in response to Kenya joining forces with the Somali Trasitional Federal Government to help flush Al Shabaab militants out of their strongholds in Somalia and Kenyan army attacking Al Shabaab on Somalian soil. The background for this was the abductions of a British tourist, a disabled French woman who has since died in captivity and two Spanish aid workers near the Somalian border, but on Kenyan side. The impact of these abductions to Kenyan economy that is heavily dependent on tourism is understandably serious.

 The US embassy in Nairobi warned a few days back of an "imminent threat" of attacks possibly targeting foreigners, one week after Kenyan forces crossed into Somalia. The embassy cited "credible information of an imminent threat of terrorist attacks directed at prominent Kenyan facilities and areas where foreigners are known to congregate, such as malls and night clubs." Right on the money, except the areas were not frequently visited by foreigners.

We can only hope that yesterdays unfortunate attacks were the last of it, but we have to be on the look out for retaliations. The security is visibly tighter in shopping malls and other public areas, cars are throughly checked against bombs and people are checked with metal detectors before admitting entry. All this is good, but only make traffic worse and is quite an inconvenience.

Let´s hope things get better soon and no futher incidents happen.

First Safari

Kenya is full of wildlife and safari's provide an excellent possibility to view animals in their natural habitat. There are plenty of big and famous game parks such as Maasai Mara (Serengeti on Tanzania side), but we also have a great safari park right around the corner.

The Nairobi National Park is right next to Nairobi city center and airport, south side of the town. The park covers an area of 117.21 square kilometres and is small in comparison to most of Africa's national parks, but it provides plenty to see for one day. The National Park was officially opened in Christmas 1946 although it had been there prior to that, and it was the first national park of East Africa.

Major wildlife attractions at the park are the Black rhino, lion, leopard, cheetah, hyena, buffaloes, Giraffe, zebra, wildebeest, elands, baboons, and hundreds and hundreds of birds.  There are no elephants in this national park, but four of the "Big Five" can be seen here (lions, leopards, buffalo and rhinos).

The best time to go to the park is early in the morning, as most animals including the lions are active then. As it takes about 45 minutes to get there from our home and sun rises at 6:20am, it means getting up at 5 the latest.

We had a great time at the park, we spent almost 7 hours there and it was a constant parade of different animals. Just when you thought you had seen it all something new came up. We did not unfortunately see the lions (apparently they had killed a giraffe the previous night, and must have been having a feast near the corpse) but saw so much it was unreal. And when I say seeing the animals, I mean on close proximity.

It is hard to say which was our favorite. Some of the more rare ones we saw were jackal cubs and of course the rhino. The giraffes, antilopes and zebra's were really cute and entertaining. Baboons and crocodiles wild and crazy. We also saw lizards and a dung beetle pushing a perfect dung ball (plenty of animals droppings everywhere).

We'll definitely visit the park often, so much fun and so close to our home!

Back to the 70's

Although in many ways Kenya is a very modern country, you get almost anything you can get in they US or Finland, it many ways it is also like going to back to when we were kids.

When you go to a grocery store you can buy milk in plastic bags and triangle shaped cartons. I have no clue what the benefit is, as more often than not you see them break or leak. The candy section is filled with P.K. and Juicy Fruit chewing gums and tic tacs among the more global candy like Mars, twix or Cadbury's chocolate. Soft drinks like Coca Cola are predominantly sold in glass bottles, and in fact I saw an ad where they were promoting the benefits of the new plastic bottle. By the way, Coca Cola tastes better here. I don't know why that is, maybe it is the local real sugar they use to make it.

I already wrote in my previous blog how mail is not delivered into your home, but you have to rent a P.O Box in the local post office and then collect it from there. Stamps of course are the good old kind that you lick, you can't find the nowadays more common sticker stamps. Also, when you send a letter abroad you have to remember to lick and stick a blue 'Kenya Airways Par Avion' note on it.

Although in Finland almost all bills are paid online, cheques are still used in many places. Same thing in Kenya, you use them to pay the bills as well as to withdraw money from your account and online banking is available, nothing special here. What reminds of the really old days that some bills you have to pay in person at the service providers office or at the post office. For example I can't pay electricity bill online but have to take cash there in person.

It is refreshing to see kids still play outside. Not with game consoles but with what ever they can find. Seeing kids pushing a wheel with a stick or playing soccer and other games is very common.

Service, although sometimes a bit on the slow side, is available in most places. For example if I need to fill up my car I don't have to do it myself. An attendant will do that for you, and while waiting for the tank to fill up he usually washes the windows and checks the oil and water if needed. I don't think I've seen that this millenium elsewhere.

It is nice to see things that used to be, on one hand it reminds us that change is constant and inevitable and on the other hand it offers an opportunity to remember how things used to be 'the good old days'

Kumbi Kumbi

Last night we saw a insects flying around our house, attracted by the night lights around the house. We didn't think twice of it, but it was clear there were more than normally.


This morning when we woke up, there were literally millions of wings in big piles on the ground and the birds were having a feast eating the insects of the ground as well as catching them in the air. Even the washing machine in the utility room, which conveniently does not have a door, was full of these things. They were flying termites, and the locals here call them Kumbi Kumbi.

Nice swarm outside kitchen

Kumbi Kumbi



The termites had piled up in large swarms here and there, and large amount of them also lay on the ground dead. Apparently they come a few times a year, typically during the rainy season. They come in big swarms, drop their wings and try to form another colony.

In Kenya, and some other countries, they are apparently a delicacy. People collect them by the thousands and then eat them either as they are or fried. Our Australian neighbor has tried them and told us they taste like peanuts, I don't think we'll find out ourselves.

This is the first time we saw these, and hopefully it does not happen too often. Another nice example of the African nature...

Slippery when wet

Karura forest is a forest reserve close to where we live, a nice place to hike and see nature in the middle of the city. Among other things it has a 15 meter waterfall, a lily pond, bamboo forest and marshlands. It also has caves which are considered to be sacred by many with a historic value as they were used by the Mau Mau as hideouts during the struggle for Independence, as well as a place where the Central Bank used to burn all of Kenya’s currency that was up for disposal. Obviously since it is a forest none of the roads are paved, they are typical dirt roads but quite well maintained.

Jaakko was meeting his friends there, but unfortunately it started to rain the minute we entered the parking lot which is about 1km from the main road. The rain didn't stop, so about half an hour later we decided to head back home. The road was wet and muddy due to the rain.

I didn't think twice about and just kept on driving, until another car was driving towards us. As I slowly pulled to the side of the road, the car started fish tailing even though the speed was very low. Soon after that we saw that a minivan was stuck in a slight incline. Another car was also waiting behind it, but its wheels just kept on spinning and it couldn't get anywhere.

All I could do was to jump out of the car and start pushing the minivan. Needless to say it was a rear wheel drive and covered me in red mud from head to toe. We managed to get the van going but it got stuck again. Luckily this time there was room to bypass it.

It was unbelievable how slippery the muddy road was. It was almost impossible to walk on it without slipping. We also saw aRange Rover heading our way and sliding sideways into the ditch. I'm glad we were one of the first ones to leave, later on we heard that some cars were stuck on that road for more than 4 hours.

It was really like driving on ice, I'm glad it does not rain more here and I hope it never rains while we are on a safari :)

Living in a zoo

Living in Africa is sometimes like living in a zoo, and we have not even visited the national game parks like Maasai Mara or done a safari on some of the smaller game parks yet.

While unpacking groceries one day, Taru found a gekko in the pantry. It is quite a small lizard, pale and if for example against a window you can see through it. Nevertheless it managed to startle Taru.

On Sunday morning we found a relatively big spider in our living room. We suspect it was a Tarantula, but it certainly was smaller than some of the bigger species you see on TV. Big in this case was the size of thumbnail, with longish hairy legs. Quite disgusting, we hope not to see any more spiders like that.

On a back yard we have amazing yellow birds living in basket like nets that look like they were weaved. We've also seen big birds that eat bones and have acid poop that can melt paint off your car hood. Outside Jaakko's science lab a North African great horned owl just had chicks, and they look so cute. The owl is sitting on the same branch every day and can be observed from quite close. We also have passion fruit wine on our back yard, and we think also a papaya tree. Next door they have big banana trees and you can see big bunches of bananas growing on them.

At our country club, while walking along the golf course you can see tens and tens of monkeys. The younger ones are full of energy and constantly play with one another. You can also see Dikdik's, a small animal that's a relative to antilope but only up to 40cm high. It really looks almost like a big rabbit that has mini horse legs.

I'll add some pictures later on, but it is quite amazing to see all those different kinds of animals in the wild. And in large quantities too, it is really like living in a zoo.

Things we take for granted

Some of the things we take for granted, such as power, postal service, internet etc. are pretty important and contribute quite significantly in the quality of life. We just expect them to be there and you may not pay much thought to them, but when they are missing or unreliable you start to realize the importance of those things.

Electricity

Blackouts are fairly common in Nairobi as the city battles an electricity shortage, some days we've seen 5-6 outages that luckily typically are quite short (minutes or tens of minutes, not hours). Electricity supplies are prone to periodic blackouts, particularly during and after heavy rains. No rain, on the other hand, can also result in power rationing.When power is reconnected, there is often a sudden voltage surge, which can damage sensitive electrical equipment such as stereo systems and computers. Consequently, we've purchased a large amount of voltage regulators or ‘spike protectors’ to protect our electronics and appliences. For computer and internet I've also bought UPS's, or power back-up systems that will keep the equipment running during power outages.

Most houses have a generator or an inverter. The inverter, or battery back-up system protects all electric outlets in the house and provides power during power outages. Of course the drawback with inverters is that during long outages the batteries will eventually run dry and then your out of power. You should also avoid using heavily loading equipment such as washing mashine or dryers while on battery power. The other alternative is a generator, which of course can provide power as long as it keeps on running. The generator switchover is automated so that you don't really even notice when the generator kicks in. The drawback here is that it runs on diesel and you have to keep on filling it up during long breaks. Also, it does not protect the house from power spikes.

Our house does not yet have a generator, but the landlord is working on it. For now we've accepted the daily power outages, and thankfully we have not had long ones or outages after dark.

Postal Service

I like receiving mail, it's like a mini xmas or birthday everyday checking out what's in the mailbox and not knowing what the mail man brought. No mail delivery in Nairobi, bummer.

There's no postal delivery service to private homes or other physical addresses in Kenya. In order to receive mail, you have to rent a lockable P.O box in one of the post offices from which you can collect your mail.

The problem with this arrangement is that there are no available P.O boxes, and the waiting time to get one is extremely long especially if you want it near your home and not in some of the less nice parts of town. I heard a story that someone waited for years and only got the box after returning back to his home country.

Having said that, I'm going to use the company P.O box (like everyone else) and get my mail delivered to the office.

Internet

I think we got spoiled with the lightning fast internet service in the U.S. If I remember right we got 18Mbps, and everything downloaded in a snap. Here you have to have patience as the experience is not quite the same.

As there's practically no fixed infrastructure, most internet services are provided wirelessly into your home. WiMAX is the predominant technology for this, especially if you'd like a montly unlimited internet service with guaranteed speeds. I get up to 128kbps during the day, and in the evenings and weekends up to a whopping 1Mbps. Of course as most of the content is coming elsewhere, the actual speeds are less than the maximums. It is not cheap either, for my service I pay 6000 Kenya shillings per month (roughly 70$ or 50€).

3G is actually pretty good. The 2nd 3G network was launched yesterday, and they support 21Mbps. Unfortunately since the houses are made out of stone and concrete, indoor penetration is not that great. Data is cheaper over 3G though, you can get 2GB that's valid for 3 months for a few thousand shillings. I have a 3G modem, and I'm planning on using it as alternative for the fixed WiMAX service. And who knows, if I can find a good signal inside the house maybe I'll make it my primary internet service.As 3G becomes more available I'm sure it'll drive the cost down and improve the performance, so I'm eagerly looking forward to that.

I'm glad it is 2011 though. The first under sea cable was laid a few years back and prior to that internet was available over satellite. Compared to that I think this is a big improvement.

Payment of bills

I'm not yet quite sure how this works in practice. However in some cases, like electricity, I believe you can only pay with cash in person at some shopping malls or power company offices. Easy pay or direct debit does not appear to be available, and sending cheques due to unreliable mail (although it seems to be not better than it apparently used to be) may not be ideal either.


Well, another thing to figure out I guess. I'll have to update my experience with bills when I'm more experienced with it.

Recycling and garbage collection

We are so used to recycle everything, that not having apparent recycling system is a big shock. It feel so bad to throw everything away, so there's a great business opportunity for someone here. On a positive note everything, even garbage, seems to be of value to someone. The stuff we are used to throwing away is like new to some people here, and the garbage collectors go through the waste to see if there's something worth taking.

I have not found out how garbage collection works either. It is included in our service charge so I don't have to set it up, but I believe we just leave the garbage on the curb and magically it gets collected on Mondays. I've been told that the garbage collection services provided by Nairobi City Council have dwindled in recent years to an unreliable weekly service covering only a handful of residential areas. There are private garbage collection companies, and the vast majority of residents subscribe to one of these.

I have no clue what happens to all the garbage, and don't even want to think about what it can mean to the environment. I hope though it is managed properly, but you never know.

It is important to appreciate things we take for granted. I've certainly noted that already, so this is all good.