Uhuru park Nairobi
What a difference a good night’s sleep makes. For the first time, one was able to not only sleep well but one could get a real hot bath! This new hotel really puts the previous one to shame. Breakfast was excellent and we had a bounce on our steps as we returned to our room after eating. We got their only find a friendly bird perched outside on the rails of our window. Our day morning could not have started better!
Sunday is the day to get around freely and almost unhindered around Nairobi. There are hardly any traffic jams. A journey that sometimes takes 2 hours on a week day suddenly takes just 10 minutes. Strange but true. Since almost many official places are closed on Sundays, Sheila proposed we have a look at the Uhuru park. She told us it was a vibrant place. Naturally we were curious and agreed to see for ourselves.
Uhuru park is a walking distance to the National Archive building which is always our designated meeting place. On our way to the park we saw the same guys we saw last year performing some kinds of tricks on their unicycles. We thought to make pictures and possibly some films of them on our way back from the park. But you guess right. They were already gone by the time we came back. Better luck next time!
Uhuru park is a beautiful, clean and busy park on a Sunday. It was full of activities for both young and old. Right in the middle of the park you have an artificial lake. Couples, families and others rent manually pedalled boats to have a leisurely trip on the lake. There were camels, horses and even quads for rent. There was also a small funfair in the park for those who want to have a jolly ride. People sat on the grass having a bit of a picnic while the hawkers went about trying to convince passers-by to buy whatever they were selling. There were no signs of stress. Just people having fun on a sunny Sunday afternoon.
We took it all in. it was a good and continuing therapy after our kidnapping ordeal in Nigeria. We were among people relaxing after a hard week’s work. The security vehicle that was patrolling once a while both gave one a sense of security and reminder of the bombings of the past weeks. But nothing was going to spoil this Sunday.
Our lazy afternoon in the park ended watching some guys skating in the park. Skating in Europe is normal but in Africa? Yes at least in Nairobi there is a growing skating culture. We saw some skaters doing great stuff last year. As polite as Africa Web TV is, we went up to these guys to ask if we could take some pictures and a few film short. They said it was okay! We had some fun watching them and we exchanged addresses so that we could send the materials to them later.
We (Sheila and Africa Web TV) ended the day at our favourite restaurant in the city. While eating, we made plans for the next day and she brought us to the taxi park. The taxi drivers were trying too much to make a quick buck on us by charging 700 shillings for a trip we’ve made many times before for 300 or 400 shillings. So one decided to take a matatu and paid 40 shillings instead. That’s what we call a good bargain!
Talking of the matatus, you could not enter a matatu these days without being patted down with a portable bomb detector! Last year we saw no sign of that except in restaurants, banks and other public buildings and places. Now one is always being searched even entering a matatu. The taxis might be next. It is the sign of the times.
Kenya lost her innocence as a result of the spate of terrorist bombings of the recent years and times. It is better to be safe than sorry. One could not help but think though that terrorism is a very profitable business for the makers of all of these devices and those in the defence industry. It is a bit cynical but hundreds of thousands of people owe their jobs to the evil and fear of terrorism. Not in the least in Kenya.
