It’s already 00:30 and I’m only getting down to writing something now. I won’t have time to edit this post so it will probably end up as an incoherent and random bunch of sentences, but I just want to commit the words to black and white before they escape me.
Dad and Mom came to see me off
Tam and I
Discovering the wonder of corporate perks, I made my way past the monster queue in the frantic domestic departures terminal of Cape Town International and checked in at the vacant Premium Class desk without delay. After a merry bon voyage breakfast at Juicy Lucy with my parents and Tam I took the very front seat of a Boeing 737 and landed at OR Tambo less than two hours later. Strong tailwinds apparently shaved about 15 minutes off our flight time of which I spent most reading the Cape Times.
My business class status afforded me the luxury of an interlude in the First Class Lounge toilets before I hastily made my way to the International Departures Terminal. Our designated boarding time came and went. When my fellow passengers and I were finally shuttled to the plane (a similar Boeing 737) we parked next to a sleek German luxury foreign affairs vehicle delivering the reason for our delay. The stately (presumably Kenian) ambassador and I had the entire front section of the plane to ourselves where we individually enjoyed ample legroom, smoked salmon starters, a selection of reading material and duty-free in-flight shopping. Ok, he did the shopping, I just read the Time from cover to cover. It was the 28 September issue so I felt a bit like Gary Hobson from that Early Edition TV series. The clouds were amazing so I took a few pictures.
My arrival at Nairobi International airport was incident free except for my pen falling apart while completing the blue immigration form with the 4mm² spaces to enter your details. Nairobi is an hour ahead of South Africa, so I landed at about 20:30 Kenyan time. It was already dark, so I could not see much of my surroundings on the taxi drive to the hotel. Many of the lit-up brands on billboards and buildings were familiar though. I could also see that there many trees dotted along all the roads we traveled. The traffic became fairly dense as we approached the city but we reached the hotel in about 15 minutes.
The hotel has an old fashioned look with colonial style decor and plenty of old sepia photographs of white people taming the land lining every wall. After being showed to my room I went downstairs to meet my colleague Tim, who arrived two days earlier, for a mandatory and very welcome Tusker Lager. The loud, hyperactive techno versions of all popular songs you can think of seemed a little out of place in the muted atmosphere of the hotel’s bar overlooking the lush courtyard but they served as a lullaby sending me off to bed.
I got my requested wake up call at 7am and met Tim and Stefan for a delicious selection from the hotel’s extensive breakfast buffet at 8. Tim and I made our way by taxi to the East African Magazines (EAM) office where our Kenyan colleagues are based. I finally met Cobus, Kenny and Einstein (real name) whom I have only had telephone and email contact with in the past. Tim, Einstein and I spent the morning sharing two desks in the tiny office dedicated to our project: Mocality – Africa’s largest mobile business directory in the making!
Tim in the Mocality office
The purpose for our visit to Kenya is to prepare for Mocality’s debut exhibition at the annual Nairobi International Trade Fair. I have spent the last year creating the Mocality brand and the last couple of weeks in Cape Town have been devoted to feverishly designing promotional material and branding for our stand at the Trade Fair. This morning I had to design a few last minute additions to add to our presence at the show.
The 2m and 3m printed banners I designed and illustrated lying in wait.
At lunch time we joined other EAM workers on an enclosed porch for a tasty roti and stew served by what seems to be a dedicated office cook. The weird thing is we didn’t pay, so I asked Einstein later if they always get free lunch. It’s not free, he exclaimed, they come round to your office to collect the money later. It often works that way in Kenya he says, they are somewhat relaxed about receiving payment - you only pay later for services. Well, no one ever came round for that lunch money.
On the way to the Nairobi International Trade Fair grounds by taxi
At about 13:30 we made our way to the fairgrounds where the show will kick off on Monday. The focus of the Trade Fair is largely agricultural and unlike other expos, shows or fairs you may be accustomed to, the exhibition stands here are all permanent structures, buildings connected by a little network of streets. Many look like they my have been houses at some point in time, including our site.
The Mocality stand taking shape...
There I met Joshua, the leader of our Kenyan crew along with our Mocality product ambassadors – young people, most of them graduate students, who go door to door in Nairobi business districts creating awareness about Mocality and signing businesses up on our directory.
Tim, Joshua and the Mocality ambassadors
The entire fairground was buzzing with life, everyone preparing their exhibition stands in one way or another. A common trend appears to be adorning the outer walls with murals depicting scenes relevant to the exhibitor. A lot of the signage is hand painted, buildings are bright in colour, blue, red, yellow, green. Many stands have little flowerbeds sporting colourful flowers to add to the array. Our renovators took the liberty of creating a little rock garden complete with painted yellow rocks. There is a wonderful naivety coupled with a decidedly DIY approach that I can’t help but admire here.
Unlikely artists
The culture is very laid back and I noticed a real lack of urgency in people. People hang around a lot, just sitting and waiting for nothing in particular. Nearby someone was trying to get an old Land Rover started. A large group of supporters gradually gathered, nobody doing anything to really help except lean against the vehicle and while away the time…
We took a walk around the grounds to just to explore and take a look at some of the activity. On the way we stopped at a bar and bought an amazing non-alcoholic pineapple flavoured malt drink called “Alvaro”. It is delicious!
Things here also don’t seem to be driven by rigid logic. What I mean is, there is a fair share of randomness and as Tim advised me “you just have to go with it”. One example, the foreman of the construction crew renovating our exhibition stand/house insisted that Tim and I each take a short ride on his bicycle: “Can you drive it? Show me!”. Also, we came across a tractor exhibition and to one side, displayed proudly on a mound of rocks was a very non-4×4 sedan. The stand next door to ours belongs to Kenya Medical Research Institute and a signage guy was busy applying brand new vinyl lettering to the board outside their building. He found it quite acceptable to apply some artistic expression to their slogan which now reads “better health In search of”.
The Traffic in Nairobi is hectic. There are many traffic circles, very few traffic lights and it appears very few rules. Close shaves aplenty. Yet, I got the impression of overwhelming tolerance, hardly any hooting at all! There are trees everywhere, anywhere there is not a road or a building there seems to be a tree. There are many trees. And (maybe because of all the trees) many birds. I was surprised to see large numbers of Marabu Storks and falcons right in the city!
Instead of air freshener, a can of Raid is perched on the toilet tank in the en-suite bathroom of my hotel room. I thought that odd enough, but this evening room service knocked on my door, can of Raid in hand, offering to spray my room. I politely accepted in fear that they may know something I don’t… After spraying each corner of my room the lady seemed satisfied.
Most car license plates start on KA here, resulting in a lot of KAK numberplates.
I have a lot to still do tomorrow morning so I am calling it a night!
Wow that sounds amazing! Really, it does! Haha,you going to have to adapt to the -standing around doing nothing, because i know you! Can’t wait for the next post :)
Allow me to commend you on your approach to this blog. The way you lace text with images is affable. Good read, man. I too look forward to the next post. Kenya!!!!!!!!! “People hang around a lot, just sitting and waiting for nothing in particular.” - sounds like the middle stages of a cricket match…
Thanks, Jon!
Im! Just absolutely love your whole impression-thing. Love the way you write - you capture the most interesting and fascinating detail. Very entertaining - the pics too! I don’t know if you’re back or not, if still there - have a Kenyan ball! If back, relish the memories that come in afterthoughts and leave amazement and smiles. So happy that you’re going place (envious, too!) God bless - come back safely. I know you left a footprint there…
Thank you so much for the compliments and good wishes Bobs! I have certainly been amazed by my experience here so far!
very good stuff for random writing
Thanks Kenny, I’m glad you discovered my blog!