Welcome to the dust bowl!

It was time to start my journey home - a two day affair. This morning I was taken to the airport at 9am for an 11h5o flight. I'm not sure why the airport transfers are done so early but it is most likely as a safe guard against the traffic. This morning though the traffic was not bad and I was at Moi International by 9h30. After getting through security, which is always tight at that airport, I went to check in and asked to be given a window seat. The attendant decided that I should take the next flight out at 10h15 and gave me my boarding pass. Now everyone who knows me also knows that I pretty much do anything to get a window seat but my boarding pass said I was in seat D. In the small Embraer aircraft (that usually fly this route) this would mean being next to the person sitting at the window and that would be fine. It turned out though that the aircraft was a Boeing 767-300 and seat D is right in the middle of the plane with three seats and an isle on either side. It was also full so there was no moving and I was not happy. Thankfully it is a very short flight so I just hung in there for 45 minutes.

First sight of Nairobi was rather strange - it was barely visible through a haze of dust. A strong wind was blowing and lifting all Kenya's topsoil into the air. Kenya is in drought conditions at the moment. They have two rainy seasons (April/May and October/November) and the first one didn't occur earlier in the year. Everything looks desolate! They are now faced with La Nina about to start which usually brings even drier conditions and there is a lot of despondency (quite understandably) at the moment.


Besides the dust and the horrendous traffic, I find Nairobi to be charming in its own way. Its wide streets are lined with trees - some jacaranda, some acacia - and I love seeing the Masai cattle grazing on the traffic islands in the middle of the roads in the city. These poor animals are looking rather starved at the moment though but they are still there munching away on the bits of grass that are available.


This time there was an added bonus ... the Marabou storks that roost in the city are raising chicks at the moment. That at least gave me something to watch while we sat in the traffic breathing exhaust fumes and fending off the informal traders trying to flog everything from bananas to pirate DVDs and anything else in between. BTW it took almost as long for us to get to the hotel as it did to fly from Mombasa to Nairobi.



I'm staying at the Country Lodge in the city and it is quite nice. Very modern and clean and has plenty of "nice to have" amenities like free wireless Internet in the rooms. My room doesn't have a great view (see photo) but really that is immaterial today as I am just in transit.


Tomorrow will be an early morning start. My transfer to the airport is at 5am - that's 4am in SA time! So another long day in store. I have one night at home and then will be flying down to Cape Town on Monday to receive some training on a fisheries information and statistics system. At least I can get home and do some laundry before going to the Mother City.


Now for the big decision ... should I order pizza or lasagna for dinner?

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