Thursday, May 29, 2008

Kenya part1

Nairobi is a beautiful place! I think what I decided (and friends concur) is that the nice things that Khartoum has are missing in Nairobi, and the nice things about Nairobi are definitely missing in Khartoum. A few examples:

Khartoum has:
  • Safe streets: you can walk at night or by yourself (within reason) without worrying about your safety
  • Crazy, but mild, traffic – many roads are unpaved and potholed, but traffic circulates relatively unfettered
Nairobi suffers from:
  • High crime rates: even trips of a few blocks require a taxi to avoid robbery
  • Heavy traffic, which can add hours to a commute time, especially with a number of crumbling roads
Khartoum suffers from:
  • Hot, dry climate, which goes beyond my comfort levels
  • Brown, with few public spaces. Also a lot of garbage (although I admit that I only saw a small part of Nairobi)
  • A few good restaurants, "adventurous shopping", limited night life
Nairobi has:
  • Moderate temperatures, more comfortable for a (this) Canadian
  • Very green, with lots of public parks (which you can’t use, see number 1 above)
  • Lots of shopping, restaurants, bars
  • More diversity
Unfortunately, Sudan seems to have killed my picture taking skills, so I don’t have many from the city itself.

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We did go to the Langata giraffe reserve, which was really amazing!

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This is a Rothschild giraffe, which are only found in Kenya.

One of the giraffe handlers knew how to get all of the great photos, and he worked with us to get the photos everyone wants...

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like the giraffe eating from your hand.

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And a good kiss!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

The giraffe smooch picture is truly hilarious! Is there one with you getting smooched?

tara said...

There is actually, but it's on my friend's camera, of course. If I ever get a copy, I'll definitely post it. I actually got licked all the way up the side of my face, but I don't think we ever captured that.