The enigma that is Nairobi

It started well before I even set foot in this country. Indeed, as soon as I told people that I’ll be in Nairobi for the summer, the hushed warnings began. “Be careful,” I was repeatedly warned. “Don’t go out at night.” “It’s as bad as Johannesburg.” The guide books and travel websites agreed. Per the Lonely Planet: “Nairobi is Kenya’s biggest and baddest city… Most visitors dive in and out in the shortest time possible.”

A schoolmate from the year above, who had spent the previous summer in Nairobi, also didn’t do much to assuage my anxiety levels. He recounted (with what seemed, strangely enough, to be a glint of excitement in his voice) about being beaten and mugged by a group of boys on the streets.

Over the six weeks or so I’ve been here, various events / observances have added yet further credence to “Nairobbery’s” negative reputation.

• A colleague asked how long I was in town for. “Two and half months,” I said. “Hmm…,” he replied, “that gives you a 50% chance of leaving without getting mugged.”
• Another colleague and I left a client site one night at 8.30pm. Late, but certainly not late late. There was one taxi waiting outside, a legit one. My colleague wondered aloud whether it might be safer to walk across to a nearby hotel and to take a car from there. I thought he was joking. He wasn’t.
• From time to time another work colleague picks me up from home in the mornings en route to the client site. He usually picks me up around 8.00am, when it is bright outside and the streets are full of traffic. Still, he will only unlock the car once I reach the door. And as soon as I’m inside, all doors are immediately locked.
• On the radio, every morning, the DJs discuss the deteriorating security situation in the city.
• My roommate and I often go out at night. He’s a largely happy-go-lucky guy, who enjoys life. But when it comes a time to heading home, he suddenly turns an uncharacteristic shade of caution. “We need to take only large, well-lit roads,” he comments. He also drives fast and avoids slowing down too much at intersections. Nairobi has a terrible reputation for car-jacking. “If some guy does point a gun at your window,” he advises, “just get out of the car and give him the keys. No trouble.” And when we get home: "Ah, good thing we got home safe."
• The other day we were picking-up a friend from her place at around 8.30pm. I thought we’d just wait outside her building for her to come out. My roommate didn’t think it would be safe to sit stationary. So we drove up and down the road until we saw her. She lives just around the corner from the Prime Minister.
• Every apartment block is, of course, protected by round the clock security guards. Private security firms have blossomed in the city. To provide added comfort to citizens, some security companies even position roving security vans around the suburbs. The guards do nothing but sit around in the vans all day, waiting to be called to an apartment block lest any funny business happen there.
• Last, but not least, speaking of ‘funny business’, the other day I got home around 11.00pm and a police van was parked outside the gate. Blue and red lights flashed ominously and serious-looking uniformed men were engaged in busy chatter. I went in and the security guards had nervous looks on their faces. “What happened?” I asked. “Nothing sir, just some funny business.”

That’s probably enough data points to the get the picture.

But then there’s the flip side. Despite these various security concerns, Nairobi is a thriving metropolis. The city is full of multi-cuisine and high-end restaurants, bars, pubs and clubs, shopping malls and supermarkets. It is also home to a large expatriate population, driven in no small part by the fact that many multilateral development organizations, as well as international NGOs, are headquartered here. It is also the de facto commercial capital of East Africa. Nightspots rarely get busy before midnight. We left a nightclub at 3.30am the other day; it was still packed and going strong.

This is the enigma of Nairobi: one of the world’s most dangerous cities, but also one of Africa’s most active and alive. People, it seems, are cognizant of dangers, but are not going to let these get in the way of living and enjoying their lives. And, to be honest, things really are not so bad. Sure I’ve only been here a few weeks, but it seems that, like anywhere else in the world, as long as you make smart choices you can pretty much avoid most unpleasant low probability events (even if the probability of these events is somewhat higher here than in other parts). As the Lonely Planet concludes: “it’s easy enough to sidestep the worst of the city’s dangers and, as Kenyan cities go, this one has plenty going for it.”