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Nairobi: The capital city of KenyaNairobi was founded in 1899 and is the capital city of Kenya. It is the 9th largest city in Africa and has a population of between 3 and 4 million; it is a cosmopolitan city because Kenya has over 40 tribes that coexist in one urban community. Nairobi is adjacent to the
Rift Valley
thus minor earthquakes and tremors rarely occurred in the past but in July 2007 had people worried due to the minor tremors that had been taking place.
Nairobi has plenty to offer any tourist ranging from several restaraunts, casinos, golf courses, five star hotels, discos/clubs, churches, cyber cafes, movie theatres, coffee houses, art galleries and museums. Interested in locally made artefacts? On the outskirts of the city there is a market where you can buy anything from hand baskets(also known as Kiondos in kiswahili), to shoals, maasai beads and paintings.
In addition, you could also do your shopping for these artefacts at the village market and then have a meal or a drink at the food court.
I love the village market in Gigiri!! I try to hang out there every Saturday as much as possible after i leave the office because the ambiance is fantastic, the food is superb and the service from the staff is exceptional. It is not necessary for a you to leave Nairobi so as to get a chance to see wild animals. The Nairobi National Park has lions, giraffes, impalas, zebras that you can watch and take pictures of and comfortably return to your hotel room at the end of the day instead of having to camp out.
The transportation system is pretty well organized , because you can hire a car from a Nairobi based car rental company for a certain period of time, you can get a ride in a taxi, catch a bus or you could use a mini-van (known as matatu) to travel to and from the city centre at very cheap prices. The aforementioned transportation services cover every area within the city and as long as you know where you want to go then you can easily move from one place to another. I recommend taking a ride in matatu, it is a worthwhile experience especially if you are new in town, some of them are equipped with television screens, music systems for entertaining the passengers and are painted with wonderful colours that entice you to board them. They are a huge part of the urban culture and distinguish Kenya's form of public transportation from that of other African countries.
Supermarkets are all over the city, the biggest retailing chain store is Nakumatt where you can buy groceries, food stuffs and whatever else you may need. I think this is the reason why Nakumatt supermarket's motto reads, "Nakumatt, you need it, we've got it!" I think i've pretty much said everything there is about my city but i'll just run through some pointers of somethings i might have missed out in summary. > If you want great coffee then Java is the best coffee making restaraunt, you can have your coffee as you check your e-mails or surf the web. > The best night club in town has to be the Carnivore, they play great music and have different nights where they play soul, techno, rock, bhangra, new jack swing and hip hop music in order to cater for the different tastes of revellers. The Pavement is also a great club especially if you are into techno, it also has a great restaurant and you could also go there for salsa dancing lessons. > The Windsor Golf Club is the best place to play golf in Nairobi, you can also hold private conferences or parties on the grounds. > Nu metro cinema provides access to world premier movies so if you are crazy about catching a glimpse of the latest movies while in Nairobi then i suggest you visit the Nu Metro cinemas.
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