I'm in Nairobi now and I can truthfully say that the news headlines coming out of Kenya are absolute nonsense. I haven't seen any problems and all the people I speak to are bewildered by the scenes they see on the BBC and CNN. Yes they had an election problem (kind of like Bush-Gore) and yes there is some violence in the slums, but not a single tourist or foreign businessman has been involved. I walked around the downtown today and didn't see any problems.

However I do see a lot of depressed people who have been laid off due to the US and Europe declaring Kenya as "unsafe". When in reality Nairobi is safer than most any US or European city. If you have a vacation planned here, please don't cancel and if you are looking for someplace interesting to visit, now is the best time! No crowds!

Odinga purportedly won the election with an 8% win margin (according to exit polls) - so I wouldn't compare it to Gore-Bush. Besides - Nairobi is not nearly as safe as any European or US city - violent crime is a common occurance. Something most expats will confirm.

Please continue to follow this thread in the FT Africa Forum.
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Obscure2k
TravelBuzz Moderator

However I do see a lot of depressed people who have been laid off due to the US and Europe declaring Kenya as "unsafe". When in reality Nairobi is safer than most any US or European city.


Now I fully agree that things are probably not as dire as they have portrayed in the media and I do have a need to overnight in Nairobi in late March, but Nairobi is not a "safe" city my any stretch of the imagination, even before the post election violence.

I harbour no false pretenses that Nairobi is safer than a US or European city. However, I have reservations for a safari in August and am still planning to go. We will spend 2 days in Nairobi (either end of the safari) and will be in the game parks the rest of the time.

I can't wait. It's been a years' long dream to go on safari and I finally earned enough miles to go with a friend in J

I was supposed to attend a conference in Nairobi slated for next week but the local organisers have requested to postpone the event due to "ongoing political disturbances".

Kinda hard to support the local economy when even the locals are telling you not to go there....

I am sure that the "local organizers" are postponing purely because many foreigners have canceled their trip out of fear. Not because of any violence in Nairobi, because there is no violence in the city.

The CBD is completely calm at this moment. That was the point I was making in relation to US cities where at almost any time there is a crime of some sort taking place. Yes there is some crime here at normal times as there is in any city. But none at all right now.

I guess police firing live rounds into crowds in the slums doesn't qualify?

I guess police firing live rounds into crowds in the slums doesn't qualify?
If that's the guideline I guess you could also tell everyone NOT to go to Rio.

I will be flying out on Feb. 8 for a two-week trip to Kenya and Tanzania. We have 4 nights scheduled at the Serena Hotel.

To the OP - the US State Dept. advised recently against going to the vicinity of Uhuru Park as that is a site of some (at least attempted) protests. The Serena is across the street from Uhuru Park.

Have you been to that area and has it been calm there since you've been in NBO?

I guess police firing live rounds into crowds in the slums doesn't qualify?

Um, no. The slums don't qualify for anything. That's why they are slums. The honest hard working people of Nairobi (and other cities in Kenya) don't want anything to do with the hoodlums in the slums or their violence. They want peace and stability. And thankfully they have it in the main areas of Nairobi. Hopefully the whole country will move to stability soon.

I will be flying out on Feb. 8 for a two-week trip to Kenya and Tanzania. We have 4 nights scheduled at the Serena Hotel.

To the OP - the US State Dept. advised recently against going to the vicinity of Uhuru Park as that is a site of some (at least attempted) protests. The Serena is across the street from Uhuru Park.

Have you been to that area and has it been calm there since you've been in NBO?

My hotel, the IC, is across the street from Uhuru park and looking out my 5th floor window I have seen no problems. The police have prevented the demonstrators from congregating there.

The ODM group had planned for demonstrations in the park which is why the State Dept advised to stay clear of there. But there have been no demonstrations there and there will not be during this period. The government is quite serious about that. Downtown is calm and it will stay that way.

I was in Nairobi over the Christmas and left a few days after the election (my scheduled time - I didn't leave early), I had a good time there and hope to go again later this year. I was luck enough to pay for my stay with the IC points break promotion and even managed a mileage redemption on KQ.

How busy is the IC now? It seemed very quiet when I was there both in their bars and restaurants - I'm not sure if that was the hotel was not busy or everyone spent their time out of the hotel. Oddly enough the only busy night in the hotel was the karaoke night, you couldn't get into the bar that night as it was so busy! :rolleyes:

How busy is the IC now? It seemed very quiet when I was there both in their bars and restaurants - I'm not sure if that was the hotel was not busy or everyone spent their time out of the hotel. Oddly enough the only busy night in the hotel was the karaoke night, you couldn't get into the bar that night as it was so busy! :rolleyes:

The hotel was quite empty when I got here several days ago, but it is getting better now. This hotels caters to both tourists and businesspeople and the business people are mostly here. Not so many tourists. The purely tourist hotels in Kenya are really suffering.

Also the flight crews aren't hear anymore. Normally you have BA, KL and Martinair crews in the hotel. Now it is only Martinair since BA and KL are apparently flying on to Tanzania (or so I've heard). I'm not sure if that is a seasonal thing?

Tuesday Karaoke night is legendary here! Has been for years. Friday Salsa night is pretty popular too. I expect this coming Tuesday to be busy in the Safari bar.

Any updates? I just read a news story about Nakuru/Naivasha that is very concerning.

Sure here is an update. Each day since I wrote the last post Nairobi has been getting more and more back to normal. The crowds came back, and the traffic came back. It is its usual horrible self again. At the IC on Tuesday, the lure of the legendary Karaoke night got people out of their houses and it was absolutely packed in the Safari bar.

The President of Uganda arrived and they threw out the red carpet. CNN took over a section of the Club to edit their reports and I even saw a few tourists. I found out the air crews are temporarily staying an an airport hotel and not at all happy about it. The BA crews blame the UK government for the travel ban which killed their holiday (4 day rest in NBO). They were sequestered in the hotel which unlike the IC didn't even have an outdoor pool to enjoy the hot sun.

The local Kenya newspapers gave us MUCH more balanced journalism than CNN and the BBC. Yes there was bad tribal violence in certain areas around Nakuru and Kisumu. Nothing bad in Nairobi itself. The local Kenya papers also reported that not a single one of the 50,000 tourists in country were harmed. The foreign news agencies somehow left that little fact out of their report. :rolleyes:. But I know it is true because you know that if a single white person had been harmed, the BBC and CNN would have been all over it.

An honest assessment of the problems is that the election issues are simply an excuse for disenfranchised people to lash out and they are lashing out against ancient tribal enemies, mainly over land rights issues. Bizarrely they are fighting and killing the same people who they lived reasonably happy with just before the election. Most people are calming down now, but a few are causing the remaining problems.

In any case, the country is completely safe for foreigners. If you come here on business, and mind your business, you will be fine. If you come here for safari, the safari group will make sure you stay clear of the violence in the slums. As if you would be going to slums anyways. :rolleyes:

The local papers interviewed some Scots who have been on a long beach holiday near Mombasa. They wondered why all their relatives back home have been worried? They haven't seen a single problem at the beach. All is normal and they are not happy about their government saying otherwise. They, like me, say that such nonsense is causing a real economic catastrophe in Kenya.

Thanks, Stimpy. Nakuru, Naivasha, and Kisumu are all on the birding trail, so I was rather alarmed to see reports that the violence had spread there.

Sorry, stimpy, but I just can't buy what you are selling.

First, Kenya has not been a particularly safe country for a long time. If it was, you wouldn't have people living in walled communities with armed guards. Granted this violence has nothing to do with the recent political disturbances.

Second, violent political disturbances often seem minor, or confined to particular areas, until they erupt into dangerous situations. While I agree that foreigners are not the target of this violence, they can always be caught in the crossfire.

Finally, there are many places in the world which have economic problems similar to Kenya. Why should I take the risk of going to Kenya right now when I could go to Madagascar, Uganda, or Tanzania, instead? My dollars/pounds/euros will do as much good there, I will be safer, and there is less risk that any development benefits that come from my (and other tourists' visits) will be lost in a civil war.

That's pretty harsh, although I get where you are coming from. From a selfish perspective, Kenya is tough to beat for the number and variety of species to be found in one place. And I have not heard reports of problems from Masai Mara, which is the "star" of the park system. When I visited in 2004, I was strongly advised not to go even at that time, for the usual reasons of "terra terra terra" and I simply traveled there against the advice of the State Department and my travel doctor. But I felt I could put my trust in my guide and in his choice of a local guide, and I must say that I was most impressed and that the trip far exceeded expectation. So I would like to visit again. While guides do receive a financial benefit from promoting trips, they do have to travel along with us and presumably have an interest in coming home alive. So I tend to put the opinions of a guide on the scene, above the opinions of the press and the State Department. And if there is another, disinterested tourist or even a business traveler already in the area leaving a report, so much the better.


While Kenya is not as poor as the countries you name, it is still terribly poor to my eye and I think your dollar or euro does help, especially if you employ a native guide. They have a great program for training guides. Our guide had to pass a test, recognizing 1,000 birds by eye and many hundreds (I don't recall how many) by ear. He was amazing.

I would not like to see Kenya lost to the tourist trail. Tourist eyes in the parks do protect wildlife. And I saw some amazing sights around Nakuru, such as trees full of eagles like Christmas ornaments.

I hope we get a positive update soon.

I'm in Morocco now, which is also nice, but I spent several weeks in Kenya and had zero problems. I'm not trying to coerce anyone into going to Kenya. It's your money and your choice. However I am trying to counter the horribly one-side and racist media messages about Kenya now. Anyone who goes there now will see just how wrong the media is.

I'm in Morocco now, which is also nice, but I spent several weeks in Kenya and had zero problems. I'm not trying to coerce anyone into going to Kenya. It's your money and your choice. However I am trying to counter the horribly one-side and racist media messages about Kenya now. Anyone who goes there now will see just how wrong the media is.

Good for you, Stimpy. People can complain about the need for security in Nairobi but there is a greater need in Israel but I haven't hesitated to go there, either.

Have the slums in NBO cooled down? We are considering a medical mission to Kibera (we've gone the last two years) and are trying to get a sense for the situation.

If you go with the Red Cross and during the day you will be fine. I wouldn't go at night though with the rowdies in their cups.

I was in Nairobi on business a year ago. The one of the parties we met with was carjacked and murdered the day we left. Two days later same thing happened to US embassy staffer in family.

Beautiful, fascinating country and culture. But hardly safe.

Cheers,

Any update on conditions in NBO? Particularly in the slums. We are currently planning on joining a medical team that will be there in May and are curious to hear what the climate is in the slums. We've gone many times and have always felt safe in the past, but with the recent unrest we are anxious to hear.

Any update on conditions in NBO? Particularly in the slums. We are currently planning on joining a medical team that will be there in May and are curious to hear what the climate is in the slums. We've gone many times and have always felt safe in the past, but with the recent unrest we are anxious to hear.

Hmmm. I don't know when the slums have ever been nice. That's why they call them slums. I would never go at night, before or now. Also Friday afternoons can be unpleasant when the beer starts to flow. But I have passed through some a couple of weeks ago during the day and I never felt unsafe. We drove out to Kitangela also and that was fine.