Where I've Been .......

Well .... firstly, in the city of Nairobi, Kenya .... as viewed from our hotel window, above .....

Then ... flying into the city of Johannesburg, South Africa - as pictured below ....

Then on another 'plane from Johannesburg .... making our way to the Eastern Cape coastline of South Africa ..... flying over mountainous areas as seen below ....

Then all the way back again .... East London, Johannesburg, Nairobi, Kilimanjaro ..... and here is Kilimanjaro's magnificent peak just before sunset below - as we flew right past her on our way home ....

As the sun began to set on yet another African day .....

And the clouds turned a pinky candyfloss hue ......

As the pink disc of sun sank into the horizon .....

And we came in to land ..... the emerald green vegetation below us, and lots of water all around still (a stark contrast to South Africa's golden, parched earth)

We had a wonderful break away - but as always, it sure feels good to be home again !

The Panari Hotel in Nairobi, Kenya

If you haven't yet read how my daughter & I ended up at the Panari Hotel in Nairobi, Kenya a couple of weeks ago, you might like to read this post first. In a nutshell, we were 'stranded' in Nairobi for the day whilst awaiting our connecting (night) flight to Johannesburg & thanks to the outstanding service provided by Kenya Airways, were provided with a complimentary day room (pictured above) at the Panari Hotel in Nairobi by them.

The Panari Hotel is situated on the outskirts of the city of Nairobi, between the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport and the city itself, so it's location is ideal if you are short on time or need a hotel within close driving distance to the airport. It prides itself as a '5 Star Hotel' although - to my knowledge - there is no international star grading system in Kenya (or Tanzania, for that matter).

The hotel was built in 2005 and is a modern/trendy hotel which I would not usually have stayed at (we prefer the older, more traditional type of hotel) but it was wonderful to see & experience nevertheless. Lots of brightly coloured glass, chandeliers, marble, leather and striking bedroom decor - stark white, black and shades of purple and imitation animal skins/carpeting (like bold Zebra stripes) scattered here and there. The photo above shows the reception area on our floor - each floor (there are 12 floors, with a total of 135 rooms) had it's own and each had a different decor theme.


The views from the hotel were stunning. As you can see by the photo above, our room looked out on part of the hustle & bustle of the outskirts of the city of Nairobi, yet just beyond the buildings, you can see endless plains of African bush & scrub trees.


Here, above, is another view from our bedroom window. Most of the main areas of the hotel are built to face this view - with huge floor to ceiling windows, it has quite a dramatic effect.

This was the view to the right of our bedroom window - of the Ngong Hills. If you are familiar with the book "Out of Africa", you will know that Karen Blixen's coffee farm nestled in the foothills of the Ngong Hills, which are so named as 'Ngong' means 'knuckles' in the local language and if you look closely (you can enlarge the photo by clicking on it) they look like a set of knuckles on a closed fist.

The Panari Hotel has it's own boutique shops, bank, bureau de change, ice skating rink, gym and movie theatres as well as a coffee shop ('Amber Coffee Shop'), a bar ('Crystal Bar') and a delightful restaurant called 'Red Garnet' where we enjoyed a wonderful buffet lunch which consisted of an amazing selection of salads, soups, main courses, desserts, cheese and biscuits and included beef, chicken, pork, fish, vegetarian and seafood main course dishes aswell as Indian curries, Italian pasta's and sauces - and a dessert table to die for, with desserts so beautifully crafted they looked like they'd just popped out of the pages of a gourmet food magazine (no, I did not take my camera into the dining room, else I would have posted a few photo's !)

The food was outstanding, the rooms spotlessly clean (with lovely piping hot bath/shower water), quiet and very secure and the service excellent, too - from reception staff to security staff to waiters and chefs, we were treated like royalty by everyone we encountered and I would not hesitate to recommend the hotel - especially if you've had an adventurous flight (like we did !) and are looking for a quick stayover en route to your next destination, which has everything you need without having to drive in to/stay at a hotel in Nairobi city itself. You certainly won't be disappointed !

The Historical Norfolk Hotel in Nairobi, Kenya

The front entrance of The Norfolk Hotel in Nairobi, Kenya

The hotel's world famous "Lord Delamere Terrace Restaurant" which is an important part of Nairobi social life, both with local residents & tourists alike

One of the wings housing the hotel bedrooms, overlooking the cool, lush gardens

You would never guess that the hotel is situated in the centre of a bustling city - the gardens are tranquil & bird and insect life abounds

On our recent visit to Kenya in December with my parents, we took them to the world famous Norfolk Hotel in Nairobi one afternoon, where we had lunch in the popular Lord Delamere Restaurant. My husband and I spent part of our honeymoon at the Norfolk in 2003, and since then have been lucky enough to have stayed at this magnificent hotel countless times during our trips to Kenya.

If you’ve ever read any of the great African ‘classic’ books like Out of Africa, White Mischief, The Flame Trees of Thika and even some of the more recently written ones (or if you have ever seen any of the movies based on these books) you will have heard of the Norfolk Hotel, which is now over 100 years old.

The Norfolk is as much a part of Nairobi as the landscape itself (it is said that Nairobi as a capital city grew up around the Norfolk Hotel)– a beautiful, historical hotel which first opened it’s doors on Christmas day 1904 and which hosted famous guests at the time such as American President Theodore Roosevelt (he began his famous safari from the hotel in 1909), Lord Baden-Powell, the Earl of Warwick, Lord and Lady Cranworth, and the Baron and Baroness von Blixen.

Aside from Karen Blixen (who wrote “Out of Africa”), other famous authors who have stayed here include Ernest Hemingway & Elspeth Huxley. In these more modern times, it has also hosted many well known international figures and celebrities.

Rich in history (a vast collection of black & white photographs displayed throughout the hotel reflect Kenyan life from as early as the 1800’s), the Norfolk is one of the ‘Leading Hotels of the World’ & has also been voted as one of the world’s most romantic (I can vouch for that !)

In the 1900’s, guests used to arrive at the hotel by hand pulled rickshaw carts (the rickshaw is still used in some of the Norfolk logo’s and brochures today), lions used to roam freely on the plains opposite the hotel & drink from the swamp in front of it, and hippo’s used to wallow in the river behind it (these areas are now all built up areas with roads, offices, shops and hotels and form part of Nairobi’s central business district).

The Lord Delamere Terrace (a restaurant & bar) is a popular meeting place for both Kenyan residents and tourists alike. It runs along the front of the hotel and looks right out onto the bustling city street below, & even today it is still at the centre of Nairobi’s social life. (This is where we had lunch with my parents on our recent visit.)

The hotel also has a swimming pool patio restaurant & the Hibiscus Lounge where a traditional afternoon tea is served, or the plush Ibis Restaurant which is, possibly, one of the finest restaurants in East Africa and indeed one of the best restaurants in Africa I have ever had the pleasure of dining in.

I know that a hotel 100 years old may not seem that old to some, but for Africa it is quite a milestone as sadly, not many old buildings have survived here and those that have are often in a state of disrepair and not many are maintained or even open to the public.

If you are ever in Nairobi, a stay at the Norfolk is an absolute must – especially if you are interested in history, and experiencing a taste of a bygone era. If you are pushed for time, then just pop in for afternoon tea and a wander around, I promise that you won’t regret it. Nor will you ever forget it !

Off We Go Again !

The road to Nairobi is currently under construction, so a lot of the drive is on dirt road - which adds about an hour to our journey !

Tomorrow we head off again, back to our neighbouring country of Kenya, to the capital city of Nairobi where I have several Doctor’s appointments and tests lined up over the next few days (all pregnancy related).

It’s going to be a busy time (i.e. not much time for shopping !) and I’ll be back sometime over the weekend, & depending on our current internet problems/situation I hope to be back blogging then too – although our ‘fundi’ (technician) will only be coming out the week after we return, to re-align our satellite dish.

I’m really sorry that I do not have blog posts publishing daily in my absence as I usually do – our current internet situation has prevented me from doing this, along with this week being quite a crazy week !

So, all being well, I’ll be posting again on either Saturday or Sunday.

I hope that everyone has a wonderful week ahead !

Part 2 - The Tokyo Japanese Restaurant in Nairobi, Kenya

The place settings we each had, complete with our own selection of dipping sauces - Soy, Onion, Avocado & Anchovy and Mustard

The Miso Soup with Tofu, accompanied by a bowl of rice was served as one of the final courses of the evening

The wonderful staff who attended to us that evening - to the left is the Maitre'd, Alex, and one of our waiters

Following on from Friday’s post about our recent meal at the Tokyo Japanese Restaurant in Nairobi, Kenya (you can read the first part here), here is what our 12 course set menu consisted of that night. (If you can bear it – I feel like a little piggy just reading what we ate !)

I honestly cannot remember when I last ate so much. I had to write down what I ate course for course, else I would never have remembered -:

Firstly, we were each presented with our own individual platters of dipping sauces, each in a separate bowl, and were told which meats they accompanied. The sauces were -: Avocado & Anchovy, Soy, Onion, Mustard. These sauces were kept on the table for the entire evening and accompanied all the courses.

For Starters, we were brought a crisp garden salad topped with a sesame peanut dressing (this was served from the kitchen)

Our next course – also served from the kitchen - was Sushi (being pregnant, I threw caution to the wind on this one & tucked in – which was perhaps a bit naughty of me !) – beautifully presented rolls of Sushi which consisted of 3 different types of fish - fresh Tuna (& Avocado Pear), Red Snapper & Salmon. These were accompanied by Wasabi paste and fresh Horseradish (the latter I’d never eaten – fresh – before).

The next course was Tempura prawns & vegetable Tempura (i.e. both dipped in a Tempura batter & deep fried) & a Tempura sauce. This was the last course to be served from the kitchen.

Alex then fired up the gas cooking plate and started to prepare potato pancakes for us – he recommended that we try them with the Onion dipping sauce, which was delicious !

After the pancakes, we had Red Snapper Fillet cooked with a blend of seasonings (Soy sauce being one of them)

This was followed by Calamari (Squid) Steak (my absolute favourite !) in garlic butter

And then came the Lobster in lime juice & soy sauce. Oh my ! (All the seafood was from Mombassa, which lies on the Kenyan coast)

Leaving the seafood, we moved on to Ostrich steak which was flambed in brandy, with onion

After the Ostrich we were served Chicken breast flambed in brandy and Soy sauce

Almost ready to pop by this stage, we were served a Vegetable stir-fry done in butter

Followed by Miso Soup which contained tofu (which I simply adore & went well with the Miso soup – although no one else enjoyed the soup much !) and a bowl of fried rice on the side (We thought it unusual to end with the soup instead of to start with it !)

And then last but not least, a dessert platter of fresh fruit which included passion fruit, pineapple and melon

Something we so often forget in this fast paced day & age, is to really savour and enjoy our food, & this eating experience – which is slow and drawn out – reminded me once again of how important that is. As you can see, a lot of food was served but because it was served slowly and in small portions, with pauses between each course as we watched Alex cooking, we filled up slowly and enjoyably.

This entire 12 course menu – believe it or not – cost 1300/= Kenyan Shillings per head, (around U$17) which I think is excellent value for money. It’s also good to generously (separately) tip your chef at the end of the meal, as he plays such a huge role in the whole food experience and if you have someone like Alex serving you, you will not be disappointed !

The entire experience took us around 3 hours, so unless you go at lunchtime or early evening, it can be quite a long evening for children although as I mentioned before, they are geared for kids & very child-friendly.

So, would I visit the Tokyo Japanese Restaurant again ? Absolutely ! In fact, since we returned from Nairobi I have been singing it’s praises to all my expat friends, many of whom have never tried it. Even though it’s not authentic African cusine, if you are ever in Nairobi, do give it a try – I promise you won’t regret it !

*The Tokyo Restaurant is situated in Rhapta Road, Westlands, Nairobi

Part 1 - The Tokyo Japanese Restaurant in Nairobi, Kenya

Chef Alex cooking flambed Ostrich fillet in brandy at our table (note the fireworks display in the window behind him - our view for the night !)

Here Alex cooks some chicken on the cooking plate set in to our table

(As this is rather a long post, I am splitting it in to 2 parts – you can read the second part over here !)

On our recent trip to Nairobi, Kenya just before Christmas with my parents we went to the “Tokyo Japanese Restaurant” one night for an early dinner. If you are ever in Nairobi, you just have to try this fantastic restaurant out – it is the best Japanese restaurant I’ve ever been to and no, don’t worry, it’s not all sushi / raw fish but serves a wide variety of cooked dishes, too. (Thank goodness, as my husband & my father were balking at the thought of ‘eating raw fish for supper’ & were joking beforehand about the steaks they would eat when we got home !)

I will admit that I am a very fussy diner - which probably goes back to my years spent in the hospitality industry, and it is not often that a restaurant gets it ALL right as the “Tokyo Japanese” does – excellent food, outstanding service, knowledgeable staff, exquisite food, a warm ambience and great value for money.

On arrival at the restaurant, guests are offered a choice of 3 dining venues – inside, outside in the garden/veranda (decked with gorgeous red paper lanterns & a huge mock fireworks display light) or the indoor ‘interactive’ eating experience where you have your own personal chef who cooks everything for you at your table for the evening. We chose the latter, especially because we thought it would be a fun experience for our daughter !

We were seated at a long, heavy wooden table which had it’s own in-built gas cooking plate/slab set in the middle of the table – this is where all the food was cooked – you don’t get more ‘interactive’ than that ! (Each group of diners has their own chef and table/cooking area for the night).

There is a choice of around 4 to 6 set menu’s which you can choose from (some catering for vegetarians, others for seafood or red meat lovers and some a combination of all 3). Once you have chosen your set menu, it is then cooked in front of you, course for course. I should just add here, that each set menu consists of around 12 courses – can you imagine ?! (Alternatively, you can still dine with your guests at the interactive table, yet eat off the a ‘ la carte menu.)

My husband (who is allergic to seafood !) choose a non seafood set menu, and my Mum and I both chose the set menu containing seafood. My Dad had a ‘la carte (Starter and Main Course) & the staff kindly recommended a stir-fry chicken and rice dish for my daughter, which they cooked for her at the table even though it wasn’t part of the set menu. (The restaurant is very child friendly with kiddies chairs and specially modified chopsticks for little fingers to handle easily, too !)

After we’d decided on our menus & ordered drinks, we were introduced to our wonderful and talented Kenyan born (but Japanese trained) chef, Alex. Alex was an absolute whiz & I could not believe it when he told me that he’d only been cooking for 3 years, as he was so skilled and quick.

(The 2nd part of this post can be read over here)

The Giraffe Centre in Nairobi, Kenya

My daughter gingerly feeds Daisy, one of the female giraffes at the centre

My Mum took this amusing photo of a sign that can be seen inside the centre !

With their long eyelashes & delicate features, I think that giraffe must be one of the most elegant looking wild animals around !

On our recent visit to Kenya just before Christmas, we decided to take our daughter to the Giraffe Centre (otherwise known as ‘The African Fund for Endangered Wildlife Kenya’ which is a non-governmental, non-profit organization) on the outskirts of the city of Nairobi, which was founded by Betty & Jock Leslie-Melville in 1979 to protect the endangered Rothschild Giraffe species. At the time they founded the centre, there were only 130 Rothschild Giraffe left in the wild, as their natural habitat in Western Kenya had been destroyed by agriculture. (There are 8 sub-species of Giraffe in Africa & the Rothschild Giraffe is the most rare.)

Funds were raised to enable 4 herds to be moved to 4 National Parks and young giraffe born at the centre have since been relocated to various ranches, conservancies and game reserves within Kenya. As a result, there are now around 500 of the rare Rothschild Giraffe in Kenya.

The sanctuary (which incorporates the Giraffe Centre) consists of 100 acres of indigenous forest which used to be part of a much bigger forest which once surrounded the city of Nairobi. There is a 1,5 km nature trail which you can walk and bird and tree identification walks are also available. The main purpose of the centre nowadays, is to educate people (focusing on the Kenyan youth – they have many school programmes & field trips) about this rare species and about the importance of conserving wildlife and natural habitats.

The Giraffe Centre has a huge raised wooden building with outside platforms which you can walk around so that you are on the same level as the giraffe, and their handlers provide you with special pellets which you are able to feed to them. The giraffe are all free to roam in the bush, and are not enclosed in small spaces at all – when they hear the rattling of the tin bucket containing the pellets, they come wandering over to the wooden building to be fed. I was amazed at how gentle these huge creatures are when they lick the pellets from your hand, and you can stroke them just as you would a horse. Their tongues are a deep purple/black colour, & the theory goes that this is to protect the tongues from sunburn when they are reaching up high on trees for leaves.

As the tallest animal, the males reach heights of 5,5 m and the females 4,5 m – that’s really tall ! They live until the age of 20 to 30 years, and can run up to 55 km per hour. When they run it is a beautifully elegant movement, which looks like they are running in slow motion. (Another interesting point to make about the Giraffe, is that they are our national symbol here in Tanzania, and as a result are protected and are not allowed to be hunted at all).

If you are ever in Nairobi – especially with children – a visit to the Giraffe Centre makes a nice morning or afternoon trip. Aside from being educational (& the children being able to have their photo taken up close with the world’s tallest animal !) there is also a tea garden where you can have some light refreshments, and a gift shop which you can browse in afterwards. Your entrance fee will also help contribute to the centre and to the long term conservation of the Rothschild Giraffe.

You can view the official site of the Giraffe Centre over here.

The Hotel We Stayed At In Nairobi

Breakfast is served each morning around one of the 2 swimming pools

During our time in Nairobi, we stayed at the Holiday Inn. This used to be the Mayfair Court hotel, which enjoyed it’s early heyday in 1940’s colonial Kenya.

The hotel, now owned by the Holiday Inn group, is unlike your ‘typical’ Holiday Inn city hotel (as you can see by the photo’s) and has been refurbished and renovated over the years, yet it still manages to capture the charm of a bygone era. The bedrooms and main hotel areas are all set in & amongst lush, tropical gardens.

The covered walkways between the main hotel areas & the bedrooms all weave through the lush gardens

It is a great family friendly hotel, located away from the city centre yet close to a selection of shopping centres and restaurants in a cool, leafy party of the city. The rooms are spacious and equipped with everything you would need for a comfortable stay & it also has 2 in-house restaurants, curio shops, a business centre, 2 swimming pools, gym and a hair & beauty salon. The hotel staff are exceptionally warm, friendly and helpful which can actually be said of all the local Kenyan people.

The hotel has a Koi pond which is also home to a tiny turtle !

One of the main attractions for us (since becoming parents, that is !) is the in-house “Spur” steak house restaurant. “Spur” is a South African franchise and serves really great food – aside from the usual steaks, seafood, salads, soups, chicken etc they also serve a large selection of Mexican food which I always opt for as it’s not something I’d usually make at home & hubby always goes for the steaks or burgers and of course they have a great kiddies menu, too. This particular Spur has both an outdoor & indoor kiddies play area – a huge novelty for my daughter as these are unheard of in our part of Tanzania.

The gardens are lush & tropical. Nairobi can get very hot in Summer, & can sometimes feel a bit humid, too.

The hairdressing & beauty salon is where we all go and have our hair cut during our stay. I usually treat myself to a few other things, too – this time I had a 2 hour pampering session along with a manicure and pedicure whilst hubby looked after our daughter (“You can order a milkshake from room service !”) with colouring books and TV in the room. After 2 hours though, he appeared in the salon (looking slightly ruffled !) with our daughter at his side, saying that she was really desperate to see me, and would I be much longer ?!

This was the view from our bedroom - looking out over the Koi pond & beautiful gardens

So - that’s the Holiday Inn Nairobi for you. I hope this blog post doesn’t read too much like one of those travel reviews (!!) but seeing as I get quite a few visitors via Google who are searching for info on travel/hotels/food in East Africa, I thought that putting it all down might be helpful to prospective visitors, too ;)

(Thanks to everyone for all the emails you've been sending me, my Inbox is overflowing with over 100 emails at the moment - not all blog related ! - I promise to get around to replying to everyone during the course of the week).

Nairobi - A Diverse & Vibrant African City !

The road between Kenya & Tanzania. It is very narrow & has shocking potholes in places, although they are slowly repairing it & building a new road between the two countries.

Well, I’m back from Nairobi & I thought that I would firstly just tell you a little about the city’s background & history …..

Nairobi is the capital city of Kenya & has an estimated population of between 3 and 4 million people. The name “Nairobi” comes from the Maasai phrase “Enkare Nyirobi” which means “place of cool waters” as the city lies on the Nairobi river.

Nairobi was founded in 1899 as a small rail depot along the railway line which linked Mombasa to Uganda. It quickly grew, and became the capital of British East Africa in 1907 and continued as the capital city in 1963, when Kenya became a free republic.

The scenery along the road - it's pretty desolate & not a place you'd like to break down on - especially at night - as sometimes there are no people for miles around

During the colonial period, Nairobi was the centre of the colony’s sisal, tea and coffee industry. Perhaps one of the most well known coffee farms of the day was the one owned by Karen Blixen (Isaak Dinesen) who wrote the book “Out of Africa” with it’s famous opening line “I had a farm in Africa, at the foot of the Ngong Hills”. The Ngong Hills lie just outside Nairobi, and resemble a set of 4 knuckles – the name “Ngong” means “knuckles” in the Maasai language.

I’ve visited Karen Blixen’s farm more than once, and it is a must see if you are ever in Nairobi. The original house still stands & is fully furnished (although a lot of the furniture has been reproduced) exactly as it was in the time that she lived there. You can visit the house, walk through all the rooms and explore the gardens (there is even some of the old coffee processing & farm equipment outside) and it is truly a wonderful and very moving place, and one that you will probably never forget.

One of the places we stopped for lunch - I had an Iced Cafe Latte & a hickory ham, honey & sultana sandwich on rye - a real treat & like nothing we can get at home !

Nairobi is considered to be one of Africa’s most prominent cities both financially and politically, and is also home to one of the largest stock exchanges in Africa, the Nairobi Stock Exchange.

Of course, like any big African city it also has it’s problems in parts – crime, litter, disease, poverty & slum areas. But as you know, I try to focus on the positive side of African life on my blog & not so much the negative, depressing side so often portrayed in the media – because that is not all that Africa is about !

Skylights in the Westgate Shopping Mall allow the blue African sky to brighten up the mall interior with lots of natural light

Whilst in Nairobi we ate out quite a lot – we avoided the city restaurants at night (a short taxi ride from our hotel) as parts of the city can be unsafe and with a 4 year old in tow, we opted to rather stay in and eat at our hotel instead. (More about the hotel we stayed at tomorrow).

During the day we ate lunch at coffee bar type places which are of course, a novelty to us as we don’t get them here in Tanzania. We visited several of the larger shopping centres and malls around the city, the Westgate Mall (pictured above & below) is one of the newest and largest, and on a par with any good mall you will find in South Africa or the UK. We were most impressed !

Inside the Westgate Mall, where preparations for Christmas are already underway - we watched several people decorating Christmas trees for display purposes as we ate lunch - my daughter loved all the glitzy baubles & tinsel !

Our purchases included lots of books and magazines (we don’t have a single decent book shop in our closest city here, and magazines are like hens teeth !), stationery, toiletries, make-up, cosmetics, clothing, shoes, Christmas & birthday presents, linen and lots of dry goods like ingredients for my Christmas cake and decorations, food colouring etc for my daughter’s birthday cake.

On the day we left we also bought bags of ice to fill our coolerboxes and packed those with quality meat (which we also can’t get here for love or money !) such as rolled pork and chicken roasts, cold meats (ham, turkey) etc and some nice bread which we can’t get here easily (Rye, wholewheat etc – it stores well in the freezer for months !) Of course we also bought some food treats for the dogs & cats !

So that, in a nutshell, was Nairobi and I’ll be posting some more about it tomorrow !

I'm Leaving The Country ......

Early tomorrow morning, we'll be taking this road out of Tanzania, across the Namanga border post and into Kenya - where we hope to reach Nairobi sometime in the afternoon

For a few days.

Ha – did that get your attention ?!

I know, it sounds more glamorous than it is, but tomorrow morning at first light my husband, my daughter and I will pack up our car & head off the dusty farm roads, through the city of Arusha and continue even further until we reach the Namanga border post which separates Tanzania from Kenya. After the border crossing, we will keep on driving into Kenya and on and on until we eventually reach the capital city of Nairobi, where we hope to check into our hotel sometime in the afternoon.

I absolutely love Nairobi – I fell in love with it the first time I visited it over 10 years ago, and it continues to grow on me with each visit. We go to Nairobi at least once, often three or more times a year - only this year it will be our first visit.

My expat friends are quick to point out to me that Nairobi is ‘just another bustling, dirty, African city’ & that if I lived there I’d soon change my idea of the place but then I am just as quick to tell them that I was born and grew up in a bustling, dirty, African city (Harare, Zimbabwe) so I feel quite at home in Nairobi, thanks !

If there’s one African city you just have to visit, it’s Nairobi. It will knock your socks off ! It has some of the best restaurants – I believe – in East Africa, if not Africa as a whole; the people are very cosmopolitan; the city has great cultural spots; parks; shopping malls; bars and night life ! I also find the Nairobians (yes, this is the name given to people who live in the city) to be vibey, dynamic and very friendly. Sure, Nairobi has it’s slum areas, it’s crime, it’s problems – but then which city doesn’t ?

Of course, as always, I’ll be taking my camera with me to record everything I see, do and eat whilst in Kenya (did I mention one of the main reasons for the trip is Christmas Shopping ?!) , so that I can blog about it when I get back ! Until then though, I don’t have any blog posts publishing automatically each day whilst I’m away as I usually do, but I’ll be back blogging again on Friday or Saturday - depending on when we get back.

So ………….. see you all then !