STAYING AT AN AWARD WINNING HOTEL DOES MAKE A DIFFERENCE – REFLECTIONS ON ANOTHER VISIT TO NAIROBI
(Posted 11th October 2014)
Questions like ‘But will you be safe’ or ‘Are you not scared to go there’ continue to amaze me and normally prompt a response on social media, both open Timeline and DM like ‘Really? REALLY? S E R I O U S L Y ?’ and when I walk the streets of downtown Nairobi it makes me laugh that people I know should be worried about my ‘safety’ and the misconceptions such concerns are based on.
For being in the very centre of the CBD and its vicinity, perhaps a 10 minute walk from the Kenyatta International Convention Centre, I again opted to stay at the Sarova Stanley Hotel, where the food is excellent, the hospitality great and as a regular guest the staff, from the doorman to the concierge to their Brand Ambassadors like Dominic, Cecilia or Elizabeth truly bend over backwards to ensure that every minute detail is attended to. Being an avid tea drinker, housekeeping delivers creamer and teabags by the fistful, not the usual 4 a piece, cold milk is delivered in a large jug to keep in the fridge and the papers are delivered just as soon as they reach the hotel – apart from breakfast being served from as early as 5 a.m. allowing me to enjoy watch the city come awake in the hour of dawn, seen from the Thorn Tree Restaurant, which I used to frequent way back nearly 40 years ago already for a cuppa or a chat.
On arrival I was greeted with news that the Stanley, alongside other Sarova properties, had again bagged some of the coveted World Travel Awards and the staff were swift to scan me a copy of an article in one of the daily papers to keep for my records.
Back to the safety issue though. I crisscrossed the city on foot, faster than sitting in the back of a cab which moves at snails speed as a result of the traffic, walked as far as the Nairobi Serena and of course every day to the convention centre, including returning to the hotel twice after dark, unmolested, untroubled, not a worry in the world.
I carried my MKTE canvas bag, very stylish this year, cameras inside, or outside to take a few pictures of the Jacaranda trees in full bloom, which makes a colourful feature for Nairobi every year around this time, walked amid hundreds of Kenyans who either had no fare to spend on a matatu or else opted to walk too for this being the fastest way across the CBD. People looked busy but when given a friendly ‘Habarigani’ the more local version of the touristy ‘Jambo’ there was an instant smile and the answer came flying ‘Mzuri Sana’ – all good, all fine before moving on.
(City Hall at night, opposite the main gate of KICC and the Jacaranda lined roads in Nairobi during the day)
Why am I telling this story, because too many potential visitors to Kenya’s capital city and the country per se have been confused by stories in the international media about how unsafe Kenya is – patently not true. They have been confused to believe that Nairobi really stands for ‘Nairobbery’ – also not true. What is true that there is petty crime and pick pockets in the streets but security has vastly improved and, oftentimes, when something happens, does mob justice swiftly come the way of a mugger or pickpocket identified – not that I condone mob justice, I am just saying that it does happen.
There is crime like in every other large city and my friend Jackie Arkle never fails to post it in her FB updates under her Nelion Security Advice. She says it is too much and needs to be tackled and that too is correct, but tourists and business visitors are not very likely to come face to face with any form of crime and mostly get the warm smiles of the people they meet, who do appreciate that the wagenis, local Kiswahili for tourists, are still coming, still visiting, still spending money in Kenya and still defying the at times outright silly antitravel advisories.
All in all, again kudos for my hosts from the Kenya Tourism Board, who I believe appreciate my way of writing about their country, generally positive and when necessary tongue in cheek and when absolutely necessary telling things the way they are, because I can and because my readers and sources do expect that bitter truths are also told, things said which others perhaps cannot say so directly and openly.
I keep saying that Kenya still got what it takes, which always prompts my friends to tell me in return to use their famous hashtag #WhyILoveKenya but by heart they know that I do, all of East Africa which has become my home for the past nearly 40 years and a place I would not trade willingly for any other spot on earth, perhaps apart from my secret love, the Seychelles.
Asante sana it is to my hosts at KTB and the superb staff at the Stanley and everyone else I came in contact with, not a bad moment throughout the week and THAT is something tourists should come and experience for themselves too, without fear but with much favour towards Magical Kenya, the place where the dream of a holiday of a lifetime still comes true.
