Mobile blogging

Well, so much for thinking I'd be posting every day while in Kenya. I bought a Safaricom Mobile Office HSDPA USB Modem for my Apple MacBookPro as soon as I arrived last December (Ksh9,999, or a bit less than £100) and it does work, most of the time. You can find reception in the most unlikely places (Maasai Mara?!). But the speeds are cripplingly slow. You pay a minimum of Ksh1000 per month for 300mb of usage. This may not sound much, but it's plenty. Because much of the time I'm struggling to download or send emails at speeds of less 1 kb/sec (ie less than 1mb per 15 mins). Occasionally, as now, the blue light is on and I'm reading a top rate of 50.7kb/sec. But the lovely folks at Safaricom service centres (and they are, universally, extremely smart and helpful) just say that the software isn't fully matched to Macs, so gives unreliable info. So I don't reallly know. I'd be interested to hear of other people's experiences.

Stephen Fry in Kenya

Stephen Fry is in east Africa filming a follow-up to Last Chance to See, the excellent 1980s book (and radio series I think?) that was presented by Hitchhikers' Guide to the Galaxy author, the late, great Douglas Adams, about endangered species. His blog is worth following and he recently posted this camcorder clip about ivory and rhino horn.

Obama-Muslim-conspiracy theorist kicked out of Kenya

Kenya's record on freedom of speech is improving, so some might see the expulsion from Kenya of American anti-Democrat Jerome Corsi for trying to promote his conspiracy-theory book about Barack Obama's imagined links with Islam, terrorism, Raila Odinga and all things ungodly as a step in the wrong direction. But it looks like Obama's presence on the world stage (assuming he wins) might actually be a force for good, bringing the US some long-overdue respect and credibility and even putting a soft-focus spotlight on Kenya for the duration of his time in office. I haven't read Corsi's book, but I'm instinctively glad he's not being given the chance to talk rubbish in a fragile democracy like Kenya. It's bad enough when the likes of Sarah Palin do it in the US. Yes, I know: what about freedom of speech? Well sometimes (and this time, clearly) saying whatever you like, voicing an opinion, or making things up, serve to act against freedom from mobs, hunger, disease and death. I think the Kenyan authorities made the right call.

Watching the migration in the Maasai Mara

It's hard to tell from the President Kibaki story how much he really saw of the drama of the migration itself. Kicheche Camp's always readable Spot of the Week this week reminded us what a truly sobering, numbing experience it can be to witness one of the river crossings, where dozens of animals die in a natural, chaotic, cacophonous event - while you watch. You almost want to go down there and shoo them back. Watching the deer in Richmond Park it ain't. . .

"Despite their determination to cross, the logistics of getting 20,000 animals across a raging river, each animal seemingly intent on taking the same route as the animal in front of it, means a large amount of patience will be required from those wildebeest bringing up the rear. Patience is a virtue wildebeest have in only limited amounts and once the first animal launches into the muddy depths of the Mara the word soon gets back to 19,999 and 20,000 in the queue and then the push is really on! The first 200 wildebeest perish immediately. Choosing a fatal course across the river they fall victim to the awesome power of the Mara's current and are drowned downstream. The leader of the next throng chooses more carefully but just when it seems his inbuilt radar has found a safe passage, the Mara river deals another killer blow, this time in the form of its most brutal resident - the crocodile. Seeing a kill is brutal regardless of which predator is doing the killing. With big cats there can be moments of finesse and majesty leading up to the gore of the kill itself. However with crocodiles the unadulterated brute force on display possesses a malevolence that is blood chilling. The vehicle is silent except for the occasional whir of the shutter release."

"Tourist Number One" (President Kibaki) gets down with the crowds

The annual wildebeest migration through the Maasai Mara National Reserve has had more than its usual publicity this year. President Mwai Kibaki made an unusually informal publicity trip, which can only have done his image good.

Nairobi blogs

Photo: Carnivore
Most visitors think of getting out of Nairobi as fast as possible, or enduring the city if they're based there, and making frequent forays to the parks or down to the coast. A couple of excellent blogs, written by Nairobians, help to humanise and promote the city in a really constructive and appealing way. (I accept, by the way, whatever I may have said in the first edition of the Rough Guide, more than 20 years ago, that the term "Nairobian" is in use, and means something these days.) They'll make you see the city in a different light.

Chick about Town, run by a sassy hedonist nicknamed Biche, concentrates on products and services, ranging from the best auto repair shop to her favourite contaceptives, and from the rise of the Nu Metro cinema chain to her favourite (and not-so-favourite) restaurants and clubs. All her posts are delivered in a gloriously enthusiastic, upfront and refreshingly detailed style.

Nairobi Now is a collaborative blog, doing for Nairobi's arts and culture scene what Biche does for the equally important business of having fun – though both blogs happily overlap. Live music and club nights, new theatre, fashion shows, book launches, gallery events and new movies are all flagged up. Fancy attending (or performing?) at an open mic poetry session at Club Soundd? Or retreating from the city with some Liszt and Schubert at the Italian Cultural Institute. It's all here.

Scrap the lunatic line - here's another of those visions

Now this is exciting, if it ever happens: Mombasa to Kampala in ten hours. It's part of Kenya Railways Vision 2050 (funny how the target year keeps receding). Wider track and bigger trains would be more likely to be useful in the 22nd century, never mind the 21st - and an average speed of 110kph (68mph) isn't exactly high-speed.

But it's the right idea, isn't it? Get people moving, working, trading, with low-carbon emissions, and bring tourists through one of the world's most fabled landscapes in comfort, maybe calling at a new Maneater's Hotel in Tsavo. I hope I'm still around to see it.

But first Kenya, Uganda and South Africa have to sort out this mess.

Restaurant prices in Kenya

Kenya is experiencing the same price rises in fuel and commodities that are hitting all the world's poorest economies hardest – Restaurant prices in Kenya are notably higher than in the current edition of the guide. Still good value – tourists won't find them unaffordable – but more than ever out of reach of 95% of Kenyans.

Photo: "Carnivore", Langata, Nairobi

Slum TV in Mathare, Nairobi

Interesting recent audio report from the BBC World Service about a new TV station in Nairobi's Mathare slum: SlumTV

Roots of the Rift Valley violence - Kalenjin and Kikuyu

Land and water rights in the Rift Valley lie at the heart of the post-election violence. But there's something deeper and less material going on as well, according to this detailed and thoroughly researched article by Horace Njuguna Gisemba. It implies that something in the "soul" (?) of some young Kalenjin men has made them bloodthirsty attackers of non-Kalenjin, and particularly of Kikuyu. Certainly, the Kalenjin were brutally treated by the British a century ago. Punitive expeditions massacred about 1000 Kalenjin warriors at the end of the nineteenth century, and the account by Colonel Richard Meinertzhagen (who murdered the Nandi leader during a meeting) makes chilling reading (Kenya Diary). But Gisemba implies there was organization behind the anti-Kikuyu violence and says we'll have to wait for the findings of the proposed Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission. That could take years: I'd like to hear from an alternative viewpoint.

Barack Obama slurred by link with Odinga slurred by link with Obama

It's dig-the-dirt time again in American politics and Barack Obama, part Luo like Raila Odinga (but not Odinga's cousin in the American sense of the term "cousin") is accused of very close ties with the ODM leader (they're part of some "socialist/Sharia law" conspiracy). Who in turn is accused of accepting an unfeasibly large donation from the Democratic contender. It's all some sort of desperate Republican smear.

And it seems to have backfired quite spectacularly on the Republicans with the disclosure that one of Republican nominee John McCain's senior advisors, Charles Black, was a lobbyist for the Daniel arap Moi government in the late 1980s and early 90s when the former Kenyan dictator was in power.

To draw the conspiracies out to their illogical conclusion, it's important to recall that Moi's greatest support came from the same powerbase in the Rift Valley and Western Kenya as Raila Odinga's.

Sustainable Mara

It's all happening. . .

An excellent initiative in the Maasai Mara:

"The Mara Conservancy, a not-for-profit conservation management company based in the Masai Mara, has launched a new Responsible Wildlife Tourism Award, aimed at encouraging tourism best-practice in Kenya. Sponsored by international wildlife charity and long-time friend of Kenya, the Born Free Foundation, the award is aimed at protecting Kenya’s wildlife from the potential negative impacts of increasing visitor numbers in the region. . ."

Read the full story here, at TravelMole.com.

The award is being judged by Cheryl Mvula, who featured in the Observer recently, in a piece about the Maasai benefitting properly from tourism.

Photo: Mara Wildebeest © Irv Weissbart

Return of tourism also benefits agricultural exporters

It's not just the tourist industry that will benefit from the return of charter flights. Lake Victoria's Luo fishing communities depend partly on tourist charter flights for their livelihood. Local food exporters have been hit very hard by the cancellation of the tourist flights in whose holds they normally ship fruit, vegetables and fish to Europe.

Mike Wooldridge on the future for Kenya

Mike Wooldridge's thoughtful, if disturbing two-part series for Radio 4
is being repeated on the BBC World Service. Or is it the other way round?

Anyway. Listen out for the crystal tones of Nairobi Kiss FM's Caroline Mutogo - breath of fresh air: "Every cabinet minister's on a million shillings. . .[but] I am optimistic, not about the politicians, but the Kenyans. . .What's slowly becoming clear to us as a people [is] don't ever put all your eggs in one basket and let that basket be Mister Member of Parliament. Ever."

Virgin kicks off the return to Kenya

Good to see Virgin Atlantic airlines helping to revive the Kenya tourist industry with a big UK press and underground poster campaign featuring the wildebeest migration. Richard Branson was in the Maasai Mara at Sekenani village near Sarova Mara camp at the weekend, where Virgin made a £60,000 donation to Sekenani village school.

Meanwhile, Gordon Brown has apparently invited Mwai Kibaki and Raila Odinga to talks in London. Is that good? Let's hope they meet David Miliband.

"Behind the Smile: the Tsunami of Tourism"

Tourism Concern's brilliant photo essay, "Behind the Smile: the Tsunami of Tourism", is back on the Tourism Concern site once again, having been inaccessible for some time. The photos by John Wright, part of an exhibition originally shown at London's Oxo Gallery in early 2006 (which also included photos by Jenny Matthews from tsunami-affected areas of Thailand), are a stark indictment of the rotten end of Kenya's tourist industry: untenably low wages, callous disregard for human dignity and scant concern for maintaining a sustainable hospitality culture. John Wright's explanation of the "quote cards" held by the subject of each photo is eloquent. Kenya desperately needs its tourists back –  tourists who are happy to tip, leave the hotel, bargain for souvenirs, jump on local excursions as well as pre-booked safaris, and generally get stuck into the country. People returning from visits say the parks are incredible with so few visitors, and the welcome as warm as you could imagine.

National Museum reopens in Nairobi

Nairobi's national museum, the city's most important tourist attraction, and a good museum in its own right, has recently re-opened after more than two years' closure for refurbishment. Thanks to Mark Fairweather for the news - the National Museums of Kenya site is still saying it's going to reopen at the end of 2007. . .

This is rare. . .

The trial has started of two policemen accused of murdering two demonstrators in Kisumu in January. It's rare that the police go on trial for human rights offences – and any observer of the Kenyan scene knows how brutal and undisciplined Kenya's police can be (there are many good police officers, but the bad ones are extraordinarily brazen) – so this trial, of a shooting that was witnessed by the world through  KTN footage (relayed by the BBC) is very welcome. 

Elgon – stay away

One area of Kenya you don't want to be wandering around in at the moment is Mount Elgon. The Sabaot Land Defence Force are a particularly unpleasant gang of thugs – whose original grievances about land-grabbing and resettlement have been muddied by post-electoral reprisals and counter-reprisals – but the Kenyan military's clumsy intervention and clear evidence of abuses by legitimate government forces needs to be exposed. The Human Rights Watch report makes chilling reading: there's a sense that the armed forces think they'll get away with murder while the world is watching Kibaki and Odinga, and if anyone notices, the even worse atrocities committed by the SDLF will cover for them.

Castle Forest Lodge and Karen Blixen Camp

Map detail from Rough Guide Kenya & Northern Tanzania map



Castle Forest Lodge up on the southern slopes of Mount Kenya (on p.179) is not very well known, though it gets a good write-up in the Rough Guide.


Meanwhile, yet another new lodge, the Karen Blixen Camp, has opened outside the Mara. Not good timing, perhaps, but by all accounts visitors to the area are sharing it with very few other tourists and getting unusually good service.