Nairobi, Kenya

After arriving back in the capital, we said our fond farewells to our fellow travellers and headed off in a taxi to Khweza Guesthouse for three nights of recuperation after the long journey from Johannesburg to Nairobi. A very pleasant surprise to find a comfortable room and a rooftop restaurant and bar, where we can while away a few hours re-organising our itinerary after warnings by taxi drivers, tour guides and locals not to travel to Lamu in the north of Kenya. Nairobi is a bustling city, very crowded, with traffic jams, uneven footpaths and people everywhere. Today we walked to the National Museum. What a great variety of exhibits! One minute we are looking at skulls discovered by Dr Leakey in the cradle of mankind exhibit; then the world of mammals…reviewing all the wildlife we have seen; a fabulous bird collection; cultural displays and artefacts; and a wonderful collection of watercolour paintings by Joy Adamson of “Born Free” fame. What a remarkable woman! We walked again today, and had a very in-depth conversation with David, an international studies student we met while walking along the street. He knew a lot about Australian history, including the plight of Aboriginal people, Kevin Rudd’s apology, the Rabbit Proof Fence and assorted other events in our history…an enlightening hour spent chatting on the footpath in Nairobi!