The original plan was to couchsurf in this dangerous country with a nice kenyan girl, or maybe someone european.. Then I got a great message from a guy with no references at all. He had lived in Japan for a few years and still sounded nice after exchanging a few messages, so the decision was made :
On the way from Geneve to Nairobi I had 9 hours – over night – inside Jeddah airport.. Saudi Arabia seems to only let women into the country if they are accompanied by their father or husband. So I bought a sleeping bag to make that night in the world’s worst airport a bit more comfortable.
And the transit lounge positively surprised me: There was free food if you stayed more than 6h (bad airplane food, but well…), also hot water for tee or coffee, the bathroom was under water, but less disgusting than I expected. The tap didn’t work, but I still had a bottle of swiss tap water with me. And, there were power outlets, and free wifi (it didn’t let me connect in the evening but worked at about 5 am). There were some of the typical airport benches in the lounge, but all seats were occupied, and I anyways wanted to lie down. So I put my sleeping bag in a corner under a screen and tried to sleep. It was rather cold, and really noisy, but well..
Arriving in Kenya, I was the first one at passport check, the guy was happy with my online visa, and then I was in the country! I got past a row of people trying to sell me taxi rides and waited for Shem a bit away in front of a cafe.
After a short stop at home, in the afternoon, we went to the giraffe center to feed – and kiss – giraffes 🙂
The next day, we went to Nairobi National Park and did a little Safari…
..and then went to the aunt for lunch. I learnt that if you go to visit someone (relatives..), you should do some grocery shopping for them and bring e.g. flour, rice and juice. When we arrived there, everyone was busy cooking: after the “we’ll be there in 1 hour”-phone-call, they were now still preparing for that surprise visit 🙂