Yesterday we arrived at Nairobi, capital city of Kenya. Although we travelled via Cairo, we only witnessed the events there through Al Jazeera.
It seems like we have returned to England, we can use the same electrical plugs and bank card. The big difference is the weather, which resembles a nice summer’s day in the Netherlands. The people here are complaining that it is cold, though, because this time of the year is the cooler period. The relatively cool climate of Nairobi has attracted white settlers in the past. Before 1899, the place that is now Nairobi was a watering hole for Masai cattle, the name meaning ‘sweet / cold water’. In that year, the British chose it as a railway camp for the railway they were building between the coast (Mombasa) and Lake Victoria. One thing led to another, and here we are in a bustling town with a population of three million.
We are staying on the compound of the Agriculture Research Institute. Besides offices, there are a lot of experimental fields. This includes a maize experiment running since 1976 and plots with drip irrigation. Mouthwatering for agriculture graduates! The quiet of the countryside is quickly lost when we step outside the compound. Business people and street vendors, homeless people and government officials, rich and poor together on the road. Food for thought.

A less recent picture of Ivan, because we miss him (he is in Holland).