12 Floors Up

Looking out onto Downtown Nairobi from the 12th floor of a many star hotel is certainly a different view of Africa than what I’ve seen over the last five to six weeks. And I’m aware that the view that I have had is different from the perspective of someone being in one place for all that time, or from the perspective of an African living his or her life over that same amount of time. In fact, perhaps being 12 floors up is a good analogy for the trip, since I’d venture to guess that most people on this continent, and likely most people of the world, never make it to the 12th floor of anyplace, and certainly not of a luxury hotel.

I’m here because my plans did end up changing. When I got to Malawi, which was going to be little more than a transit stop for me between Mozambique and Ethiopia, I found a really good price on a ticket from Lilongwe to Addis Ababa, but it required a lay-over in Nairobi on Kenya Air’s tab. And then when I tried to change my KLM ticket to come home earlier, they suggested that it would be better to fly from Nairobi directly to Amsterdam, and to skip Addis altogether. So my stay in Nairobi—and at the Nairobi Safari Club (“the only all-suite hotel in Kenya)—has been extended until tonight.

I’m normally one to hate big hotels, though this one has a unique design, a great balcony, and the first non-foam mattress that I’ve slept on in well over a month. So I’m enjoying it, and will enjoy exploring the city from here on my last day on the continent (for this trip, at least). What I don’t quite know what to do with are the people who I sit near in the downstairs Safari Restaurant (my meals are comped) who are paying $50 for a meal, taking loud cell phone calls, and look as if they could be anywhere in the world, but certainly not in the Africa that I’ve traveled…at least up until now.

Nairobi is a big modern city, and likely has a lot less character than it’s bigger brother to the North, Addis Ababa. I’m sorry that I will be missing Ethiopia altogether on this trip, especially because it was the country that inspired this trip in the first place. But I’m sure that I’ll travel there, and at least inch closer to Djibouti in the future. What is certain is that this was not my last visit to this continent. East Africa (and I guess the portion of Central and Southern Africa that I visited) have been phenomenal places to visit and learn about. I would return to most of these places, and hopefully in the not too distant future. I can only hope that the people who I meet and the stories that I hear the next time around will be half as good as this time, and if they are, the trip will be a wonderful one.