Return to Nairobi

Summary

Airport Rating ****
Reception of locals ****
Cost: £££

• Second trip to Nairobi and very quiet - read my full article with all the main sites here
• Visited the oldest surviving Gurdwara in Africa
• Visible signs that the city has gone through tough times politically and economically.
• Main sights: Gurdwara Sahib Railway - other sites covered in my article on Nairobi here

Second trip to Nairobi

Six years after my previous trip, I returned to Nairobi. That last trip was incredible, I fell in love with Nairobi and I was excited to get another chance to visit. This time out I spent 10 days in the city and while that's enough time to do and see a lot, I wanted to spend more time doing day to day things like visiting cafes, relaxing, and just slowing down a little to appreciate the city. My main focused this time was to spend more time in the beautiful Gurdwaras of Nairobi.

​So, this will be an extremely short article. If you want to read about safaris, elephants, giraffes, and even yoga then read my main article on Nairobi here, or you can read about the five things I loved about Nairobi here. You can also see photos from my last trip here. 

​More security

The first thing I noticed is just how much the security in the airports has increased. As soon as I landed, I saw military and police in greater numbers than I did previously, and on the way back I went through more security checkpoints than I do even in the airports in the Middle East.

Kenya has struggled in recent years with terrorism and insurgencies and although Nairobi is still statistically very safe, it seems a lot has to do with the resources the State is putting into providing security. Every second room in the airport seemed to have some sort of security check, from sniffer dogs to good old fashioned metal detectors and everything else you could expect was there. It's a shame that such precautions are needed but they do increase safety and are important.

It's not just violent crime, but I also visited during the height of the ongoing Ebola surge in neighbouring countries, and heavy protests on fuel price increases. The whole city was on edge and on several days the city centre was in lockdown as protestors, mostly peaceful, bought the area to a standstill. Protests have become a more regular occurrence in the streets of the capital, and locals told me that many businesses close during the days they know that protests are going to happen.

Broken but beautiful

To some extent I can understand the anger on the ground. The city, while still absolutely gorgeous, does seem to have regressed a little since my last visit. Infrastructure seemed a little worn down in the same areas I had visited last time, and visible poverty seemed higher, but I'm not sure to what extent that was real poverty, or a confluence of protestors from across the city on certain days. The traffic situation, which was bad the last time I had visited, seemed to have gotten worse, as had the state of the roads. 

That being said, the city is still wonderfully energetic. The beauty is still there, and while the situation on the ground was a little tense during my visit, I didn't feel unsafe. There was more security on the ground, but everything else continued as usual. Street vendors, markets, cafes, restaurants, bars, life is still going ahead full speed in a city that is full of contradictions but remains one of the most exciting in east Africa. 

I visited some shops and markets, and while prices have become noticeably higher, they have in other countries as well. It's a broader commentary on how much of the world's wealth is increasingly falling into the hands of fewer and fewer people (you can read about my views here).

I went back to the Singh Sabha Gurdwara. When I last visited, the Gurdwara was a gleaming beacon in the middle of the city, surrounded by markets and businesses. While it still appears like that from the outside, the gates outside the Gurdwara are now guarded.

​Inside, the Gurdwara is still breathtaking, but the building itself felt a little more aged. There were still sangat there and seva was being done with a lot of love with local Kenyan (black and brown) all getting involved in different tasks. It felt like a microcosm of the city where, despite infrastructure challenges, Kenyan life goes on and does so with intent and creativity. It's why I love this city so much.

The oldest Gurdwara in Africa

As I mentioned at the start, this is not an article on all the things you can do in Nairobi (you'll have to go here to read that), but it's just a little update and check-in on a city that I am very fond of. One new place that I did visit was Siri Gurdwara Ramgarhia Railway Landhies, which claims to be the oldest surviving Gurdwara in Africa, dating back to 1903.

The area surrounding the Gurdwara is desperately poor. People live in huts with corrugated metal sheets for cover, while chicken and children roll around seemingly as free as each other. It's not quite Kibera (which I covered in my previous article on Nairobi), but it was a poverty that I had almost forgotten about. The Gurdwara itself is surrounded by several gates and high walls with barbed wire fencing at the top. It is a security operation just to get inside. 

But once inside, the Gurdwara itself is stunning. A tree nursery in its grounds is helping to grow and plant trees across the city, and the many sevadaars doing security are from different races - you have both black and brown people serving the Guru here. The Gurdwara has a beautiful brown front door, although the main entrance is through a more secured door where a security detail is posted.

​Inside, the Darbar Sahib is a decent size, while the langar hall seems larger. Sikhs in Kenya are very successful, and I could see some Kenyan Sikhs who seemed physically tall and strong, well dressed. It's a community that owns some of the largest businesses in the country, and it is good to see that through the Gurdwara they are also feeding others.  

It's a beautiful Gurdwara, and if it is the oldest in Africa, then I am glad to see that it is so well maintained and actively looked after and used. It's a part of the history of the Sikh diaspora, and the east African diaspora is among the oldest of all.

Would I recommend visiting Nairobi?

Like I said at the start, this trip was more about the chill and taking in everyday life than seeing every single landmark, many of which I saw last time.  Despite the challenges that Nairobi has been through and is going through, it remains one of my favourite cities in the world. Costs have gone up, and infrastructure quality seems to have gone down a little, although this isn't consistent across the city. I'd still recommend visiting, and it remains one of my favourite cities in the world - just try to avoid coming during any days of protests, which are usually announced beforehand.