The Mears’ Favorites About Living in Nairobi, Kenya
Favorite restaurants:
- Hashmi (in the Nakumatt Ukay in Westlands): My favorite lunch place. Indian “wraps.” I recommend the mutton kebab roll. Also has the most amazing Indian ice cream called “kulfi.”
- Anghiti (on Rhapta Road in the New Rehema House): Our favorite dinner place. Indian food. A little pricey but well worth it on special occasions.
- Mediterraneo’s (on Woodvale Grove in Westlands): Excellent Italian food and the best pizza in town.
- Medusa (just at the beginning of Westlands Road): Excellent food; good date place.
- Habesha (on Arwings Khodek, near Yaya): Ethiopian food; a must if just for the experience of it; Anna loved this place.
- Nairobi Java House (several around town; one near Embassy, and in Sarit Centre in Westlands): Excellent coffee, desserts, and huevos rancheros.
- ArtCaffe (in Westgate mall in Westlands): Excellent dinner and dessert place.
- Onami – (in Westgate Mall in Westlands) – great Japanese food, good ambiance, good sushi but a little pricey. A nice date night place we enjoyed.
- Sierra Brewery (in the Yaya Centre): Very nice restaurant and brew pub.
- Café 64 – on Westlands Road within walking distance from the office. Good, cheap Kenyan food. May only be open for lunch.
- Lord Erroll – (in Runda near the Embassy) One of the nicest places in town, but we would go on Tuesday night for buy 1 get 1 free date night. We loved to go here for special occasions or a drink in the bar. A scene from the movie Constant Gardener was filmed there.
- River Café – (just past Village Market on the left) We would go here for lunch after church, not sure if they are open for dinner. They have a garden center and a restaurant on the property overlooking a scenic pond. Good food and they have a playset for the kids.
Favorite things to do in Nairobi:
- Giraffe Center (near the National Park; www.giraffecenter.org): Ksh 150 gets you in so you can feed the giraffes from your hand. Also see warthogs. Cost $10, open 9-5:30. Located near Karen area, a few minutes from NNP.
- Elephant Orphanage (near National Park; www.sheldrickwildlifetrust.org): One of our favorite things to do in town. See the baby elephants fed with bottles, pet the baby elephants, cheap, only 11-12 noon view feeding. Located near Nairobi National Park near Karen area of town.
- Kazuri Beads (in Karen; www.kazuri.com): 300+ local women hand making ceramic beads, tour and shopping. Shops are in several of the big malls, but the factory is in Karen and has a cool tour. Kids enjoy this too!
- Bomas of Kenya (near the National Park; www.bomasofkenya.co.ke): Bomas means house. See what the various tribes’ homes look like; also have a tribal dance performance everyday. Costs $5 and located near Karen area of town.
- Mzuri Monday Madness (at the movie theater in the Westgate mall): Monday night special deal on movie tickets, a hot dog, and a drink.
- Kiambethu Tea Farm (in Limuru past Runda, about 20 minutes north of Nairobi, http://www.kiambethufarm.co.ke/): Beautiful area; get a tour, talk about the tea farm, spectacular views! Then enjoy a 5-course lunch meal on the beautiful English garden grounds. Call ahead to make a reservation, tours and lunch are 11-1pm, I think, ask for sure when you call.
- Nairobi National Park – ( in Karen area of town, http://www.kws.org/parks/parks_reserves/NANP.html ) Take a day long safari to see buffalo, giraffe, lion, leopard, baboon, zebra, wildebeest and cheetah.
- Maasai Market - open air craft market for wooden animals, beaded jewelry, Africa crafts, get ready to bargain hard! (I love this place!) Sunday the market is located at YaYa Center, Tuesday at West Gate, Friday at Village Market, Saturday at the High Court downtown. http://kenya.mydestinationinfo.com/en/maasai-market-(westgate)
- Amani Ya Juu - (Located in Riverside area, close to Westlands.) A Christian sewing ministry for mostly single moms, awesome! Ask for tour to see the women sewing, play on nice kid playground, eat lunch (great salads!), and shop in gift shop. I bought many gifts here! http://www.amaniafrica.org/
- Extra Note - The Nairobi National Park, Elephant Orphanage, Giraffe Center, Kazuri, and Bomas - are all in the same part of town, so if you are visiting for only a week I would combine 2-3 of those in one day and go back and do the others together on another day. But, since we lived there for a year, we planned one or two family outings per month and made a plan for the year do to as many of these as we could! Glad we spread them out instead of trying to cram them all in before we left.
Favorite things to do Outside of Nairobi
- Lake Naivasha (about 90 minutes from Nairobi): Beautiful place to get away from the city. Can go to Crescent Island to see giraffes, zebras, wildebeest, etc. We stayed at the Naivasha Country Club and loved it (we got the local rate, thankfully), but there are cheaper places to stay, too.
- Lake Nakuru (about 2-2.5 hours from Nairobi): We never made it here, but it is known for its very large pink flamingo population. I still hope to go someday!
- Masai Mara (4-5 hours from Nairobi): We stayed at both Mara West and Mara Serena and loved them both. You can go on safari very cheaply or very expensively. A safari to see the wildlife of Kenya is a must while you are here. The great migration takes place from June – September.
Churches:
- Karen Vineyard (in Karen, about 30-40 minutes from Westlands on a Sunday): A mix of Africans, Westerners, and Kenya Cowboys. Excellent teaching and usually very good worship. Theologically a lot like Hope in the City.
- Mamlaka Hill Chapel (near University roundabout): Mostly Kenyans but the preaching is in English; worship mostly in Kiswahili.
- International Christian Fellowship (in Gigiri, near U.S. Embassy and on the Rosslyn Academy campus): Almost all Westerners; no pastor; they show Andy Stanley DVDs; nice worship.
- Parklands Baptist Church (on Ring Road Westlands): Large, solid church. Mostly Kenyans but with a decent number of Westerners. Preaching in English and worship a mix of English & Kiswahili. Two Sunday morning services.
Medical:
- A reliable pharmacy is Shah Chemist, located in the Sarit Centre.
- The best hospital in town is Aga Khan Hospital, located on Limuru Road in Parklands (15 minutes from the IJM office).
- Take worm pills (Zentel or generic brand) every two months or so. Can get them at most any chemist. Local doctors recommend Kenyans to de-worm once a quarter.
- Malaria – cases of malaria are not found within the city limits of Nairobi; however it is prevalent outside of the city. Take malaria pills when traveling 45 minute outside of the city (Maasai Mara, coast, etc). You can get malaria pills at Shah Chemist. There are lower dose pills available for kids.
- Meds - I brought enough multi-vitamins for the year and any other prescriptions you need for the year.
- Meds - I get a UTI about once a year and so I asked my ob/gyn to give me a prescription for me to fill in the states and bring with me for when ever that happened. It did and I was glad to have the meds with me and not have to go to the doc there. (sorry for the personal info :-(. But, you may have something you get. if so then I would say bring the meds with you if possible.
- Meds - I asked or maybe she just offered, but the travel nurse gave each of us a prescription for travelers diarrhea (amoxicillin for the kids and cipro for the adults). And I am so glad we had those. Usually one or two doses of anitbiotics will do the trick. We would never take more than that. I think I had to take antibiotics only two times in the year we were there - just a stomach bug that I couldn't get rid of.
- We ate yogurt or took probiotics at least 2-3 times per week and I think that really helped our stomachs not get sick as much.
Groceries/Cooking:
- Grocery Stores - There are two main grocery store chains: Uchumi & Nakumatt. The Nakumatt generally has a greater selection of Western food items, but it is pricier. We shopped most often at the Uchumi in the Sarit Centre. Also, Chandarana at ABC Centre is good and sometimes plays country music. J
- Meat - Best place to get meat is Gilani’s Butchery in ABC Centre. Anna’s uncle has known Mr. Gilani for 20 years. Any of the folks behind the counter will help you get your meat, but Frances is the best known (big, old friendly Kenyan). When you go to the butcher, be bold to try a new kind and cut of meat. Just ask the butchers how to cook it; they are very helpful and willing to give you suggestions.
- Produce – “Zucchini” is the best place to get produce. There is one in ABC Centre, Village Market and I think there is one in Junction Centre. Accept the offer of one of the staff to help you in the store. They will pick out the best, and often go in the back to get fresher produce for you. Then just tip them 100-200 ksh if you want after they take your stuff to your car.
- Golden syrup = corn syrup
- Baking - Bake using High Altitude adjustments on recipes.
- Favorite recipes - bring one favorite cookbook and/or copies or scans of your favorite recipes. Yes, you can find almost anything online, but not your Aunt Kathy’s amazing enchiladas.
- Milk & bread – do not have many preservatives in them (as with many foods there), so they last about 2 days and then go bad. Buy small amounts often. You can get both of these at roadside doukas (guy on the corner selling stuff).
- Shelf Milk – this is what I called the milk that is pasteurized at ultra high temperatures (UHT) and therefore can be store on the shelf. Then just refrigerate after opening. I would buy one cold fresh milk and one shelf milk to last me longer before going to the store again. But, I think the nutritional value in the UHT is much lower after the high temperature.
- Fish is cheaper than chicken.
- Buying a whole chicken is cheaper than just the breast chicken. Buy the whole chicken, boil it, and then take off meat, using the broth for making rice or soup or just freeze for later.
- Monty’s in Sarit Centre has lots of western foods such as tortillas, coke, granola bars, cereals, etc.
- Water – it is not recommended to drink the city water. We bought large bottles of water at the store for 1500 ksh and put a hand pump on top to dispense the water. Bring the empty bottle back to the store for a credit of 1,000 ksh to buy the next bottle. So, the water in the bottle only cost 500 ksh. Or bring a water filter with you (Katadyn brand is great)
Other Notes:
- Book - Find and read It’s Our Turn to Eat, by John Githongo. Excellent insider’s account of the corruption within the highest levels of Kenya’s government.
- Newspaper - Check out the online version of Kenya’s most popular newspaper (the Daily Nation) at www.nation.co.ke.
- Several folks from the US Embassy play softball and ultimate Frisbee on the weekends. Ask around for times and location.
- Nairobi Hash House Harriers (running club): www.nhhh.co.ke
- Money - We got a bank account at the local Barclays bank and would not do it again. There were so many fees it just didn’t seem worth it. We had a Bank of America account and just withdrew cash as needed from a Barclays bank teller machine with no fees. You can get out a max of 40,000 ksh a day per person. Just be discreet about carrying that much money with you. Many Kenyans make only 10,000 per month.
Packing tips – things to bring with you:
- Spaghetti sauce packets (tomato paste is available there)
- Italian seasoning (if you like to use it. I found parsley and oregano, but not the mixed bottle of Italian spices.)
- Chocolate chips (or break up chocolate bars, but still doesn't taste the same :-)
- Marshmallows (optional)
- Rice Krispies (optional)
- Cake mixes - by the time we left you can find American Betty Crocker brand about once a month in the grocery store. The Kenyan brand is ok, but it tells you to cook it way too long, so cut the time in half and watch and do the knife comes clean trick to see when it is done.
- Ranch dressing packets - I used these to make potatoes
- Favorite recipes - bring one favorite cookbook and/or copies or scans of your favorite recipes.
- Shorts- although it is not appropriate to wear shorts in Nairobi, bring a pair of two for times when you play sports or travel to the coast where it is ok to wear shorts.
- Capris or pants - this is what I wore most of the time.
- Dress- most Kenyans dress nicer, more business formal than Americans, they wear clean, pressed, properly fitted clothes. People would not wear work-out clothes to the grocery store. You don't see Kenyans wearing baggy, boxer-showing jeans, torn up jeans, shower flip-flops, etc. If you see that it is usually a homeless, street person.
- Mascara (they only have darker colors, I found a few lighter skin colors but they were expensive)
- Tampons (pads are available)
- Zip-drive or thumb drive - back up important documents on your computer - bring a copy and leave one with a friend in the states. I kept a double of all of our pictures and important files during the year in case our laptop died or got stolen.
- Peanut butter can't go in your carry-on on the plane we learned :-) they will make you toss it. Don’t worry you can get some pretty good peanut butter there (Yum-Yum brand was my favorite).
