Transport in Kenya

Let's start with driving. Kenya got it first highway about a decade ago, three lanes each way, and since then has embarked on a building spree. Dual carriageways now go most of the way around Nairobi in a ring-road and enable trucks to bypass the city center, and the main arteries into and out of Nairobi are being upgraded to dual carriageway, with bus stops built in (known as a "stage" here), proper pavements and even a segregated lane for bikes or motorbikes ("boda boda"). The main road through Nairobi coming from the Coast heading towards Uganda is having a toll road built above it which will be ready in 6 months or so. Other flyovers are also in the works, as is a segregated bus lane on the main highways with footbridges to reach them (known as a Bus Rapid Transit). 

Since the management of Nairobi changed a couple of years ago, pavements have been built all over the place, roads are being repaired quickly, and there are even some bike lanes in the city center. There is a plan to roll-out traffic lights more widely, but so far it is just a plan with only a handful done so far. There are cameras around the city but they are not monitoring speeds, just tracking vehicles for security and safety purposes, and they've cut down on vehicle thefts (and possible on regular crime, at least where there are cameras). Across the rest of the country thousands of kms of roads are now tarmac, and more dual carriageways are under construction. It really is incredible. There are a few gaps remaining in the road network, but work is already underway on those. Within a couple of years, there may still be some frustrations on some routes that are single carriageway only, but there won't be much to complain about.

The reason dual carriageways are so important are because of the very slow trucks that ply the main highways and the Matatus, privately owned buses ("Public Service Vehicles") which come in a few different varieties from the small minibuses that sit a dozen to the larger ones that are like Coaches. Not only do they consistently ignore basic traffic rules at junctions, or by not pulling over properly to pick up passengers, braking very late, but they also like to pretend a single carriageway is a dual carriageway to overtake stationery traffic, then have to push in when a vehicle tries to pass the other way. It is incredible dangerous especially on highways. The quality of the Matatus is very much lacking (though they are very colourfully painted, often have wi-fi and certainly play music to entertain/attract customers) with drivers and ticket inspectors incentivised to go as fast as possible to get as many trips done in a day and get as much money as possible, which they may or may not declare to the actual owners (although now with more mobile money payments going directly to the owners of the vehicles that issue is less important). The biggest bugbear that I have is that the majority of the vehicles belch out smoke for any pedestrian nearby.

Driving around cities is not normally too bad compared to other developing countries, or maybe I have just got used to it. On highways, it is tricker with frequent speed bumps everywhere (which are rarely painted white or have warnings) in order to reduce speeds when travelling around corners or through villages and towns. There is a variety of speedbumps used, some of which are pointless, some of which are dangerous and none of which are consistent. In theory there are streetlights for most of Nairobi, and some other towns, but they are not often turned on (sometimes to save money, sometimes because of electricity connection problems). On highways, there are no lights, and most drivers use full-beam all the time which is very hard to deal with, especially when there is overtaking involved, but even when there is not. On the other hand one often comes across vehicles with some lights that are not working. When travelling in the UK, it is not only nice to have white lines everywhere, street lights in most places, but also cats eyes to mark the edge of lanes. Sometime so simple but so useful that is a rare sight here.

There are some cars assembled in Kenya, but the vast majority are imported second-hand cars from Japan (where they also drive on the left), with fairly reasonable prices for the quality (usually excellent - Japanese msut be the most careful drivers in the world, who drive the least, and have the best roads). Of course the cars are driven here until they really can't be driven any more, but they don't generally seem to be in such bad condition as in many other developing countries (I think of Egypt for example....), maybe because the price to import second-hand is not too hight, or because Kenyans seem obsessed with getting their car washed frequently (and cheaply, at the "car washes" that are every few hundred metres in the cities - a car wash being a man with a bucket and sponge on the side of the road where there might be a river, or sometimes just a sewer as a source of water!) or maybe because there are also a lot of car mechanics which are fairly reasonable. In reality it might just be that traffic here, and drivers, are actually not that bad (though people may not admit it) compared to many other countries. Traffic is generally quite predictable on certain routes at certain times (and it will be better once the last few roads in Nairobi at least are finished, and even Mombasa roads are being improved, whilst other cities don't really have any traffic problems) and apart from the Matatus most drivers generally obey traffic rules.

Motorbikes are especially problematic for drivers. As much as they play a very important role in the economy and society both ferrying people and goods, they could be anywhere in the road at any time. There is a half-hearted attempt to encourage their drivers and passengers to wear reflective vests and helmets, but that has actually declined during COVID to reduce infections. A lot of accidents involve motorbikes, whilst they are often used for thefts too. None-the-less they are a life saver as a form of getting around for most people since the Matatus are not particularly cheap, and they can save a lot of time weaving amongst traffic. They are also now easy to call using apps in the major cities, as are taxis. I remember my earliest visits to Kenya when you had to find a taxi on the street, haggle for a while and pay a fortune. Thankfully those times are over, though once I actually flew somewhere and rented a car for a few days at a bargain price, before flying back again which also worked out well.

In the past traffic police would frequently stop vehicles looking for an excuse for a bribe, but it seems to have reduced in recent years. They do still cause problems for the Matatus stopping them all the time to check if they are overloaded or not (particularly during COVID-19 when they are only supposed to have half-capacity) or finding any other excuse to get a bribe. Not that it actually leads to better driving from the Matatus or anything....

I have commented before on the train, which we took at the end of March (the new train that is sort of high-speed), though there are also efforts underway to rehabilitate other train lines built by the British, which at least could transport cargo, such as oil. The quicker that can be done the better going by the most recent (of many) accidents this week when a tanker overturned. Horrifyingly the injuries and deaths came from the locals coming to syphon off oil from the tanker which then exploded surrounded by people.

Kenya has hundreds of airstrips (patches of grass) which anyone with a plane (or who wants to charter a plane) can use to travel around the country. A few airlines run planes on routes that have several stops on them and they just stop at the airstrip (or airfield) if there is a passenger that has booked to get on or off. It works quite well, and these small airplanes fly quite low providing incredible views. There are around a dozen actual airports (of which half may have buildings that looks vaguely like an airport, the others are more like bungalows with toilets). They serve a good purpose and flying is cheap, generally safe (at least compared to the danger of the roads!), and a good way to get around. Only a few of them handle international flights, with the rest being domestic.

What else is worth noting?

- certain junctions that always have beggers at, trying to get money whilst you are stopped

- the argument whether traffic police are better than the traffic lights or not (since where there are traffic lights they are often not used at rush hour with the police taking over)

- the fairly high cost of parking, though fairly good range of parking options, in the city center and in shopping malls (most restaurants have bigger car parks than restaurants)

- the lack of bikes almost anywhere, or any bike racks and bike lanes, making cycling a non-starter unfortunately

- the very low cost of third-party car insurance ($40 or so a year), and very high cost of comprehensive insurance (5% of a car's value)

- the low cost of drivers, which many people employ, if they can afford

- the huge number of yellow school buses, since a lot of people (at least in Nairobi) go to private schools (some low cost, some not so) and thus kids needs transport to get to their school

- the lack of footbridges or pedestrian crossings, but they are slowly coming

- the commuter train service that has been reinvigorated around Nairobi (again, using the tracks built by the British) that seems to be working and well-used, but will only be really useful once there are more trains, which is happening

- the fact that the majority of Kenyans cannot afford public transport and walk an hour or two to and from work (or wherever they go to look for work) which means there are always many people walking at rush hour especially on routes to/from the slums.

Domestic Tourism and Travelling

The two top reasons to come to Kenya are most certainly the wildlife and the beaches, but there are other things to see and do here. During some recent national holidays with long weekends we tried out something new in a place called Sagana, about an hour an a half North of Nairobi towards Mount Kenya. An otherwise fairly sleepy town that is well positioned on the northern trade routes and in a fertile area, one of Kenya's two main rivers passes through the town and has become the main location in the country for river-based sports.

The whitewater rafting is the main highlight of activities there with some of the drops a level 4 (with level 5 being professional) and provide a real rush. During a 3 hour trip, as well as the several large drops, there are also plenty of smaller rapids and some more leisurable cruising parts where you can even swim/float in the river alongside the raft. The instructors do an excellent job and it is a wonderful trip. There are also opportunities to jump into the river from bridges or the top of waterfalls, there are small whirlpools which you can slide into off of the rocks, small boats to paddle around in, zip lines and various other activities. All well organized by various tour companies operating alongside the river. They also offer camping and glamping, which our kids particularly like. Nearby there was even a hidden gem of a gorge that has developed as the floods have carved through the salt that forms the earth there (and from the locals who are digging out the salt to sell it as well).

There are a lot of great things around, so we need to make more of an effort to go explore at weekends. With international tourists still scarce and that unlikely to change for the next few months there is more attention on domestic tourism, even farms and garden centres in Nairobi who have organised tours for kids (and eater egg hunts or other activities).

We also paid a visit to a friend we made from an Airbnb stay 4 years ago, who built a farm on the northern slopes of Mount Kenya, and visited Lewa Conservancy. An incredible place that I blogged about separately (https://blog.huawei.com/2021/06/24/race-to-save-africas-natural-heritage/) which Huawei supports financially every year as part of our environmental initiatives, they took us on a game drive viewing rhinos, elephants and the like, showed us their amazing Control Centre where they monitor wildlife movements and respond to any issues, and also did a demonstration of the dog tracking unit. The kids enjoy viewing wildlife more and more, but still get bored after a couple of hours!

I also had a business trip to the coast. Kenyans love having meetings, seminars and conferences at the coast (and sometimes in Naivasha, by the lake too) especially government workers since they get generous travel benefits. Attending the conference, it was very easy to meet many government friends in the evenings, even if they were there for other reasons, as they had free time and were at hotels nearby. One of the popular restaurants was for grilled meet, which customers pick and then they cook for you. I am sure that before the COVID-19 curfew the buzzing atmosphere would get out of control later at night! 

The hotel I stayed at, Sarova White Sands) is one of the nicest there, with excellent service, great food and world-class facilities with several swimming pools, kids clubs, watersports etc. With July one of the coldest months of the year in high-altitude Nairobi, it was nice to get some warmer weather at the coast, run along the beach and enjoy some outdoor eating in the evenings which isn't possible in Nairobi.

Ngong Forest

After so many visits to Karura Forest, last year we looked for alternatives. Ngong Hills, with the wind turbines at the top has been one option. From start to finish, after the initial climb up there are still several more ups and downs before the final descent and it takes a few hours to finish. It is not that suitable for kids, but they are willing to do a couple of the ups and downs after a drive close to the top. The windmills seems to help motivate them, though the view at the top towards Nairobi on one side and the Great Rift Valley and its volcanoes on the other side is spectacular. It can get quite busy sometimes too.

A great option for kids is the Oloolua forest trail which is about 5km and has a few bridges over small rivers, some varied terrain and a waterfall. There is also a picnic site and a campsite. Hannah's class had a day trip at school there recently. It is close to the Giraffe Center in Karen, though there are not really any market paths, so you just follow a rough circle and kind of hope that eventually you come back. There is a cave that is a good 15m deep, and a couple of very rickety staircases at one point. 

Then there is the Ngong Forest, which has over time been sliced and diced by two roads (Southern Bypass and Ngong Road) so that now there are 4 sections on either side of the junction. What remains of the forest is quite large and has remained well protected with  mostly indigenous trees. Section 1 is the section that is most used by the public, but also the smallest, with a circular route taking about 4km. It is a fairly simple rectangle with a few smaller paths around, and an extraordinary pretty lake by the car park.

Section 4 is the biggest section which has running/walking (and theoretically cycling, but most of the paths would be treacherous and too difficult for bikes) trails marked out from 3.5km, 5km, 10km, 15km and 22km. The paths are very enjoyable... very narrrow, very winding, very hilly, and with a lot of roots sticking out. There are a couple of rivers to be crossed, a shooting range one can hear in the distance and some varied ecosystems, with some more grassy, another more marshy and the majority just forest. There is a nice playground that the kids enjoy. When running, it is harder than a regular run and takes up around 1/3rd more steps, which feels like more distance, and certainly adds a lot of time, from having to take so many small steps on the twisty paths, and to avoid tripping.

Ngong Forest plans to open up section 3 and add a cafe and restaurant amongst other things, once it has raised enough money to fence it, secure it and mark out the paths. It has taken the model of Karura Forest with a non-profit association managing it, though the land and staff are from Kenya Forest Service and Kenya Wildlife Service. They are great examples for balancing the environment with pleasure, whilst finding a viable commercial model. Karura Forest has been a resounding success, with hundreds of cars packing the car parks on many days. Ngong Road Forest still has a long way to go to attract the numbers that it needs to in order to get the revenue it needs to be sustainable and to invest in the other sections of the forest. But it seems to me that is on the right path.