Nairobi: First Impressions

The garden at Gigiri Homestead B&B, Nairobi,
where we stayed while househunting,

"What were your impressions of Nairobi?" a friend asked me recently. We had just returned from a 3 day trip, to look for housing and to visit the school that, hopefully, the kids will attend. Sorry, no exciting photos of exotic landscapes and awesome animals. Nairobi itself, brief glimpses caught from the car on the way from and to the airport, seemed like a typical city in a developing country--a mix of mostly run-down, scruffy buildings with a few shining office towers, young men loitering on sidewalks or sitting on universally popular white PVC chairs, and lots and lots of road construction with deep ditches and big piles of red dirt everywhere. The soil is red from iron, just like in PEI (that's Prince Edward Island for you non-Canucks).

Most of our time was spent looking at houses, weighing the pros and cons of each one, and especially, thinking about security. Yes, I'm paranoid, yes, I'm spoiled, and no, I have never lived anywhere dangerous before, so that is why I was so obsessed with finding a house that was as secure as possible. I've learned a lot about medieval siege mentality this week. Within our castle, we will have a keep, a "safe haven." This is the safe haven's entrance: a thick metal gate at the top of the stairs that we will close and lock at night to separate the upstairs bedrooms from the rest of the house.

Gate at the top of the stairs, to close and lock at night.

The idea is to have layers of defences, making it harder for burglars. The house has an alarm system, of course, including "panic buttons." One press, anytime during the day or night, will summon armed guards to our door within minutes. There is a high electric fence around the property: and the property is in a fenced in, gated compound that is guarded 24/24. In addition, the neighbourhood itself has barriers and guards at the two main entrance roads. By the way, it is not just expats who live here, there are plenty of Kenyans who prefer to live in gated compounds.

View of the electric fence from upstairs.

Some other things I have learned: Try to avoid choosing a house next to an open field, a construction site, or a busy road, as all of these places allow strangers to come and go right next to your property. To maximize security, you want to minimize uncontrolled access by strangers. The more you isolate yourself from people in general, either by driving in a big, 4x4 car, or living in a fortress, the safer you will be.

The good news is that everyone says the bad guys are only after stuff, and not interested in harming people. Some things that people have said to reassure me: "It's much better here than in Johannesburg, where they'll beat you up for the fun of it," or "Nairobi is so much better than South Sudan." Ok. I'm feeling very safe now.