Nairobi news

My hands are cold, and I'm wearing a fleece as it's early morning in Nairobi. Keith and I are here, slightly south of the equator, and more than a mile high at 1700 m.  Our new home is a house in a gated compound in Runda, a leafy green suburb north of Nairobi's city centre. 

The road in the compound in front of our gate, which is barely visible on the right, past the guardhouse.

After you enter our gate, you will see the house:

Home for the next couple of years.

We are camping out in the empty house with hardly any furniture, as our shipment won't arrive for 2-4 months, assuming Somali pirates don't get it...

Empty living room.

But the weather is beautiful every day and we are enjoying the garden.

View from dining room. 

July and August are winter months, the mornings and evenings are chilly (12-15oC) and light sweaters have come in handy. During the day, it's 20-24oC. Even during the summer months, it's temperate; the daytime high is usually in the mid-20s, and a record high temperature would be 31oC.

Bird of paradise in the back yard.

Bottlebrush tree by the driveway.

We haven't been on safari yet, but I've already spotted some wildlife lurking in our garden:

An endangered black rhino, Clayus pottus ssp.  planterius, 
whose horn has been stolen for nefarious (medicinal?) purposes.

The past week has been a non-stop round of banking, insurance and other move-related errands, but I did manage to take an afternoon off to go for a walk in the nearby Karura Forest with my friend MK. We heard lots of strange bird noises, saw a thick, writhing ant trail across our path, and visited some lovely waterfalls. Karura was recently revitalized as a safe place to go for nature walks. Apparently though, some people (personnel of a certain embassy) are not allowed to walk there for security reasons. I can sense my mother getting anxious already...don't worry, I'm careful! It seemed perfectly safe to me, although it was a bit disconcerting that the only other people we encountered was a group of nature lovers hiking around accompanied by two armed guards, menacing looking guys toting AK-47s and decked out in full camouflage gear.