I went to the University of Nairobi for my undergraduate studies. The first time I came to the city, I was warned by my parents about the insecurity, the wild men, and the bad company that would introduce me to partying.
True to their word, I’ve had my phone stolen by an older woman who wanted to ‘call her son’, and my heart broken by a man I met in Nairobi. You do not want to hear how that happened.
Years later, I got a job, but there were three things I dreaded most: the location of the office, the teargas passively inhaled during protests, and the chaos in the CBD. The roads that are always under construction, the matatus that take the road markers as lane suggestions, and the insecurity have made “I cannot remember the last time I came to the CBD” a cool topic of discussion among the middle class.
While weekdays in the CBD buzz with activity, Sundays have been renamed TikTok days because of the seas of young people who have converted the streets into makeshift studios for photography and videography. The other group that has taken over is the city tour guides, who have made Sundays their city tourism days.
The City Market along Muindi Mbingu Street in Nairobi’s central business district. The market, established in the 1930s, is known for its butcheries, florists, fresh produce and curio stalls, and is recognised as a national monument.
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I have always wondered what tourists are being told about the city, and whether this particular city tour would even be interesting for a Kenyan who is always in the CBD. One Sunday, I booked the tour on an app; it cost me about Sh3,100.
On the day of the city tour, I arrived outside the Carrefour outlet opposite City Hall at 1 pm, where different groups of tourists were waiting for their guides. A few minutes later, my guide, Kevin, arrived.
After introductions, he explained that I needed to be careful with my phone while taking photos, since some tourists on his tours had been robbed. He also mentioned that I was only the second Kenyan he had ever taken on the city tour. At that point, I wondered if I had made a mistake.
Instead of backing out, I asked him not to change anything about the tour, and to treat me like a normal tourist.
The trip started at the Freedom Fighters’ Monument, where I learnt that Swahili was originally written in Arabic characters before it changed to the Latin script we use today.
From there, we toured Rhodes House, which was later renamed Pan African House and gazetted as a national monument. It was later renamed Sanlam House and is located along Kenyatta Avenue.
A wife’s gift and 20 cents ice cream
Next, Kevin took me to Jamia Mosque and the Macmillan Library, where I learnt the library was a gift from Macmillan to his wife.
By this point, the Nairobi heat had gotten to me, so we stopped to look for something cold to drink. I remembered that there was an ice cream shop on Koinange Street that I had always seen in my campus days.
It was a Sunday, and there were people inside, which was an indicator of their popularity. Once inside, the walls were decorated with old newspaper articles and pictures of their prices from the ’50s. It is hard to believe that ice cream once cost 20 cents.
We then walked to the University of Nairobi and an area he called the “language centre,” named for the Goethe Institute and Alliance Française nearby.
From there, he asked if I wanted to go to Uhuru Park. On an ordinary day, I would have opted out, but the spirit of adventure was buzzing inside me, so I chose to venture into the unknown. Like many millennials, I got to reminisce about my childhood and the many photos I have, either riding the boats or posing next to monuments as iconic as the KICC.
The SNO Cream ice cream parlour on Monrovia Street in Nairobi. The long-established ice cream business is known for its retro-style parlour and soft-serve ice cream.
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Uhuru Park accommodated everyone: children waiting their turn in the remote-controlled cars, couples on romantic walks, and tourists like me taking in the scenic views of the Nairobi skyline across the park.
By this point, I was tired, but I had saved the best for last, so there was no time to rest. We quickly passed by Holy Family Basilica, also part of the city tour, then headed to my final stop, the KICC.
Beauty above the chaos
The journey to the top is split into two parts: a lift ride, followed by a flight of stairs leading to the very top, where there’s also a helipad. Once at the top, the view of Nairobi’s CBD was breathtaking.
The city might be chaotic from the street level, but up there, all you see is beautiful skyscrapers, trees and the planes taking off and landing at JKIA.
After an afternoon spent walking around the CBD, this was the perfect ending to a day spent appreciating the streets, buildings, and history we walk past every single day.
Would you spend money for a guided tour around Nairobi’s CBD? For many, the answer would be a straightforward no.
Why pay when you can walk around the CBD for free? Why subject yourself to the chaos, the insecurity, the potential injuries from open manholes, and the bullying from matatus? I’d say: try the tour. It’s worth it for the beauty and history Nairobi carries in plain sight.