I was always sure that my wedding would be in Bali. And so it all happened. But with a honeymoon a hitch came out. The fact is that with our rhythm of life and statistics of movements around the globe, places where I certainly want to visit and who really inspire, there are fewer and fewer. The last such bright dream on our list was South America. After her, the new cherished dream did not want to be in any way.
At first, we went over in our head more and more suitable places for a honeymoon - romantic secluded islands with chic villas washed by turquoise water.
No, it’s better to have cozy cities with cute colored houses and medieval paving stones. And we, hand in hand, run for another dinner to another regular star restaurant.
Or maybe a snow-white yacht, paving the way somewhere to the islands of French Polynesia.
But still, we decided that the honeymoon is a serious matter, so we should remember it for a long time. And bought tickets in Nairobi.
The plan was this - we fly to our first ever safari in Kenya, and then add a little romance and go to the fabulous Zanzibar.
They didn’t sleep for a day, they were almost late for a change in Sharjah because there was heavy fog and the airport was closed, we thought that we would turn into terminal residents for the next day.
And then for a long, long time they flew over the red, deserted, scorched earth. And I looked at the porthole without a break and could not believe that Africa had happened in our lives. They’ve been dreaming for so long, but it’s “scary, malaria, dangerous, don’t go to Africa for children” - you know, right?
Well hello, Nairobi. In general, it so happened that most tourists try not to stay in this city for a long time. And in some ways I agree with them. But this was our first African city, so it was decided to allocate one day for it.
What needs to be done in Nairobi?
Embrace the giraffes in the center at the Giraffe Manor and get a kiss from these big-eyed beauties.
Chat with baby elephants in the center of David Sheldrick. Go to the slums of Kibera. But first things first.
The nursery for orphaned elephants in the thirties was organized by David Sheldrick. Visitors are allowed once a day at about 11 a.m. At this time, elephants are fed milk, and then you can hug, stroke and listen to a lecture at the same time.
Each elephant has a name, history and a whole dossier with photographs of how it was found and under what circumstances.
Yes, a particularly beloved elephant can be adopted. Rather, take patronage over him, I would say. Of course, you don’t take him with you. Every month you send money for its maintenance, you observe how it grows and grows up (according to the pictures), you come to visit it. When an elephant reaches a certain age - it is released into the savannah. There are no adult elephants in the shelter. Today in the shelter 28 elephants, if I do not confuse anything.
Not far from the center of Nairobi (literally 15 minutes by bus) there is an area called Kibera. These are the largest slums in Africa and one of the largest in the world. According to unofficial data, a million people have found their home here. I have seen terrifying footage of the reality of this place more than once and watched several programs about it, so when we decided to go to Kenya, the question of whether to go there or not was not even raised. But going alone to such places is not very.
A quick search on the Internet brought us to Kibera tours. The children themselves live in Cyber, know everything from the inside and show the country's guests a completely different Kenya. The city of hope is also called Cyber. And also - "the friendliest slums in the world." In general, we wrote to them and immediately received confirmation. I was even a little surprised - I wrote to slums for the first time🙈 But today we saw it all with our own eyes.
Well what can I tell you, it seemed to me that after India I couldn’t scare me with slums, but the way people live there is a kind of hopeless darkness and a complete apocalypse.
The houses are hammered together from iron plates or molded from clay, rent per month from $ 10, there are no toilets in the houses! There is such a thing as flying toilets - i.e. packages, which are then thrown into the street. And public toilets.
Kibera is a city within a city. They have their own markets, shops, schools, beauty salons, cafes ... Since it’s hard to find work, everyone is trying to open his own business in order to somehow survive.