I spent a few days in Nairobi recently, more than thirty years after my last visit.  What I remember as a slightly sleepy backwater in the 1980s has been transformed in the intervening years into a vibrant city of more than 3 million people.  For most visitors taking vacations in Kenya, Nairobi is little more than a launching point to their safari destinations and it’s probably fair to say there isn’t much to detain them.  A quick visit to Nairobi National Park, the giraffe center, and the David Sheldrick conservation center for elephants, and they head off to the Masai Mara, the Aberdares, or wherever in search of animals in the wild.

Anyone with the time or inclination to dig a little deeper, however, will find a city of contrasts.  It’s certainly not a picturesque place.  At times it feels like a massive construction site, choked by traffic, with every road dug up and countless cranes on the skyline.  It’s also a city marked by horrible inequality.  The wealthy live in grand houses hidden behind high walls topped with razor wire, while outside the blind, disabled, and homeless weave between the cars begging for a few coins. The city’s energy is undeniable and it’s a place where the hustle is on 24 hours a day.  Nairobi’s citizens, so hospitable and warm, are quick to complain about corrupt politicians and the Chinese investors using the city as stepping-off point to the markets of East Africa. They deserve better leaders.