East Africa 2024 Dispatch Part 1 – Paa Ya Paa

This is my Origin

Origin stories are the best kind of stories no matter if it’s about a superhero, or an everyday Jane or Joe. It is a story about craftsmanship as I was taught very early on, the story about how someone was made, not what they became. I liken this to a stitch pattern on a quilt or the grain on a tree, where each movement tells you something about the labor of creation. We as people are no different, each scar, each memory, and each experience is the stitch pattern on our lives.

How fitting then, that I begin our 2024 East Africa dispatch and my origin story in Nairobi, in the same month in the same city that Big Five began 50 years ago. The fact that I get to start the next 50 years in the same place is something that is most definitely part of our origin story. My first nights in Nairobi split between the iconic Norfolk Hotel, which has the same pool I spent time learning how to swim in as a child, long before the Fairmont name existed in Kenya, and my favorite boutique hotel in Nairobi, Manzili House.

Now, in Nairobi, the standard visits involve the Giraffe Centre and a few of the museums. This is great, however, there is such a great local art and food scene in Nairobi, it’s a shame anyone wanting authentic experiences misses this. The culmination is my favorite street food joint in the city, where Kenyan cuisine means Indian cuisine. This is the food I grew up eating with my parents both in Nairobi and along the Kenyan coast, and I must disclose, it’s got a kick!

Stay tuned to this dispatch as we head off the beaten safari path during one of our favorite months to be on safari.