The road to Nairobi was long but we managed to make it in a day. We reached the ascent up the side of the Great Rift Valley in the dark and had to drive carefully as the trucks and busses overtake whether you are there or not and just push you off the road, in this case down the side of the escarpment! It was another one of those scary last few kms into a city in the dark we shouldn't be doing! But we had decided to drive the long road as there wasn't anywhere particular to stop along the way where we wanted to stay. Getting into Nairobi we were immediately impressed but the apparent increase in wealth in the area: there were double story houses on the side of the road which was densely populated and the high slopes were covered with organised agriculture. Even mostly still subsistence, it seemed more organised than what we'd seen up until then. The sugarcane, too, was huge, much bigger than what we grow in South Africa.

Driving into Nairobi we were on high alert considering all the terrible stories we had heard. We found our campsite called Jungle Junction near a very nice mall about 4km out of the city centre. There were many other overlanders there and we so enjoyed our stay we decided to stay a little longer than planned. We managed to get to Chrisco Church the next morning in the hope that Michael Eaton would be preaching. He however was not and so we just enjoyed a new church and felt very welcomed by all the lovely people there. We arrived just after 9 and left after 2! We were not expecting such a long meeting!

After that we drove around and got a feel for Nairobi. We didn't see any of the slums which we have heard are really shocking - but the rest of the city seemed really great. Lots of trees and good coffee shops! It has a bit of a Singapore feel to it with the hills and trees throughout the city and quite a contrast to most other dusty urban sprawls. We enjoyed finding a supermarket that was well stocked with all the necessities we needed. Uchumi and Nakumaat have really taken over East Africa in terms of high quality (and expensive) supermarket products.

On Monday we fixed tyres/wheel alignment and then tried to make the church bible study which Michael Eaton was definitely at! We arrived an hour late though as it took us almost 1 and a half hours to do 7 km! An introduction to the terrible "jams" of East Africa…..It was great to hear a little of what Michael had to say though and we chatted to him for a little while after. The traffic was still shocking when it finished and so we found a dingy café to have some dinner - an interesting "steak" and a burger. All in all not a bad meal and some great atmosphere with the locals watching soccer!