Jambo

The four entries in August clearly indicate that very little was going on in the extreme heat and during the holy month of Ramadan. After the quick visit to Oman, I don't know what hit me but I didn't take a weekend off from Eid Al-Fitr to Eid Al-Adha. Apologies to the faithful and hopefully this and the subsequent entries will redeem.

I didn't forget an "N" in this entry's title, referring to the French word for ham...I am in Nairobi for business (when I should be taking 10 days off for Eid Al-Adha) and jambo means "hello" in Swahili. I arrived 4 days before the work began and flew to the Masai Mara (post to follow), which was an incredible privilege to be so close to so much wildlife for three days in a former British Governor's holiday and hunting camp established right after Kenyan independence.

I skipped today's procedural sessions and went to the Karen Blixen Museum to pay homage to one of my favorite films, "Out of Africa."

This same house was the setting for the film, which Karen and her distant cousin/philandering husband shared when they purchased it in 1917 to start a coffee farm. The wildlife and landscape scenes were shot in the Masai Mara so the pilgrimage to the movie was completed with this visit.

This is the Museum's raw data on visitors and country of origin:

This is the back of the house. Note the very tall palm at the left corner, which Karen planted when she first occupied the house so it's about a century old.

True to life, the Karen character played by Meryl Streep takes a lover named Denis Finch Hatton played by Robert Redford. Their relationship ended in 1931 when his plane, a Gypsy Moth, burst into flames shortly after take-off as he was headed back to Nairobi after a trip to Lamu on the Kenyan coast. His remains were buried in the foot of the Ngong Hills overlooking the Nairobi National Park, which are visible from the backyard of the Blixen house where he lived with Karen after her separation.

This area is now called Karen and it is the most exclusive real estate and private school enclave of Nairobi. Diplomats, business leaders and high-placed government officials reside in what was once a 6000-acre coffee farm with 700 Kikuyu servants during the era of the British protectorate. I didn't take a photo of the Karen Country Club sign but here's one of the hospital:

And no trip is complete without documenting the global beverage: