Danger in Nairobi
Monday, May 6th, 2002We were advised to go nowhere in Nairobi on foot at night. The downtown area is poorly lit and muggings are common. When Bob was here six years ago his trekking outfit arrived late at night. He had told someone he was going out for a walk. Before he could take off however, his trip leader pounded on his door in a panic-told Bob he didn’t dare go. So thinking the leader was a bit compulsive, Bob went down and asked a Kenyan guy in the cigarette kiosk if it was true. The guy responded that if Bob went out he would likely be mugged within two blocks.
As it turns out, at our first meeting the night before we left Nairobi, one of our well-traveled American safari mates who had been working in Spain for 4 years, was swindled out of $450 the day she arrived. They posed as police looking for counterfeit money and intimidated her into showing them the money…which they confiscated saying they needed to copy down the serial numbers at the police station. The “police station” was a sham. They were very very good she said with some chagrin.
Bob had an experience in Arusha where a guy heard the teller at a bank tell Bob to use an ATM. The guy tried to get Bob to follow him and Bob had to try to lose him.
Later, in Zanzibar, while walking along a beach Bob took a picture of a boat. He was approached by a guy who flashed a badge and told him he was a policemen and to go with him. Bob said no and walked off the beach back into town.
In Dar es Saalam, while the truck was parked in front of the internet, a “tout” followed Bob around for an hour and a half trying to get him to use his “guide” services. He wanted to show Bob something off the beaten track and after about a block and a half Bob realized there was “nothing he wanted to see.” He started heading back to the truck and the guy tried to get him to take a picture of the post office which Bob knew was a no-no. Two more guys came up to him from nowhere and flashed their badges at him and said “We are the police, come with us.” A third guy came up in uniform and told Bob to get into the car. Bob said no and walked away faster and faster until finally he ran about four blocks back to the truck. Bob said it was spooky because if they had tried to strong-arm him he didn’t know what he was going to do.
Zoe