Copyright © Tanya Piejus, 1994

From a very early age, I had always wanted to go to East Africa and see the plains and wildlife that I'd marvelled at on TV. I've been writing to a penfriend in Kenya since I was 11 and was also keen to meet her and her family. So, after I left school when I was 18, I made up my mind to save as much money as I could and go to Africa when I left university. Five years later, I left college with enough cash to spend a week in Nairobi with my friend, join a six-week overland truck expedition travelling south to Zimbabwe, and to spend a couple of weeks with a South African friend in Natal province. This is the diary I wrote while I was there fulfilling a lifelong ambition...

Thursday 30th June, 3.30pm

The plane left Heathrow an hour late so was half an hour late arriving in Nairobi (they'd allowed a thirty-minute breathing space in the schedule). I hadn't heard back from Agnes [my Kenyan penfriend] as to whether she would meet me after the confusion over landing times. We touched down at 4 am Kenyan time and Agnes, her brother and a friend with a van were there. I recognised her straight away but they'd made a chalk sign saying 'Miss T. Piejus' just to make sure. After a ride of twenty minutes or so through the dark outskirts of Nairobi, we arrived at chez Mwalili. They live in a 70s bungalow on a government research station which is basic but adequate. Agnes, her mother, cousin and younger sister, Liz, are permanent residents, as is her 10-month-old adopted brother, Ibrahim. Agnes and Liz are both very hospitable and welcoming. The cousin hasn't said a word to me and I've only seen the mother briefly as she works at the Institute.

After tea and a biscuit, I flopped gratefully into Agnes's bottom bunk at 5.40 am but didn't get much sleep as the dawn chorus began at 6 am and the family started to get up to the accompaniment of a crying baby and a perpetually on radio.

After a shallow bath and a breakfast of jam sandwiches, a sausage and a banana, Agnes and I walked literally round the corner to Karen Blixen's house of 'Out of Africa' fame. It's really neat and well laid out and very unpretentious. The gardens are lovely also. After that, we walked a bit further on to a bead-making factory full of women who wanted their photos taken. We looked around the factory shop. They have some lovely jewellery and pottery and Karen Blixen's house has a good shop too, so I'll probably go back for souvenirs when I've changed some money.

After African-style spaghetti bolognese for lunch, Agnes had to go to work at the local craft centre. The money made goes partly towards nature conservation in Kenya. We and her sister took a matatu [mini-buses run like taxis] there and had to fight our way through a bulging mass of bodies to get out. It was an interesting experience by all accounts - the real African way to travel.

The diversity of butterflies and birds is staggering me already. I also saw a small lizard and a squashed chameleon. The birds have no fear and we stood and watched a mousebird only a few feet away. We moved away before it did.

Weather was a sticky low 20s with patches of sun. Now it's still warm but raining and thundery. We've just come back from looking round where Agnes and Liz work. I'm not sure whether Liz just wanted to show me the cultural artefacts or was trying to make a big sell to a foreign tourist, but they gave me a bracelet and I chose a warthog from a selection of wooden animals. Agnes also gave me a T-shirt and some bead jewellery for a belated birthday present. She was pleased with the claddagh and Kentish bits.

Friday 1st July, 7.10pm

Slept like a log last night. Woken by the radio at about 6.30 am. After breakfast, Agnes and I got a lift into the centre of Nairobi, via a hospital from where we took another matatu. First stop was Barclays Bank where I met a young English couple also changing up travellers' cheques. They, too, are off on a truck expedition. The queue for cashiers was huge. Next stop was the post office so I could send off a card to Mum and G. Also went up the Conference Centre tower for a panoramic view of the city. Went into a few shops and bought a T-shirt and some other bits. I feel so obviously a tourist here. Everyone's trying to sell something. We had lunch in a hot, crowded Wimpy. Nairobi is a frantic, hot, dusty place teeming with people. I expected to see foreigners and backpackers all over the place but the number of white faces I saw today probably didn't reach double figures.

The matatu we took back today was packed to suffocation point. We got on early so had seats fortunately. Saw shrikes perched on wires and a large eagle-type bird seems to be common in the suburbs. Also saw black kites patrolling over the city centre rubbish. It was good to get back to the green, quiet environs of Karen.

The whites here live in secluded, low-rise colonial houses with white walls and red-tiled rooves. Surrounding them are hedges, tall trees and steel gates. Most are protected by alarms and security systems. Usually see them zooming around in new Land Rovers and Mercs. It is easy to see the attraction of the ex-pat life in this beautiful country but the gulf between the white lifestyle and that of the heaving black majority is huge. But they don't seem resentful, just accepting; it's just the way things are.

Saturday 2nd July, evening

Now I know where all the white people are - in the craft markets haggling with the locals over salad spoons and fertility dolls. Bought some elephant bookends made from mahogany and two ebony skeleton carvings and some earrings for Chris. Agnes and Liz keep buying me little things as well so I already have a bulging bag of souvenirs and presents. Went to where A. and L. work this afternoon and watched a dance troupe do a range of tribal dances. Ran off a reel of black and white film there as I could get close to the stage. Also went to the Langata Giraffe Centre and fed a huge one from a raised platform. They also had a few warthogs. Saw some more black kites today as well as lots of small birds that I couldn't identify.

I am becoming a seasoned matatu-rider and can bundle for seats with the best of them.

Sunday 3rd July

Had an easy, non-sightseeing morning reading 'Cry of the Kalahari' and watching telly. There is a truly appalling, American-dubbed Mexican soap on TV called 'Wild Rose'. There are only two stations - KBC [Kenyan Broadcasting Corporation] which is pretty dire and CNN Int. (American cable news) which swaps to KTN [Kenya Television Network] in the evening - less dire. They show lots of dubbed foreign soaps and crappy films. CNN is good lots of news and sport. The ads are quite funny. They have Danny Baker/Daz-stlye ones for 'Omo with Powerfoam'. I think these are my favourite. They also have 'Neighbours' from about six years ago.

One of Agnes's friends from work, Catherine, came with husband and car to take us out. We spent the afternoon dropping in on friends and relations in the surrounding villages and Highlands. We drove at breakneck speed through shanty towns of tin shacks and red mud, interspersed with enclaves of estates and haciendas. 'A country of contrasts' doesn't even begin to describe this place. A lot of the farms are now owned by blacks who took them over after Independence. We visited one lovely house with 50 acres and a beautiful garden up in the Highlands.

We were obliged to eat a second substantial lunch at the rather surreal Wida Highway Motel. Drank two bottles of Strawberry Fruit Wine made by Bulmer's - it's like 10% proof Cherryade. The petty power-freak of a manager locked the gates from the car park to prevent us leaving with three unopened bottles!

All the images I have seen of Africa and never quite believed are all real - beggars washing out of puddles in the city centre, kids begging for coins to feed a drugs habit, women with huge bundles of firewood hanging from their foreheads across their backs, towns of corrugated iron shacks, crowded buses packed to choking-point with conductors hanging from the doors, and everywhere the thick, rust-coloured dust and mud clinging to everything. But nowhere else have I experienced such friendliness, tolerance and hospitality as I have in the last few days in Kenya.

Monday 4th July, evening

Had an absolutely horrendous matatu ride back from town this evening. It was rush-hour and I was convinced that I would be crushed under the weight of bodies or suffocated in the heat of so many people. Either that or the bus would tip over on a corner and squash us all. We had been to the National Archives, National Museum and Snake Park. 'Lonely Planet' have been somewhat unjust in their discussion of the museum. It was actually very good and many of the exhibits were in better condition than those in the Natural History Museum in London. The Archives were quite interesting, particularly the photos and artwork. The spelling in the captions was amusingly appalling though. The Snake Park also has crocodiles, tortoises, lizards and turtles and tanks of tropical fish.

The lights have just come back on after a power cut. Found a really tacky postcard to send home.

Wednesday 6th July, 4.15 pm

Yesterday, Catherine and her husband didn't turn up (we later found out that he'd had a car accident - not surprising the way he drives) so Agnes and I went to the Animal Orphanage and Ostrich Park. There was a tame cheetah called Robbie at the Orphanage who I stroked until he purred. Took photos of the animals and a few wild birds. The Ostrich Park was good too - more photos. The evening was spent watching Nigeria v. Italy in the World Cup. Agnes's bother, Alfred, came over especially to see me before I left.

Today, I went into town again with Liz to do my last bits of shopping - Ashanti doll for Stephanie's wedding present - it's a fertility symbol - tacky, I know, but it had to be done! Also wooden bits for presents and a khanga [African sarong] for me. The motto on it literally means 'what is not in your heart is not in your eyes'.

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