Yess.. after a short delay. Arrived in Maputo. The train from Jo’burg arrived at 6.38 in Komatipoort. From there a minibus to Maputo. Arriving in Maputo, arrested by the police. They wanted me to unpack my back in the streets. No way! (of course they were after bribes, my visa was ok). I didn’t want that, so i suggested to go to the police station. After spending too much energy in talking (seven officers in the backyard thought that it was very interesting what I had in my bag. They

Always the shock of landing in a ‘Western’ country. Last night I arrived in bright lights-smoothly-paved-Johannesburg with the late KQ-flight. Advertising everywhere, extreme good coffee and a smile when they quickly serve it within seconds after ordering. What I also noticed this morning, although I have been here several times: people hardly look at each other in the streets. This is a city like other Western cities, with contrasts you will find in a lot of places on this planet. City of fortune seekers, immigrants from all over the continent.

… to take off for Jo’burg. I always feel like a little child when I am travelling. The multiple entry visa for Mozambique is in my passport. Nairobi-news today is about the striking civil servants: the 9000 who went on strike for a 600% payrise recently, will be sacked. For the 400 nurses that went on strike: same story. Imagine! You ask something very reasonable in my eyes (some people here earn around 4000-5000 shilling (50 euro) or less in a month. Per day a lot of people spend 40/50

Normally I buy my vegetables with the stalls along the road, but the stalls disappeared, so I went to the supermarket today. The guy who priced my vegetables asked me in swahili ‘Where are you from?’ I answered that I am from The Netherlands. ‘Oh, that is the country where they stabbed somebody to death in the midde of a city, i saw it in the news.’ I nodded. ‘So even in your country, there is still a lot of insecurity’, the guy said. I had to agree. ‘But’, I

Getting things organised to leave for Southern Africa. Busy.

The Kenyans celebrate Madaraka day, ‘Self-Governance Day’, today. This means: no traffic jams and parking wherever you want. This morning I took an early matatu (‘mini bus’) to town. I hardly had to wait and I realised that the matatu-system of transport is not that bad. You never have to wait. Unless it is rush hour, ok 🙂 (what I remember from The Netherlands is long waiting on a cold train station, buses going every half hour and at some places not at all on Sundays) In Kenya, you just

Last preparations for my trip to Southern Africa (Mozambique). Had contact with friends in Maputo and one of the people who are involved in the Limpopo Trans Frontier Parc. A village of 20.000 people has to be relocated because the project has to proceed. They do not have an alternative.

The sun is back in Nairobi today. Papers, strong black morning coffee and the newspapers. Clashes yesterday in Uhuru Kenyatta’s home town Gatundu. A businessman was shot at a roadblock. The man was innocent, they say. This murder was not an incident. Kenyans are used to this kind of news headlines. ‘If your competitor or business rival becomes too strong, you hire thugs or pay the police to shoot the guy’, says a Kenyan friend. Recently I had an experience of police that came into a bar around 1.30 at

After Swahili lessons this morning would meet a friend at Mama Matunda (‘Mama Fruit’). I go there for a bowl of fresh mango, pineapple, melon and avocado almost each day. Healthy and cheap lunch. But today, mama’s stall was not there. I asked a man who was standing there. Where did she go? They chased her away, because of security reasons, the man said. They destroyed her stall because thieves are hiding inside? , I asked the man. He was laughing, in a sad way. ‘The thieves are winning from

This morning the rain was pouring down on Nairobi’s streets. Rain completely disturbs society here. Bad roads, bad drainage are the main reasons of the streets changing into rivers. Matatus get stuck in the mud in areas where most people live, people reach their work too late. Near Kisumu a town on the coast of Lake Victoria, huge floods make people drown. Thousands of children cannot go to school because of the floods. The floods in other parts of this country have to do with deforestation and as a consequence