Nairobi in June

 A city of cool waters, as far as our forefathers are concerned. The only city with a National Park. A city with the perfect blend of the haves and have-nots. An African city. Many foreign ladies and gentlemen have fallen instantly in love with the city on their first visits, some deciding never to leave this little paradise: to bathe in its milk and to sweeten themselves with its honey. 

Round the clock, Nairobi is a gem showcasing its unique ability to charm with its delights, but June unleashes its naughty side. The weather is usually bearable, but sometimes it tests your commitment to its pleasure, and to do that, it utilizes extremes: an angry sun with formidable fists or a chilling cold that whispers of frost. It mocks the Western cities that have a clearly defined sense of the seasons, or it is just a strategic defiance of Mother Nature.

If you walk the streets of Nairobi in June, you'll get a weird sense that something is not right. That feeling one gets before they get a heart attack, or before that breakup message pops up on their screen. It's a pregnant feeling that threatens to burst at any moment. Its fidelity is on the brink of a violent collapse, the city of cool waters entertaining the thought of welcoming chaos in a genuine embrace.

If you're a Kenyan, that feeling is encrypted in you; it doesn't shake you, it only elicits a slight annoyance. We are used to such feelings, perhaps due to colonial ghosts. It just never left. But if you're a foreigner, your sense of danger will flare like a cat's whiskers, and you'll be scared, but then fear will exhaust itself, and a fleeting pleasure will unfold, one that will root you here.

Nairobi promises no grandeur; no Parisian lights, if your relationship is approaching its inevitable end, it won't interfere. It doesn't have much beauty and history like European cities harbor, for that you'll have to try Mombasa. It is not a musical town like Vienna, nor a summer city like Rome. It is a city that transcends everything you've ever imagined - it gifts you with the right questions and a few answers. It teaches you about life, in all its absurdity, uselessness, and its preciousness, and it does so using specific character arcs that are the Nairobi people. 

If you are a student of life, Nairobi should be among your first cities of choice. Provided you're patient and daring, you'll learn more than all books will ever teach you. It has a certain sense of intimacy and coziness; you don't have to chart a wide radius to acquaint yourself with the different shades of life. The rich, the poor, the hopeful, the hopeless, the sane, the insane - they're all within a short grasp. They flirt with intimacy to the point it becomes almost impossible to distinguish them, and you'll be pissed off, as the human mind dreads blurry patterns. The only requirement is that you clear your mind of other engagements, as the city's intimacy is a product of about fifty million minds in a span of a hundred years; surely you can't expect a single mind to comprehend it in a week.

Back to a walk on the streets of Nairobi in June. That pregnant atmosphere is usually because of the brewing camaraderie and unity among the Gen Zs of Kenya. That aroma of brotherhood fueled with the desire for a better country, supported by the sovereignty of the Kenyan Constitution, you just marvel at. I am tempted to say that the suspicious element of June started in 2024, but I won't be doing my conscience any justice. It has always been there ever since, and will be there even after a genuine political liberty is cemented in the republic. I have already told you Nairobi is a sneaky city.

Nairobi doesn't like to be messed with, but with the Gen Zs, it has an apparent soft spot. It allows them a temporary element of control, it opens some minor parts of itself to torment and torture, for it knows that it is the people that make a city, not the other way around. It enjoys getting naughty, for once it's not Mother Nature's interference like with the violent floods, but of its own accord. It allows those young people because like it, they're standing up to an oppressive regime. Perhaps those young people teach this city that just because you're powerless doesn't mean you can't achieve a certain level of power through rebellion. Or perhaps it's the other way around.

Nairobi is a city of order from necessity. The people of the city know this fact very well, and so does the city. All the way from the simplicity of its foods, its transportation system, its trading areas, to its entertainment arenas. It doesn't demand perfection, and it doesn't offer it. It whispers to you that it will only give what it will, and you either find a way to enjoy it, or you can take your leave and disappear to whence you came. It reminds me of Albert Camus' depiction of life. That you know it's meaningless and you can choose to exit it through suicide, but amidst it all, it's precious and beautiful. It's more of an acquired taste, and we all know that with acquired tastes, not everyone has the patience or the taste buds to enjoy it. Such is Nairobi. 

It is a city of abundance and simplicity wrapped in one. It allows you to choose your poison, for it understands very well that cities thrive on balance, so overindulgence won't do you any good in this city. If it speaks to you, you're among the few chosen ones who have the stomach to enjoy life amidst its absurdity. If it doesn't, don't fret, just enjoy its simple pleasures and update it in your diary, for you might need to reminisce about it once in a while.