Snared

The wildebeest were still grunting on the lawn in the morning and the dawn drive off Philip's ranch treated me to a young giraffe nibbling on acacia and active zebras scampering around.

I've been amazed how much wildlife exists with the hum of the cement factory, highway lights and clouds of industrial dust bearing down on the ranch. Human pressures are all around and I asked about the threat of poaching. They come across animal snares, which they deactivate, and they have a few rangers doing patrols. Whatever the approach it works well: gazelles, eland, baboons, hartebeest are all over the place.

Extremely early start, but not early enough to beat the Nairobi traffic. The ugly strip development of factories, smoke, gates, wires and concrete passed increasingly slowly as we descended on the city. We inched along painfully and mostly stood still. Blaring ambulances were ignored; stuck like the rest of us. A bus had tried to cross a central ditch and was suspended ridiculously in mid air. Road rage was clearly visible, unheard of in South Sudan. Vendors plied commuters with bananas, water and the type of tat you get at funfairs.

I was panicking about being late to the airport. Nairobi necessarily has more (but I wouldn't say strictly conducted...) terrorism checks than most airports. Running late will leave you harangued and stressed. 

I'll be in the UK for a brief period. These days I'm fairly able to operate independently of where I am. It often depends on how healthy and refreshed I feel, and in Africa even in South Sudan I can manage it. The diet is simple, earlier nights are possible, poor connectivity is a blessing, work is thought-provoking and compared to travelling in Asia there is more of a warmth that lessens the need for socialising. I do need to try hard not to see my UK surroundings as dull, because they're not, but I do worry about being over-stimulated overseas and unsatisfied at 'home'.

I wrote this and then on the tube home was entertained by a man with a scrunchie. Then there was a beat up homeless girl at Kings Cross who I bought food for. Perhaps time in the UK can be spent rebelling against this callous government that takes away services from people like her.


That'll keep me busy.