It was quite a long flight from Copenhagen and I arrived to Nairobi at 11 a.m. The customs' procedures took only five minutes and I took my first steps on African soil. I caught what I believed was the airport bus but it turned out to be a local bus that meandered through the outskirts of Nairobi forever.

My very first impressions of Kenya reminded me of England as the road signs were British and I saw some red telephone boxes. The bus eventually came to a halt and I had no idea at all where I was. It certainly was not downtown, as the high-rise buildings were some distance away. I was feeling a bit uneasy as I had read in the guidebook that lots of people were robbed on their very first day in Nairobi.

 I started walking without any real direction when I saw a building called "Information House", where I thought somebody might tell me where the hotel where I planned to stay, the Hotel Terminal, was. A friendly man told me it was quite far away and helped me to find a taxi, which promptly took me there, without robbing me. The Hotel Terminal, while not exactly comparing to the Hilton Hotel, was clean and had friendly staff and I considered the price, £ 6 a night, good value for money. I took a shower and then went out to have a first look at Nairobi.

I obviously stood out as a newcomer because I was constantly accosted by hustlers who wanted to "help" me with my sightseeing. I was not too surprised to hear that they, like their Indian cousins, had "an Uncle in Sweden". They had a different tack though when it was clear to them that I was not interested in their company: Their parting words were always "Are you a racist?"!

 It was very easy to find one's way in Nairobi. To begin with, the downtown area is quite small, you can walk from one end to the other in twenty minutes and the blocks are set in a grid pattern. The city centre had a very modern look with many high-rise buildings, the 28-storey Kenyatta Towers being the highest. The streets were quite clean and the cars stopped for red lights which, I thought were some evidence of civilisation.

 Everything was closed though as there was a Bank Holiday (Independence Day) and the streets were largely deserted. My main concern was to arrange a safari and I was very glad to find one of numerous safari offices open and it was just across the street from my hotel.

 I had actually planned to do two safaris, one to Lake Turkana in the north and one wildlife safari. The company, Safari Camp Services, actually arranged both as camping safaris. I was lucky to find out that the one to lake Turkana, the "Turkana Bus" in fact departed the very next day and the "Wildlife Bus" the following Saturday. They also accepted travellers' cheques and could also hire me a sleeping bag so all my problems were solved at once. I forked out £ 300 for both weeks and while it may seem expensive it was within my planned budget.

 In the evening I went to the Hilton Hotel to have a pizza and I was very wary of the menacing shadows in the dark streets. But I had left all my valuables back at the hotel and felt I had nothing to fear. Still, I turned down several offers from "friends" who wanted to take me to the Red Light District.