Nairobi Post Report
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Post Report for Nairobi (Kenya) Updated: December 2012 Complete revision: November 2012 These notes are for the personal use of officers and their spouses. They should not be shown to people other than Government employees, nor left lying around. UNCLASSIFIED Post Report for Nairobi (Kenya) Updated: December 2012 Table of Contents Table of Contents ................................................................................................ 2 Introduction .......................................................................................................... 4 Country: Kenya ............................................................................................................ 4 People .......................................................................................................................... 4 Language ..................................................................................................................... 5 City: Nairobi.................................................................................................................. 6 Mission ................................................................................................................. 7 Living Conditions ................................................................................................ 8 Overview ...................................................................................................................... 8 Security ........................................................................................................................ 8 Equality and diversity ................................................................................................... 9 Post hardship rating ................................................................................................... 10 Health at Post ..................................................................................................... 11 Accommodation ................................................................................................. 12 Overview .................................................................................................................... 12 Proximity to Schools ................................................................................................... 12 Personal Statement to the Housing Committee .......................................................... 12 Housing on Arrival/Transit Accommodation ................................................................ 12 Consider a Recce Visit ............................................................................................... 13 Family ................................................................................................................. 14 Unmarried Partners .................................................................................................... 14 Diplomatic Service Family Association (DSFA) .......................................................... 14 DSFA Going Abroad Adviser ...................................................................................... 15 Spouse Sponsorship Scheme (FCO).......................................................................... 15 DFID Partner Sponsorship Compensation Allowance ................................................. 15 Spouse/Partner Working Opportunities ...................................................................... 16 Childcare .................................................................................................................... 16 Local Education Facilities ................................................................................. 17 Map showing location of schools ................................................................................ 17 Kindergarten Schools ................................................................................................. 18 Primary/Prep Schools ................................................................................................. 18 Secondary Schools .................................................................................................... 18 Tertiary College .......................................................................................................... 18 Recreation Facilities and Options .................................................................... 19 Official Amenities ....................................................................................................... 19 Clubs in Nairobi .......................................................................................................... 19 Societies/Activity Clubs .............................................................................................. 19 Eating Out .................................................................................................................. 20 Nightlife ...................................................................................................................... 20 Sporting Activities ....................................................................................................... 20 Photography ............................................................................................................... 21 Libraries ..................................................................................................................... 21 Local travel opportunities and restrictions ................................................................... 21 Page 2 of 43 Post Report for Nairobi (Kenya) Updated: December 2012 Media .................................................................................................................. 23 Newspapers, Books and Magazines .......................................................................... 23 Television and Radio .................................................................................................. 23 Mobile Phones and Internet ........................................................................................ 24 Annex A – The Big Picture ................................................................................ 25 Annex B – Practicalities .................................................................................... 28 Annex C - List of Approved Schools in Nairobi .............................................. 41 Page 3 of 43 Post Report for Nairobi (Kenya) Updated: December 2012 Introduction Country: Kenya The name Kenya is derived from the Kikuyu name for Mount Kenya –Kirinyaga, meaning „Mountain of Brightness‟. Kenya, known since 1963 as the Republic of Kenya, straddles the Equator on the East Coast of Africa. It covers an area of over 225,000 square miles (slightly larger than France), encompassing considerable geographical variety, desert, jungle, mountains, moorlands, savannah and rich green farming country. Kenya can be roughly divided into four main zones: Coastal Belt, Rift Valley and Central Highlands, Western Kenya and Northern and Eastern Kenya. The coastal belt is a narrow strip along the Indian Ocean. It has some beautiful white sandy beaches. Directly behind the coastline, the land is low-lying and relatively fertile but it rises quickly towards the central plateau. The Rift Valley and Central Highlands form the backbone of Kenya and provide some of its most spectacular scenery. The Rift Valley is a natural fault, bisecting Kenya roughly from North to South with numerous lakes and volcanic cones along its length. To the east of the Rift Valley the land rises to the Aberdare Mountains and then further east to Mount Kenya - Africa‟s second highest mountain standing on its own at 5,199 metres. Nairobi, the capital sits at the southern end of the Central Highlands. Western Kenya is an undulating plateau stretching from the Rift Valley to the border with Uganda and down to the shores of Lake Victoria. Most of this area is intensively cultivated apart from the barren North and the scrubland on the Southern border with Tanzania. It is in this scrubland that Kenya‟s most popular wildlife parks, the Maasai Mara and Amboseli are situated. North and east of Mount Kenya there is a vast tract of scrub and desert leading up to the borders with Somalia and Ethiopia. This region is sparsely populated and barely touched by the modern world. Kenya‟s main towns are Nairobi, Mombasa on the Coast, Kisumu on Lake Victoria and Eldoret in the Rift Valley. Kenya is bordered by five countries and two bodies of water, Ethiopia and Sudan to the north, Uganda and Lake Victoria to the west, Tanzania to the south; and Somalia and the Indian Ocean to the east. People The famous anthropological discoveries of the Leakey family have earned the Rift Valley the title of the „Cradle of Mankind‟. Hominoid skulls found around Lake Turkana and Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania suggest the existence in this area of Homo Habilis, an early ancestor that gave rise to modern man. The presence of a large diversity of tribal groups in Kenya is evidence that the country has been a major migratory pathway over the years. The first wave of immigrants were the tall, nomadic Cushitic speaking people of Ethiopia who moved south from present day Ethiopia in 2000 BC. Page 4 of 43 Post Report for Nairobi (Kenya) Updated: December 2012 Changing climatic conditions forced these pastoralists to follow good grazing land as far south as central Tanzania. They were followed around 1000 BC by the Eastern Cushitics who occupied most of central Kenya. The rest of Kenya‟s ancestors arrived from