Comparing life in Nairobi to DC
After living in Washington D.C. for my whole life I’ve had surprisingly little culture shock here in Nairobi. Many of the “shocking” aspects of life here in Kenya I have seen in DC, maybe to a lesser degree but the similarity is there. I live in a very nice suburban area walking distance from Village Market, so it’s not an apples to apples comparison to living in Mount Pleasant which is much more urban. The following table is my opinion based on living in Nairobi since July, 2008.
| Nairobi | Washington, DC | |
|---|---|---|
|
Government Corruption
|
Rampant but improving | Better since former mayor for live Marion Barry left office, but still bad by western standards. |
|
Roads
|
Many roads are in really bad shape work is being done, traffic is horrible. | Roads are not as bad as Nairobi but not good either. Traffic is also bad but not as bad as nairobi. |
|
Cost of living
|
Relatively expensive especially for imported goods. Labor is cheap so local product are cheap. Fruit is cheap and good. Other food is about the same. Petroleum is expensive but distances traveled are generally less. | Labor is expensive, Chinese imports are cheap. Electronics are cheap. |
|
Crime
|
High but improving. Some areas are very dangerous. Very few area’s are safe after dark. | Improved but still bad in some areas. Many areas are safe even at night. |
|
Climate
|
Mostly in the 70s during the day. Winter is in the 60’s and a bit rainy. Cool nights | Mild but seasonal. Much hotter in the summer. Much colder in the winter. Nairobi wins hands down |
|
Diversity
|
Cosmopolitan with people from all over the world. Especially where I live. | Ditto |
|
Outdoor Activities
|
Great mountain biking, hiking, climbing within two hours drive. Coast has world class reef 7 drive away. | Decent road riding within 2 hrs. Mountain biking is limited. Hiking and climbing not as good. |
Right now my biggest gripe is internet connectivity. There is no fiber connectivity in Africa so all traffic is beamed through satlites. It’s slow and it’s expensive. They are laying fiber now so hopefully things will improve. I’ll write more about this in another post.
