Nairobi City of Pirates

I had long heard of Nairobi's reputation as a "robbery city" long before I visited this city. The city was nicknamed "Nairobbery" because of its reputation. Based on data released by the United Nations in 2001, this city became the most insecure city in the world. In the data mentioned that two-thirds of Nairobi's population had experienced robbery. Of course I'm a little "scared" by the reputation of this city. Especially when I was there around the beginning of the year, Kenya was still in a state of emergency due to the clash of two camps (tribes) that almost brought the country to a new civil war. Due to the fairly severe horizontal conflict, tourists did leave Kenya. Cities in Kenya are abandoned by tourists.

In Mombasa City, I met a hotel employee named Abdul. From his stature, he was like another teenager who looked innocent. I was of course quite surprised when he claimed to be a former criminal in Nairobi and had been jailed with recurrent criminals. He tells a lot about his experiences in prison. From him, too, I got a lot of advice on how to survive in Nairobi, especially how to avoid con artists who always try to trap tourists. Not to underestimate Abdul's advice, but I was so used to "doing business" with con artists in various countries of the world that I felt I would be fine in Nairobi. I'm more interested in other things like exploring the city of Nairobi at night like I do in cities in Africa like Dar Es Salaam, Lilongwe, and others. When he heard my intention, Abdul just said simply, "If you want to stay alive, don't go out at night."

I still doubt what Abdul said even though he was a criminal. People in Malawi also say the same thing when Tim and I, my traveling companions in Africa, intend to enjoy the nightlife in the country's capital, Lilongwe. Most of the "superstitious stories" that creep in Lilongwe are made by hotel owners and taxi drivers who might want to rake in the profits from tourists. The proof, almost every night we wandered in Lilongwe at night and never once did anyone try to rob us (or we were lucky ... :-p). Likewise, when I was in Dar Es Salaam with Tim. We also walked through the dark alleyways in the city almost every night and even strayed in an area far from everywhere and famous for being very vulnerable. After all, we weren't robbed either.

Seeing my skeptical reaction, Abdul then asked, "What is the thief weapon in Lilongwe?"

"Knife," I replied simply.

"Ah. Thieves in Nairobi use machine guns, shotguns, and granades, "Abdul calmly replied.

I paused to hear Abdul's answer. Maybe I wouldn't believe if Abdul wasn't robbed. One of the reasons I dared to go out at night in Lilongwe and Dar Es Salaam was because the villain was "just" armed with a knife that I didn't think would be difficult to deal with. Besides that, I also always carry two pieces of sharp stones just in case. Now, if the criminal brought a machine gun or a grenade, there was no way I would dare to fight. Can die silly .... :-p.

Abdul's remarks about Nairobi which were scary still left room for questions in my head, but the questions disappeared as soon as I arrived in Nairobi from Mombasa by taking the night bus. It so happened that our bus arrived around 5:00 in the morning. Awesomeness of this city immediately felt by me. All passengers who got off the bus immediately entered the waiting room of the bus company office and no one dared to get out. I also don't feel the need to be desperate to go out at dawn like this in Nairobi with a big backpack on my back. The scene in front of me already showed that Nairobi as a robbing city was indeed true, especially since our bus terminal was exactly in the Westland area which was famous for armed robbery.

During my two days in Nairobi, I got along well with a taxi driver named Alex. Like Abdul, Alex also happily told me about Nairobi when I asked. Oddly enough, Alex never knew that Nairobi was dubbed the "Nairobbery". It was the first time he heard that word from me, but he did admit that Nairobi was indeed very famous for its robbery.

Alex also told me how to survive in Nairobi. Although during the day, the chance to be robbed is still there according to him. He advocated that the road alone had to be crowded because of the wrong entry into a lonely road, it would almost certainly be robbed. He also said that it is difficult to distinguish between fraudsters and robbers with ordinary people because they dress like normal people and even tend to be neat. But, on the other hand, these criminals can easily distinguish tourists from the people of Nairobi. One modus operandi carried out by criminals in Nairobi in ensnaring their prey is by pretending to be friends. After that they will take their potential victims to a place and that's where the victims are robbed.

Although Alex had told me at length about Nairobi's keangkerang, curiosity still made me ask Alex about the possibility of going out at night. Like Abdul, Alex also said that I committed suicide if I dared to go out at night alone. He then told about his robbery robbed when returning home late after work. The Nairobi robber intercepted him in a lonely place. A robber put a gun to his head and the other gang members took Alex's money and valuables. Luckily he was not killed by the robbers. The robbers in this city do not care about local people or not. They will rob if they see an opportunity.

Alex also agreed about the heavy weapons carried by the robbers. But, most heavily armed plots have quite heavy targets as well as banks, money changers, and places with lots of money. According to Alex, the big robbers in Nairobi are like armed guerrillas. No wonder banks and other financial institutions in Nairobi are heavily guarded by heavily armed security officers complete with barricades.

Alex's story frankly made me believe about "Nairobbery" because I had heard the story from two parties, from the robber and the victim. I don't think I need to prove Nairobi's awesomeness by going out alone at night like I did in other African cities. I think it's better to obey the words of Abdul and Alex to not go out at night alone than to die silly …… ..: p. Understandably, I have never learned the bullet invulnerability. If I had, the story would be very different ...... :-)