23/09/2011

17/09/2011

Me and Nairobi (and Amboseli and Lalibela)

I moved to Kenya in September 2010.


I moved back in London last week.


Just a year, this is about the time I spent in this amazing country as a freelance correspondent for the BBC World Service. 


This last trip was kind of bittersweet. It is never easy to leave a place where you had an amazing time, both professionally and personally. But I've spent my last week thinking about the best of this experience and the great things to come, here, back in England.


Nairobi was slowly going out of the cold season in early September.





With a very good friend who came from Paris, we decided to spend a couple of day in one of Kenya's great national park. So I took two days off to spend a night in Amboseli, on the border with Tanzania.





Amboseli is famous for its numerous elephants and its view on the Kilimanjaro...



Kenya was all ears for its teachers as a huge strike was going on. The next general elections and the drought in the North were also all over the national news. The MP Martha Karua has also announced she actually intend to run for President. The election should be in August 2012, though the date is not fixed yet for various reasons...


I am still working on a story about the number of aid agencies and UN offices in Nairobi. And I aslo hope to be able to return to Kenya as soon as there will be some big news, and especially for the general elections.


In the meantime, I also took two days to go on a short trip to Ethiopia.




My goal was only to get a first insight into Lalibela, the old Christian city in Northern Ethiopia, where the Emperor named Lalibela made eleven amazing orthodox churches built about nine centuries ago. 





Lalibela is a situated in northern Ethiopia. Its monolithic churches made of the town one of the holiest cities in the country, with Aksum. 


It is still the centre of an important pilgrimage and is thought to be a ‘Second Jerusalem’. It is also one of the marks of the earliest Christian settlements in Africa.


My very humble pictures cannot come close to the beauty and holiness of the city, but they are just aimed at giving an insight...
I left Nairobi on last Saturday after one of those huge parties that are typical of the cosmopolitan East African capital.

But I know our story is not over, Kenya. Please, wait for me, because I'll definitely be back.


East Africa goodbyes

I'm back from Nairobi. For good. Or at least for a while.
I have been priviledged enough to be able to spend almost a year in East Africa.
And this September trip was my last time as a freelance journalist based in Kenya.

I spent tow days in Amboseli, two in Ethiopia and the rest in Nairobi.


I can't wait to have other occasions to go back to Kenya, Uganda and Ethiopia.



I had a terrific time, as a journalist and as a traveller... More soon!