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The word Nairobi is derived from the Masaai word Ewaso Nai'beri that means "place of cool water". Nairobi, the capital of Kenya, began life rather less than a century ago as a shantytown around the railhead established by the builders of the Uganda Railway. Within 90 years, it has grown into East and Central Africa's premier city. In that time the
Nairobi downtown section has become a cosmopolitan scene of broad tree-lined streets, high-rise offices, hotels and apartments. Several parks offer walks among a mixture of exotic and indigenous flowers, shrubs and trees. A ribbon of green, which runs alongside the city's main highway, includes a new sports complex and stadium, the city's most historic cemetery, a nine-hole golf course, two parks, the University playing fields and Chiromo forest and Arboretum.
On the other side of the highway, near this point, is the
Kenya National Museum with its outstanding displays of early man, ethnic regalia, Kenya fauna and a vivid display of the struggle for independence. Near to the
Nairobi museum is a snake park. By the railway station is the Railway Museum with its exhibition of old steam engines, lovingly restored and maintained and the coach from which superintendent Ryall was hauled out by one of the man-eating lions of Tsavo in 1897. The history of the building of the railway - which became known as the 'lunatic line'- is vividly portrayed with fascinating impedimenta, including the cowcatcher seat on which former president Theodore Roosevelt (26th President of the US) rode in style during his big game safari in 1908. At one time, the railways and the harbors were jointly administered so there are also relics of that era.
The wardroom table and other memorabilia of the German warship, the Konigsberg, recall its heroic death during the First World War. The Karen Blixen Museum is 20 kilometers from the
Nairobi city center in the suburb, which bears her name. The visit can be combined with a look at Daisy Rothschild's home, Giraffe Manor, (which is also one of Kenya's best known home stays) and the Giraffe Center for close up encounters with some of Daisy's relatives. Returning to the
Nairobi city, a guest passes Bomas of Kenya, where Kenya's folkloric art and dance is on display daily.
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