We've been so fortunate to be able to spend our first two days in Kenya with alex, Ollys school friend. Al works for a conservation org on the masia Mara so it's been great to hear about his job and get some insight into kenyan politics and daily life.

There's so much going on here. There's the new election due at the end of the month and the recent plastic bag ban that has had a much broader impact than anticipated. There has also been a severe drought which is obvious in the small area we've covered. That's having an impact on livestock and causing conflict as farmers move cattle to graze on others land ( a simplistic summary I appreciate).

Fortunately we also go to see the fruits of Alex's hard labour when we happened upon the farm's meat in none other than Carre Four

We spent the last few days driving around Karen. A region to the west of Nairobi. It's named after Karen blixen from the out of Africa story.

We had a tour through ngogo and did a short hike up the ngogo hills. Passively attempting to beat the Dutch group that started off before us. ( we won), but were then stopped at the top by a armed guard challenging our reading capabiities. A big sign sat next to him saying no one could pass without a guide. Unwilling to challenge the young chap we took a few photos from the top. A bit of a smoggy day but you just about make out the skyline of Nairobi. A great hike to get the heart going.

Then on for a spot of lunch in the university district, where we found ottelenghi salads on the menu.

Afterwards we decided to take our chances on a new snake farm. We got closer there was so much more on offer; A restaurant, playground, hotel and a snake park.In fact a huge poster hung over the car park with giant photos of lions and giraffes. This place was underselling itself on the main road. We got closer to the sign to see a slight caveat 'coming soon'..

We entered with our guide, slightly disappointed, but the boys were up for seeing some deadly snakes so we soldiered on. As with all snake parks there was the mandatory exotic pidgeon section first. Actually we were all pleasantly surprised by the exotic pidgeons. Especially the ones with feathered feet. Take a look below, how great are these guys?!

Then there were some exotic birds, which ended with Patrick. Patrick is a parrot that only talks when the tourists have gone home. Massively inconvenient for the snake park managers.

On to the snakes.. the snakes were really well briefed, and in summary some super venomous, some not. All in glass cages and looked very relaxed. Our guide then offered to get one out and for us to take a photo. As soon as it was around Ollys shoulders it started to wrap itself around his neck. Apparently it was still being tamed!

Lessons learnt so far from 48 hours

Kenyans are very friendly people always willing to chat and ask how you are. Several have offered me a lift on their motor bikes.

The local buses are artworks and great to watch pass by. Inside they have been described as mini nightclubs. Here's the brexit one we saw ten minutes after arriving in Kenya. We thought we could escape this stuff!!

Every tourist centre has prices for locals and then prices for non locals.

No one enterprise has a single selling point. The snake park was also a hotel, Alex's hotel was not only a hotel but a barbour, sauna, gym and swimming pool. The restaurant was a artisan shop, a bank and kids playarea.