In Nairobi the phenomenon of Kenyatta is larger than life, like the statue that stands before Parliament. Places named in his honour include an international airport, a hospital, an avenue and a conference centre, which is enough to give one the idea of the magnitude and importance of this man. He brought Kenya through Independence and led the country as its President for fifteen years until his death in 1978. From his birth near Nairobi somewhere betwen 1889 and 1898 until his last years as Mzee (old ram or father in Kiswahili) his life story is in many ways the story of Kenya's Independence. All the elements are there: survival, heroic struggle, imprisonment, determination and romanticism. Following Independence his overriding policy of 'forgive and forget' and his belief that continuity was the secret, go far to explain the peaceful nature of the transition to Independence from a British to a Kenyan government in 1963. The previous nine years of' imprisonment for supposed leadership of Mau Mau made him a political martyr, but these sad years of exile from family and friends also created a thoughtful, astute, and utterly pragmatic man. 'I have always stood for the purposes of human dignity in freedom, and for the values of tolerance and peace.' he wrote. This was his creed, not mere empty words; he meant them to work in a practical not a theoretical way.To get a feel for Nairobi, visit the City Market; on one end, residents shop for tropical fruits, vegetables and meat (it's one of the cleanest large markets in Africa); on the other end, tourists go from merchant to merchant looking at local handicrafts (fancier stores are on Kenyatta Boulevard). Among Nairobi's other attractions are the National Museum (ethnographic, paleontological and ornithological displays), the Arboretum (excellent collection of East African flora) and the superb Kenya Railway Museum. Exhibits about the period leading to independence can be seen at the Kenya National Archives. Historic landmarks and monuments (Parliament Building, Uhuru and Nyayo Monuments) are highlighted on street maps, though some are suffering from neglect.

Offices, huts and the first streets sprang up, shops and small businesses were founded on the plain that forms the convergence of Maasai and Kikuyu lands. Within a year Nairobi had been granted town status, a District Officer was appointed, and people began to pour in a steady stream into the already overcrowded temporary railway housing. By 1907 Nairobi had ousted Mombasa as the capital of East Africa. As an agent of civilisation then, this Lunatic Line, which undoubtably transformed East Africa, placed Nairobi in a position to dominate the whole country; yet like all agents of civilisation, the cost of the project was heavy in terms of human suffering.

Nairobi was in colonial times, as now, a city of contrasts - contrasts exacerbated by racial, tribal and economic divisions. From the shanty towns built on floating swamp to the gleaming pink of Muthaiga Country Club; from the malaria-infested, crime-ridden yet vibrantly alive streets of Pumwani and Pangani to the serene beauty of Government (now State) House, the polo matches, the race meetings, the pink gins, the 'sun-downers' and high rises - Nairobi epitomised both the best and worst of colonial life. Given such contrasts the history of Nairobi was punctuated by violence, crime, resentment, greed and hypocrisy. Yet if Nairobi was, in reality, less than a paradise, it was never static. It was a passionate city in a constant stage of change. Mistakes were made and injustices happened, myths and errors were ignored. Yet it is to the credit of the founders and modern-day patrons of Nairobi, as well as the progressive and receptive spirit of the Kenyan people, that the city has evolved through difficulties to become a progressive, modern metropolis. Many problems remain, but given the vicissitudes of her history, the future may be viewed with equanimity and optimism.

Rapidly Nairobi grew into a squalid, fever-ridden bazaar, packed to overflowing with a cosmopolitan selection of peoples living in cramped, dirty and difficult conditions. There is a cemetery, now overgrown and being left to deteriorate, that lies to the side of Uhuru (Freedom) Highway (the old route of the railway and today Nairobi's artery for thousands of commuters). Its headstones are eloquent indications of the diverse people who pioneered the future capital city: 'died of lion wounds', 'died while sleeping by a man-eating lion (sic)' or, my favourite, 'John Cameron Scott came to Africa in 1897 to found the African Inland Mission, Died 1898 - called to higher things'. Young officers, railway engineers, missionaries, traders, administrators and adventurers: their names are only a fraction of those who put their all into Nairobi.

Nairobi has always been a multi-tribal, multi-ethnic, international conglomeration. Certainly among the more affluent echelons of society, the peoples of Nairobi mix freely and easily. Kenya has forty-five or so different tribes, most of whom contribute at least a small amount to Nairobi's population. The Asian group is substantial and dominates the retail and general commercial sector with a fair number in the industrial sector as well. As if to prove Nairobi's cosmopolitanism, 97 countries of the world send representatives to Kenya, creating the largest diplomatic corps in black Africa. The World Bank and United Nations have important regional centres in Nairobi, and the city is the global headquarters of UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme) and HABITAT (United Nations Commitment for Human Settlement). International news agencies as well as freelance journalist are found in profusion. In short, Nairobi is a world community. It would seem that Karen Blixen was correct when she wrote: 'There is no world without Nairobi's streets'.

Nairobi's topography is straightforward. Central Nairobi, skyscrapers and all, rises mirage-like from the flat edge of the Embakasi and Athi Plains. Founded as a last halt before the Highlands (just shacks and tracks at first) for the railway engineers, Nairobi now covers 689 square kilometres. This figure includes the 120 square kilometres of the Nairobi Game Park and all of Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, so the City is not as large as it seems on paper. Central Nairobi barely makes up five square kilometres. Inevitably the centre has developed skywards - in an uneven, graceful, scattered manner. The tallest building is the Kenyatta International Conference Centre which ousted the Hilton International Hotel from its decade of dominance in 1974. And for the statistically minded, the smallest structures can be seen on River Road where the night-watchmen construct shelters standing less than a metre high. Central Nairobi has convenient, though not rigid boundaries: Nairobi River to the north, the railway to the south and the small hill (Nairobi Hill) and Uhuru Highway to the west.

The main commercial and official area lies almost entirely within the central block: within the University Way - Koinange Street - Haile Selassie Avenue - Tom Mboya Street quadrangle. Over the decades since Independence mass housing estates have pushed outwards to the east and south. South of the railway lies the Industrial Area. This has been the scene of some of the fastest growth, in terms of acreage, since the sixties. It is a busy, thriving, action-packed area with factories of all shapes, sizes and functions. Growth in this sector of Nairobi has been nothing short of phenomenal. Yet the coffee, tea, pineapple, sisal and maize plantations to the north and west of the city testify to Kenya's continuing dependence on agriculture. The tea at Limuru, the coffee at Thika and the rows of maize anywhere there is room, either inside or outside the city limits, proves this point.

Travellers who know other cities in Africa will not need this point mentioned but Nairobi is an unusual city in comparison to many others on the continent. Its beginnings are not unique; Lusaka found a comely origin as a railway headquarters too. Its modern, concrete and glass skyline is not remarkably different from cities in West and Central Africa. It is Nairobi's clear message of prosperity and material progress (in so many realms), its confidence and its vitality that mark it out as different from many other twentieth century African cities. Perhaps it is all in the altitude? But there is nothing very pretentious about Nairobi or its inhabitants, for all their pride in its relative well-being, for in that pride is the knowledge that it might not last. Nairobi's proud signature, the signature of a tropical city, is the line of palm trees along its main highway. Expressed in their height is also the symbolism of heat and dust. Occasionally a tree will sacrifice a palm leaf into the vicious traffic below from exhaustion or maybe asphixiation.