A vendor grilling maize at her stall in the market while Sammy and a guest look on

Kibera Street Tour Experience

Three hours on foot through the neighbourhood I grew up in. The market, somebody's home, a matatu, a boda boda, the craft centre, the gallery, and the library the walk pays for.

How long: 3 hours, on foot
Price: $25 per person
Groups of 6+: $20 per person
Meet at: Prestige Plaza, Ngong Road, Nairobi
Book at least: 2 hours ahead
Group size: Any size. I take couples and I take school groups, so tell me how many of you there are.

This is a walk, not a viewing. We go where I go on an ordinary day: through the market, along the lanes between the houses, past the workshops and the water points and the people getting on with their day.

I grew up here and I still live here. That is what makes it different. People greet me and I stop, and then you are talking to them too.

Three hours is about right. We finish at the Kibera Kids Library, where you spend a while with the children. Most people tell me afterwards that this was the part they did not expect.

Wear shoes you do not mind getting dusty. Ask me anything. And I ask people before you photograph them, every time.

Included in the price

Drinking water
Food along the way
Transport during the tour
Every entrance and fee on the route

50% of what you pay goes to the Kibera Kids Library, which I run with four other volunteers. See where it lands

The route

In this order, give or take. I move things around when the market is quiet or a family is not at home.

The open air market
Stalls under tarpaulin roofs. Maize on the grill, tomatoes and mangoes in piles, secondhand clothes hung wall to wall. I buy my own food here, so nobody gives you a different price because you are a visitor.
A home visit
You go inside somebody's house and you sit down. People tell me afterwards that this is the part they remember. It works because I am a neighbour here and not a company. If a family would rather not that day, we go somewhere else.
The matatu
Our minibuses are painted, named and loud. This is how everybody in Nairobi travels, so you get in the same way everybody else does.
The boda boda
A short ride on the back of a motorbike. It is how most of us cross Kibera. Helmets on, and I tell the rider where we are going.
The craft centre
A workshop, not a souvenir shop. Carving, beadwork, welding out of scrap metal. Buy something if you like it. Nobody expects you to.
The art gallery
Kibera has painters and they are good. One room, canvases wall to wall, and the artists are usually sitting in it. Ask them about their work.
The Kibera Kids Library
The last stop is the reason for all the others. You see the room, you meet the children who come in after school, and you spend some time helping them. Half of what you paid stays here.