Losing my life in Nairobi, Kenya

February 14 (2016) — is that not Val’s day? The day globally recognized for the showing of love in anyway possible? The love I received was bitter.

I arrived in Nairobi on February 13 with a 6 week itinerary lined up. I checked in to Decasa hotel on the river road. It was my third time staying in this particular hotel — budget 3 star hotel situated in the center of town, perfect for my rounds and my startup wallet.

On the next day February 14, I stepped out into the sunshine at 4.30pm to observe East African lovers doing their own things at the Westgate Mall. I ended up in the cinema and watched Renevate — why not. I got back to the hotel at around 9.20pm, took my key from the receptionist, opened the door to room 313 — It was gone. Let me rephrase. It had been stolen.

Counting my loss

My laptop was the first obvious thing I noticed had been stolen. After getting out of my invisible coma I got to know what other items had been stolen from my room. In total I lost … my 13 inch MacBook Pro Retina, $2000, 2 terabyte backup drive and some wrapped gifts o bought for a few Kenyan friends. My door wasn’t tampered with so this logically had to be an entry using a key.

Why was I carrying $2000?

Why not? I could have left the money in my account and used my cards to withdraw from ATMs in Nairobi. True but ATMs have failed me several times in foreign countries where the last thing I wanted was to be cash stranded. Need I even mention the charges? My bank will take 3% of whatever amount I withdraw plus ATM commission. Withdrawal limits mean I can’t take how much I probably need at a go.

Why leave $2000 in your room?

Well… thieves don’t usually work in hotels do they? On this day I wore a trouser that had a very shallow pocket and so decided to drop the wallet, hide my dollars in an obscure part of my traveling bag and just head to town with the shillings. Maybe they came with a sniffer dog trained to sniff dollars. That money was hidden way too well to be noticed — or so I thought.

My life’s work — all gone

I had my entire life’s work on the 2 terabyte drive that was stolen. I never travel with my backup but this time the plan was to go to Dubai from Kenya to trade in my laptop for a new one. I would need to do a restore from my backup on to the new machine. I lost it all. Over 15 years of data I’d meticulously kept — all gone.

The shocker

I later got to know 6 rooms were robbed in total — all foreigners rooms. A lot of valuable property was lost that night. More money and quite a number of gadgets.

River road

Everyone tells me this is a dangerous street to be on. I’ve moved up and down these streets for so long and never got robbed or attacked on the streets. It’s quite an irony to instead be robbed in the hotel when my key had been left with the receptionist.

Compensation

[ Picture: meeting with hotel MD to discuss compensation ]

The hotel management handled this very very poorly. We were the ones constantly on their necks for updates. It was as though they knew we would be checking out soon so could play delay tactics till our respective check out dates were up.

After a couple of days going back and forth with hotel management they finally told us they were not in a position to compensate because their insurance doesn’t cover theft — silly I know but they didn’t just give a heck. Our things got stolen from our locked rooms with keys at the reception and it was our cross to bear. Tough luck.

I have personally vowed not to step foot in Decasa hotel ever again but in case you find yourself in Nairobi and miraculously in Decasa hotel just be super alert and carry your valuables everywhere you go. I discovered County Park hotel. A much better alternative I regretted not knowing about earlier. Much more secure and way bigger rooms for the same price Decasa hotel offers but still very accessible to the central business district.