Nairobi First-Day Concierge

This is not sightseeing. It is the day that makes every other day work. You land, and instead of solving Nairobi alone through a hotel concierge and a search engine, someone who lives here sits in the car with you and gets the practical things done. A local SIM with data, registered properly, which needs your passport and takes about twenty minutes at an authorised dealer rather than the airport kiosks. Cash changed at a forex bureau rather than the airport rate, which is usually two to four per cent worse. M-Pesa set up on your new line, because a great deal of Nairobi runs on it and cards do not always work. A supermarket stop for whatever the trip needs. Then the orientation that matters: which neighbourhoods you will actually spend time in, how Uber and Bolt behave here, what a fair taxi price is, which roads seize up at which hours, and what to do about the traffic police if you are driving yourself. Who this suits: first-time visitors, people relocating, diaspora returning after years away, and anyone arriving before a longer trip who would rather not lose day one to admin. On price, USD 150 per person covers the private vehicle, driver-guide, fuel and your host's time for three to six hours. It does not include the cost of the SIM, your currency, or your shopping, which stay yours and unmarked-up. We carry a small float and settle it with you at the end. At two people sharing this works out at USD 115 to USD 125 per person, and from USD 175 for one traveller. We would rather you came away knowing how the city works than having seen four monuments.