Subsaharan Africa’s city streets can feel like they were laid out by a three-year-old with too much manilla paper and extra crayons. Nairobi’s road layout feels particularly haphazard. It’s as if the The Plan? eventual traffic snarl-ups were the colonists’ last “f-you” to their former colony’s capital. Combine that with the volume of cars on the road, potholes the size of small kids and ever-present Documenting Some roadworks that are supposed to “fix the problem” and you have a commute from hell that will Of Nairobi’s Artist drive you crazy. Pun intended. The average Nairobian can spend up to 4 hours a day just sitting Communities, Creative in traffic trying to get to work! Our mini-series of documentaries on Nairobi’s bustling Hubs And collaborative creative scene would have been near impossible if we relied on ubers and matatus. Organisations. It’s hard to imagine any other way to transport crew and gear back and forth across the city without a car isn’t it? The That’s where Motos/Okada/Phen Phens/Oleiya’s or as we know them in East Africa, Challenge? Boda Bodas came in. We’ve even called the series of videos Boda Boda tales in reference to the mighty nduthis that carried our crew AND gear across the city. Three bikes, three film crew Actually Getting members. 2 4K cameras (PACKED VERY CAREFULLY MIND YOU), boom poles, 6 mics, 5 There! lights (later 3, two never made the journey) and 20 documentary treatments zoomed around the city in the sun for one month. Our ride through Nairobi was not without its misadventures. A dodgy cop on Ngong road was sure our boom was a weapon, a very long panga perhaps? And one of the Boda Bodas driving our crew from a Karen location over to Westlands actually (ACTUALLY) gave his fare in Bangla-Pesa (Google it). Filming this chapter of the book was an honour and a thrill. Whose heart wouldn’t be racing as they zoomed off to interview artists with hundreds of thousands of shillings worth of equipment strapped to the back of a motorbike taxi? At least we had helmets! 50nd3k4 141 50nd3k450nd3k4140140 50nd3k4 141