I recently started reading and enjoying the blog called “Sociological Images,” which I find to be provocative and insightful. But a recent post by Lisa Wade gave me pause. From the post:

Sadie M. sent in an example of the reproduction of the idea that “Africa” is an arid, desolate place where nature still dominates civilization…Despite all of this, Sadie’s snapshot shows that an in flight magazine depicted Nairobi as a savanna full of elephants and bereft of people. The other two destinations featured – New York and Sydney — are pictured as they are.”

Basically, the argument is that in the promotional material covering Nairobi–a huge metropolis–the PR people are falling for an “Out of Africa” style fantasia. This seems like a good concept to be vigilant about, but misguided in this specific case.

To be clear, I agree with Lisa’s impulse–Betty has also blogged in a similar vein, about the concerns that a poverty tour in South Africa veers too close to the concept of a tour of the “human zoo.” Defining South Africa, or Kenya, for Western eyes is a fraught business. But in this particular case, a national park located inside the city of Nairobi makes this particular criticism incorrect.

Photos and video from the park after the jump.

I was in Nairobi for the first time in June, and it confounded my expectations. It was a work trip, and I spent a great deal of the time in meeting rooms, or in cars taking me to meeting rooms, watching the vast swath of humanity walking through the streets at all hours.

But because of a fluke, my colleagues and I missed our scheduled flight to Dar Es Salaam, and wound up with an unscheduled afternoon. We were behind a huge pile of tourists checking out of the hotel and heading on safari–and not the cool, low-to-the-ground style safari Betty does, but the all-expenses-paid extravaganza. When in Nairobi, we thought, we had nothing else to do until our meetings could be rescheduled. We took a couple of hours, packed up some snacks, and headed out to the nearby national park.

As the Wikipedia entry on the park explains:

Nairobi National Park is a national park in Kenya. Established in 1946, the national park was Kenya’s first. It is located approximately 7 kilometres (4 mi) south of the centre of Nairobi, Kenya’s capital city, with only a fence separating the park’s wildlife from the metropolis. Nairobi’s skyscrapers can be seen from the park.

In other words, photos of wildlife pictured aren’t necessarily erasing the city of Nairobi, but potentially accurately capturing it. The one caveat of the particular picture in the in flight magazine is that there aren’t elephants in the park, so that’s likely a nearby nature preserve. But there are the rest of the “big five,” most of which we were lucky to see. Including a lion:

We were touring the park in these funny pop-up-top vans, and with a lion so close to the road, it caused the drivers to speak semi-frantically on their walkie-talkies, causing a three-van pileup nearby. I was as interested in the other sightseers as the lions themselves:

We saw an adorable little black rhino, as well as a fleet of impalas. But my favorite, by far, were the giraffes:

I find their motion mesmerizing:

The urban humanity is an undeniable part of Nairobi, of course–but so is everything pictured above.

As you get closer to the city center, you’ll notice that newer-looking ranch styled homes border the highway. But if you crane your neck you can see that the townships are positioned right up against the new homes. It appears as if someone is trying to hide the townships with these newer houses.

When I was there, I learned that city officials were doing this as a way to mask the “problem” in order to prepare the city for the international stage during the World Cup. To give a sense of scale, these townships hold a million people. Good luck with that strategy.

Before I visited, I had read about tourists going to the townships via organized groups. At first I dismissed the idea because it felt incredibly offensive. What on earth could taking a tour to gawk at these poor people accomplish?

I grappled with the notion during my first few days and spoke to tourists, as well as locals. Unanimously, and without reservation, people were in favor of these organized trips, as long as you picked a savvy and ethical operator who gave back to the community. They felt like it was important for outsiders to see the living conditions, and to support the community of the people who opened their homes during the tours.

After some deliberation, and with serious skepticism, I decided to go.

The first stop on my tour’s itinerary was in Cape Town at the District Six Museum. The museum is housed in an old church in the District Six area of the city. This was once a thriving neighborhood, and during the height of apartheid was bulldozed by the government. 60,000 inhabitants were displaced and forced to relocate to the townships miles outside of town. The museum tells the horrific story through photography and audio timelines, as well as guided tours.

We then headed to the township of Langa. Some of these townships lie nearly 70 miles outside of the city, so anyone living in these areas who work in town are forced to spend a large amount of their small wages just on the commute. How can they ever rise themselves out of poverty given these circumstances?

Langa was powerful. It was extremely poor, but all my reservations were lifted the moment I arrived. The people seemed genuinely glad to see us, and we spent the entire day learning about their lives and how they felt about the South African government. We also visited a women’s arts and cultural center where you could buy their beautiful rugs or wood cut paintings.

All in all, it was a rewarding and certainly eye-opening experience. But more than once the residents told us, “It’s great you’re here. But we wish the rich white South Africans would visit more.”

Out of sight, out of mind, right? I don’t see how their situation can be ignored, and I’m curious, since the World Cup is just a few weeks away, what the South African government has done to come up with a real strategy to help these communities.