All language subtitles for Anthony Bourdain Parts Unknown S12E01 Kenya (1080p x265 10bit S74 Joy)

- Maybe you know him.

I hope you know him
from such excellent shows as

"United Shades of America,"

host, writer, comedian,
W. Kamau Bell.

I bumped into him in
the CNN "C" room recently

fondling his Emmy,
and I asked him,

"Kamau, if you could go
anywhere on Earth

"for, like, a mash-up episode
of my show and yours,

where would
that be?"

He said Kenya.

- So here we are,

"United Shades Unknown"
or "Parts United."

Scratch that.
That... that doesn't sound good.

"America's Shadiest Parts."

No, no,
that doesn't work either.

"Unknown Shades of"...

♪ I took a walk
through this ♪

♪ Beautiful world

♪ Felt the cool rain
on my shoulder ♪

♪ Found something good
in this ♪

♪ Beautiful world

♪ I felt the rain
getting colder ♪

- ♪ La, la
- ♪ Sha la, la, la, la

♪ Sha la, la, la, la

- ♪ Sha la, la, la
- Sha la, la, la, la ♪

♪ Sha la, la, la, la, la

♪

- First time on this continent.

- Yes.

- I'm gonna be teasing you
relentlessly about this,

- by the way.
- That's fine.

Please, please, please, yeah.

As an African-American,

there's a lot of talk about
going back to this thing

of the "motherland."

- And that... it... seriously
radicalizing experience

for African-American comics
who come here before.

- Yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- Life changing.

So we shall see.

♪

- I mean, even walking
through the streets,

like, I have this feeling
of, like,

when I moved from Chicago
to Oakland.

You know, you hear about Oakland
being this black city...

- Uh-huh.
- And you get there

and it's like,
I got these black people here

- but it's not like...
- Uh-huh.

- This is what I imagined
Oakland was gonna be like.

- This is like... this feels like
this is black, you know?

♪

- Nairobi means "cool water"
in Maasai.

It's the capital of Kenya with
6.5 million people

living in the metro area.

♪

It grew up around
a British railroad depot

during the colonial era,

halfway between other
British interests in Uganda

and the coastal port of Mombasa.

♪

- I will admit to a weird,
frankly unlovely sense

of been here, done that.

It's not a good look for me,
I know,

but there's a mischievous
curiosity tucked away

in some poisonous part of
my brain

that's dying to see
how Kamau handles the heat,

the spice, the crowds,

the overwhelming rush of
a whole new world,

because that's what it is
first time.

This ain't Berkeley.

- Wah!

♪

- I'm already happy.
- I'm pretty happy

because I've seen this scene
so many times on your show.

I finally get to
be in this scene of

this is gonna be good.

- I mean,
you have a Kenyan name.

- Yes. My parents met in
East Palo Alto, California.

You know, this is like
the late '60s,

starting to be the early '70s,

so post the Civil Rights
movement

but that point where black
people were starting to, like,

really like want a connection
to the motherland.

And in East Palo Alto,
there was this push

towards naming it Nairobi,

Nairobi, California.

Back then, people were like,
we need to be associated with,

like, an example of African
culture that is winning.

At that point, Kenya was
looked at as being winning

'cause they had just
kicked out the Brits,

and there was all this
sort of like, you know,

we need to start a whole new
culture and a new government.

They started, like,
a community college

that's in people's houses
and in basements

and in storefronts.

And I was the first baby born to
one of the heads of the council

apparently,

and apparently, there was,
like, a whole ceremony,

lasted eight days
and, you know, "Ahh."

Like, you know, I picture it
like "The Lion King."

I don't know,
there's no pictures.

♪

- Tilapia from Lake Naivasha

fried, then cooked with
tomato and spices.

Served up right on the bone

with an ice-cold Tusker.

And yet, a proud Kenyan name.

Given your background,
why so long? Why...

What took you so long, man?

- I was waiting for
an invitation,

- the right invitation.
- I mean, what... what...

Was there any concern
you would be disappointed?

- I think as a black American,
I'm still wrestling

with my African-American
identity sometimes,

and I'm still wondering, am
I doing right by this culture

and does this culture think
I'm doing right by them?

That's why I don't want
to walk around like,

"I'm home!"

I also think that, like,
a lot of times blacks in America

heavily struggle with that
aspect of identity.

What does it mean to be
black in America?

I'm like, I fought hard
to claim this identity.

It's exhausting, you know.

Am I ready to start with
a new one? I don't know yet.

- Well, we'll see in a...
- We'll see in a week

when you head back.

- Exactly, yeah.

- Shit runs deep here.

Meaning,
best scientists can tell,

it all started for us
in this neighborhood.

Tribes of hunter-gatherers,

the Bantu and Nilotic peoples,

Arab and Persian traders,

the Portuguese merchants,
the Omani

all left their mark.

♪

But the British Empire's hold
from 1895 to 1964

is perhaps most deeply felt.

The British system of education,

governance, justice, along with,

to a certain extent, its values

were imposed on a native people

and laid, for better and worse,

much of the foundation for
modern Kenya.

It did abolish slavery,
for instance.

It did build
a modern infrastructure.

It was also completely
and fundamentally

exploitative, often violent,

and well, racist,

favoring white settlers,
land owners,

and foreign entrepreneurs
in every possible way.

Kenya existed to make
white people from far away

rich.

♪

But in 1963 Kenya won
its independence

and elected its first president,

Jomo Kenyatta.

And since that time,
has fought an uphill battle

to shake the last vestiges
of colonial rule

while hanging onto what worked.

♪

Things are, by most accounts,
going well.

Today's Kenya is
phenomenally beautiful.

There is a growing middle class,

a highly rated
educational system,

and an enthusiastic

and multilingual
professional sector,

which is to say this is
decidedly not a shithole.

There are poor people here

just like there's poor people
anywhere else.

Kenya is as distinct
and different

from other nations in Africa

as Texas is from Mars,

with its own problems and
its own kinds of awesomeness.

It's dynamic, it's changing,
and it's incredible.

Kenya, by Kenyans, for Kenyans.

But hurdles exist;

bizarre, almost surreal ones,
in this case.

Mitumba, for instance,

also known as the clothing
of dead white people.

- 70% of Africans are wearing
secondhand clothes.

We can just make our own clothes

and make them cheap enough

and make the money
and keep the money.

There's also the issue
of dignity.

We have underwear coming in.
We have...

- Underwear?
- Yeah.

- Like poor people like... like
living in Kibera and stuff...

They wear secondhand underwear.

- It's not cool.
- Well, there's a big market

for that in Japan.

- Oh, but like for
other reasons.

- Njeri Gikera is the owner
of ChilliMango,

and all-Kenyan
street wear company.

Melissa Mbugua is
a managing director

at a creative consulting firm.

As I understand it,

there used to be 500,000
manufacturing jobs in Kenya,

textile manufacturing,

and there's now 20,000.

- Before the '80s, we had
a booming textile industry...

- Right.
- That could employ

500,000 people,
but now in the '80s,

when the [indistinct]
introduced the free trade,

we got all this... all
the secondhand clothes

coming into the country.

Before that, they were
actually for charity.

They were meant for
the poor people.

- Here's how it works.

Your pants or your t-shirt
get old or boring.

So being a good-hearted soul,
rather than throw them out

you drop them in a charity box

assuming they'll go to someone
who needs them.

But no.

In fact, that charity sells
your pants and your t-shirt

along with a whole lot of
other clothes in bulk

to a secondhand clothing
exporter,

a middle man, part of
a billion-dollar industry.

Exporters then sell your stuff
by the container load

to places like Kenya.

Along the way,

millions of dollars are
creamed off in duties.

54 million bucks a year
in the port of Mombasa alone.

The old clothes are then
unpacked, sorted,

and sold in markets
throughout the country.

This low-cost clothing option
has absolutely crushed

the domestic textile market.

Now, some countries in Africa
have said, wait a minute.

This is not good for
our employment situation.

We're not gonna let
this stuff in anymore.

What happened then?

- So then America came
and they told us that

they would have trade sanctions
against us.

- If you didn't take all this..
- Yeah.

- Used clothes.
- Exactly. Exactly, yeah.

'Cause of the free trade
that they... yeah, exactly.

- That's extortion.
- It's pretty much oppressive.

- Yeah, it's bullying.

- It's real colonialism.

- USA! USA!
- Yeah.

- So you design and manufacture?

- Mm-hmm. It's a Kenyan
street wear brand, basically.

So we make hoodies.
We make t-shirts.

- Hoodies?
- Yeah.

- For giants?
- Do you make hoodies for giants?

- Yes. Everyone...
- Everyone's sorted.

- In Oakland where I'm from,
hoodies are kind of a big deal.

So if I was able to go back
with a Kenyan made hoodie,

I'd get a whole Nairobi/Oakland
connection going.

- As screwed up as
the whole situation is,

people do love the
availability of cheap clothes.

And Toi Market is
the place to go

for what in New York City
would be called vintage,

a dense labyrinth of shops
neatly organized by specialty.

- Honey, I brought all the UGGs
back from Kenya.

There's gotta be something
in your size.

- The challenge today is gonna
be finding footwear

for Kamau's
decidedly non-Kenyan feet.

Not to mention mine.

Oh, I need a half size up.

- Oh, nice.
- Here we go.

I had to come to the continent
to find shoes that fit me.

- High five!
- High ten.

- Great.
- Yeah.

- These are 30-34s?

I'll take these for sure.

- Let's just be clear. Some
rich, annoying American person

who bought these,
wore them twice.

- Yeah, yeah.
- And then was like,

- "Ew, they're out of season."
- Yeah.

- Debbie Harry shirt is
kind of cool.

Yeah.

I will take this for sure.

- Here we go. Come on.
- Oh, nice.

- Oh, there... now we're talking.

- Black man in America wearing
a King Kong shirt is not a...

- Oh, yeah, wow.
- Yeah.

I don't know how it goes
over here but in America...

- Turn it down.
- That's a great narc shirt.

- Right.
- That's a great, like,

- "Hey, kids."
- Anyone wanna buy some acid?

- This is just weird enough
and simple enough.

- That is pretty cool.

- I feel like I could,
"Where did you get that shirt?"

"I got it in Kenya."

- Is there a solution here?
- A mix?

I mean, clearly it's good
for some people.

I mean, I don't have
a lot of money

and I'd like a pretty
fresh-looking pair of Nikes,

- this is a good option.
- Yeah.

- I don't think this business
is bad inherently.

I mean, I feel like
these two things seem like

- they could exist...
- Together.

- Together, yeah,
you know what I'm saying?

The States, there's like,
you can buy clothes that are

made in the United States and
you can also go to a thrift shop

- and buy them.
- Yeah, that's true.

- 'Cause I mean, I see those
people who are running

those stalls who are making a
living and I'm trying to, like,

I'm not trying to take
their living away,

but also, yes, those clothes
should be taxed,

maybe they should be
a little more expensive.

- Is there a realistic hope

that the textile industry
would come back?

- There is.
- To me, there is.

Now we have more of the middle
class buying Kenyan made stuff,

- which is...
- Right.

- Like people are "woke."

They want to buy stuff
that's ethically...

- Produced.
- Yeah, exactly.

- Supporting... and supporting
the community.

- Exactly.

You know, China and South Korea,

they didn't leave poverty
or, like, stop being poor

by importing secondhand clothes.

They... they did it by building
all these factories,

being able to export their... the
stuff that they're producing.

So it has to happen
the same way with us.

♪

♪

- ♪ Uh-huh

♪ Yeah, yeah

♪ You can be

- ♪ Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

♪ Oh, I could be something
all the time ♪

♪ I could be something
in the tribe ♪

♪ I could be something
endlessly ♪

♪ I could be something,
I could be something ♪

♪ I could see something
all the time ♪

- Everybody needs a superhero.

In Kibera, Nairobi's largest
neighborhood,

they make their own,

part of a project run by the
Maasai Mbili Art Collective

intended to empower kids
who don't otherwise have much.

- There's a Swahili saying
that says...

Art is the reflection of
the community.

♪

- Well, what we did is
to make art...

We use it as a tool.

♪

- So many stories
have been told about Kibera.

- They're negative stories.
- Negative stories.

- Right.
- Many organizations come here

in Kibera, they shoot videos
and films

talking about AIDS, drugs,
you know,

negative things about Kibera.

- So you have a lot of
documentary crews

that come through here and film
crews that come through here?

- They usually come here.

- So my question... I have
a question. Are we assholes?

- I was waiting for that.
- I feel like an asshole.

- We can talk around it.
- We can talk...

I feel like a white guy
right now,

you know what I mean?

- Kibera is massive.

Around 172,000 people live here.

♪

A sprawling warren of homes,

places of worship,
and small businesses

competing for an edge.

It houses a great part of
Nairobi's labor force.

Meaning no Kibera,
the city grinds to a halt.

- So here,
as a person named Kamau,

- I'm not unique.
- Yeah, yeah.

- Yeah.
- You're very common.

- You're common.
- It's a common name here.

- I've waited all my life
to be common.

- Welcome home. I'll go and tell
our forefathers you are here.

- Thank you, thank you.

- Mammito Eunice is
a comedienne,

Simon Okuku, a musician,

and Jeff Ochieng, once voted
Kenya's funniest person,

are all using art to
tell a new story

about Kibera.

- It started from the challenge
that we had been facing

in this life, like me.

You know, me, I've been
brought up by a single parent.

I used even to engage in
criminal activities.

- Mm-hmm.

- Coming across
my fellow friends

and who have been passing to
church candle

for masses,
we decided to come up with

our organization known as
Kibera Creative Arts.

So to try to teach this
our fellow young people

to make them avoid getting
into these traps

that are set for us.

- Kibera is also ground zero

for what's called around here
the white savior complex,

a focal point for
the more than 12,000

mostly well-meaning
expat aid workers

who live in Kenya.

It's a dynamic that can be
counterproductive.

The salary and employment
discrepancies

can cause a ripple effect
of problems

for native Kenyans.

- Yeah, man.

- Many Kenyans are working on
a grassroots level

to take control of
their own future.

Kibera Creative Arts
being an example.

Artists and performers from
the neighborhood

working to support and develop
local talent.

- What is it like to be
a comedian in Kenya?

How does that...
How does that look?

- It's so hard to make people
laugh in Kenya.

Imagine these are people who
have not paid their rent.

These are people who have
gone without food

- for some days.
- Yeah.

- So they come in angry.
- Yeah.

- Angry and hungry.
- Yeah, yeah, yeah.

- You should take me with this
camera out when I was small.

Now that I'm grown big,
let me be taken by this camera.

- Another reason why we go
onstage and make people laugh

it is a flash that we would
say, "Wow, man!"

♪

- I love to make
more people happy

because there's always
ups and downs in life

but we will always laugh.

- You know, when people see
Mammito performing

and they see all the people
seeing Mammito as a star.

If Mammito is just performing

and she's now a star, I don't
need to go and rob somewhere

to make me a star.

I can use whatever I am
because I think even in Kibera

we have something that
we can show to the world.

♪

- By regional standards, Kenya,

Nairobi anyway,
is particularly tolerant.

Kenya has become a sanctuary
of sorts

for a number of diverse ethnic,
political, and social groups.

♪

One such group with
a steadily growing nucleus

is the LGBT community,

not too long ago, a nearly
unthinkable development.

So you shall never know
this pain or awkwardness,

you know, when I'm doing shows
in the States.

I often found myself,
"So what's it like

being black in America?"

Now you will share my pain,

what's it like
being gay in Kenya?

Kawira Mwirichia, Malcolm Muga,

and Awuor Onyango are members
of To Revolutionary Art Love,

a gay art collective.

Kevin Mwachiro is
a writer and journalist.

- So how... how free can you be?

Like is there...
Are there places in Kenya

where you can walk around
holding hands with your partner?

- You could try, you know.

- Are there places you could go
where it's not an experiment?

- No. I think at all points
it's an experiment.

- So where's the threat from?

Where's it most dangerous?

- I think the violence is...
- Is like from homophobes.

All of it is based around,

like, desire of
the penis, right?

So if you see two women kiss,

it's hot because you think
you can get in there.

- Yeah.
- So like...

- They're just one penis short.

- I'm the one they're missing.
- Yeah, you know.

Like, they need me to
help them out with a dick,

but if you...

- Yeah, there's an abundance.

- And the violence,
like, again is like

lesbians always comes in
the part where, like,

men realize, oh, they're
not attracted to me.

- I've always had this theory
that a lot of the issues

and discrimination that we face

is based on our attitude
towards women.

And so, you know, a straight
man will then come at

a camp gay man
because you're not a man.

You're a woman
and we do not respect women,

and therefore, you know, why
would you want to be like this.

- Yeah.

- Much of the news concerning
gay rights on this continent

continues to be pretty grim.

It should be pointed out

that even being gay is
still illegal here.

But in February of 2018

The Kenyan National Gay
and Lesbian Rights Commission

filed suit to strike down
sections of the laws.

Arguing, well, the obvious:

that they violate
basic human rights.

What happens next?

Well, a lot of people are
holding their breath.

- The fact that
we were in court...

- Mm-hmm.
- People wearing bracelets

with rainbow colors,

my gays are in court.

You know?

And I think that
we queered court that day.

- We did.
- We queered court.

- So if... if the law's
overturned,

what are the larger
implications?

- If we win this case...
- Mm-hmm.

- I... I'm happy and scared
at the same time.

- Yes.
- Yeah.

- Why scared?

- Backlash, obviously.
- Yeah.

- What'll happen,
there'll be people who...

There'll be people
who will be attacked.

- Yeah.
- I mean,

we're moving to an extreme end
of freedom and there'll be hate.

I mean, I want it to happen
so bad.

- Yeah, yeah.

- Can we have pride
on the streets of Nairobi?

- So when you say "pride
on the streets," do you mean...

Like... like I lived in
San Francisco for a long time.

- Yeah, parades and yeah.

- Every year there's
a Gay Pride Parade.

And you're... and you're saying
that's the...

That if you have that then you
know there's been a real change.

- If it happens for us, it'll be
inclusion for every other...

Every other minority
in this country.

♪

♪

- Nine!

Six more!

♪

- Boxing is life.

For example, the first
boxing lesson is stance,

and the importance of stance
is stability.

Also in life,
you need that stability.

♪

Then you have to
protect yourself.

Protecting yourself,

it means protection
from many things.

Peer pressure, all these things

that can weigh you down.

♪

And then there is the jab.

Jab keeps the open [indistinct]

and also opens for an opening
that you can hit hard.

♪

- Analo Anjere is
a rather remarkable man,

a former professional fighter
who established Boxgirls

to train specifically
female boxers.

♪

Is there a moment in the fight
that you're pretty sure

you're gonna win?

- I told them
I already won it in the gym,

so I'm just there to confirm.

- Gotta talk trash.
- Gotta talk that Ali.

- The awesome Sarah Ndisi

is a professional
who trains under him

and also teaches in the program.

- Our vision is create
a world where our girls

can take advantage of
every opportunity

and create opportunities
for other girls.

♪

- And I very much like the idea
of just, you know,

all small girls, young women,

women, being able to kick the
fuck out of men if they have to.

Exactly, yeah.

- What was your journey?
- How did you...

Why did you first
start training?

Did you want to become a
professional from the beginning

or did you make that decision
after a while?

- Okay, my mentor knows, um,
for revenge, actually.

- Revenge?
- Yeah.

It was out of revenge because
one day when I was...

- But she didn't tell me that
was the reason.

- You would have talked to her
first, yeah, yeah, yeah.

- I was waiting for work
in the morning.

♪

And when I was coming back home,
a man just slapped me

and ran away.

♪

That's when I started
having the idea

if I had boxing skills,
the defense skills,

I could have at least saw where
the punch was coming from

and at least defend myself.

♪

- Sarah fought Russian boxer,
Marina Popova,

in 2015, winning the UBO

Inter-Continental Lightweight
division title.

Kenya's first international
boxing title.

She took time off to
have children

and is now back in training
for a return to the ring.

♪

- Did you ever get your revenge?

- I never get my revenge
because I come to realize

that a boxer should have
discipline most of the time.

Most of the time.

♪

- Swahili culture is a deep
part of Kenyan cuisine

born of Indian, Arabic,
and Persian influences,

traders on the Indian Ocean
side of the continent.

This meal is a clear example
of that mix.

♪

Mahamri is a bread
made with cardamom.

Mchicha is
an East African spinach,

a staple green across
Swahili speaking Africa

from Tanzania to Mozambique.

Beans with onions
and coconut milk,

chicken biryani with masala,
ginger, turmeric,

and eggs.

Fantastic.
Beautiful.

- Not a problem.

- Man, honestly,
this looks really good.

- How does it work at your gym?

Do people pay to train?

Or like, you know, do they...
Is there a monthly fee?

Or how do they...

- I train them for free.

- Really?
- Mm-hmm.

- Just 'cause you want to...

help.

- Yeah.

There is... there is
nothing to charge

because there is
nothing they can give.

So we give what we have.

- Mm-hmm.

- And... and because
they have the skills

and we are there, what do we do?

We just train them.

Through the training
some get employment,

some become
professional fighters.

They find their ways.

♪

- Whatever bus you're taking,
it ain't like this.

Crosstown traffic just got
a little bit wilder

and more fun

if you're riding
the friendly skies

of a matatu.

♪

Matatus are privately owned
and operated bus lines

running regular routes,

fiercely competitive
to the point

that owners started making
modifications

in an ever-changing range
of themes

designed to attract
the fickle commuter...

♪

Oh, yeah.

What up, what up, what up,
what up, what up?

- It's not subtle.
- All right, let's do it, man.

Culminating in buses like this,

Mad Max, a rolling,
postapocalyptic,

seizure-inducing party bus.

Just the thing you need
after a hard day's work.

- ♪ Everyone go amok and groovy ♪

- ♪ Move it, move it,
move it, move it ♪

- ♪ Everyone go amok and groovy ♪

- ♪ Move it, move it,
move it, move it ♪

- I'm not trying to dance!

It's making me dance!

I don't actually want to dance!

- ♪ Move it

- ♪ Everyone go amok and groovy ♪

- So what do people want
on their matatu?

What... what do they have to have?

- First of all, you
need to have good music.

The exterior arch
is to be pumping.

♪

- Wide-screen TVs?

- Yeah, TVs, Wi-Fi,
air fresheners.

- ♪ You'll be waiting
all night ♪

- ♪ Everyone go amok and groovy ♪

- ♪ Move it, move it,
move it, move it ♪

- Oh!

♪

- Beers and goat's head soup,
a global classic.

Slow cooked, well, goat's head.

My companion,
Mr. Bell,

unaccustomed as he is
to the ways of Africa,

is new to this dish.

But I don't want to sound
all Colonel Mustard,

but I eat this shit for
breakfast by now,

you know what I mean?

- I hear the words
goat head soup

and I think, oh, it'll be meat
from the goat's head in a soup.

- Oh, goat head.

- That... that explains why I
actually see...

a full-on head of a goat.

- Brian Wanyama Odhiambo is
a blogger, photographer,

and chronicler of
the matatu phenomena.

Lucia Alessandra Murotto is
a legendary conductor.

Katherine Camboon is
the owner of Mad Max.

Honored guest.

- Honored guest.
- Is this eye...

Is this eye I'm eating
right here?

- Soft.

I generously reserve the best
and most tender bits

for my friend, as one does.

♪

I fear, however, that he was
less than enthusiastic,

initially anyway.

Wait till he tries the brain.
He's gonna love it.

♪

- That's my first eye.

- Yeah? All right.
- Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I knew... I knew I'd end up doing
something like that with you.

- Get it over with then.

Yes.

- So you own the business.
- Yeah.

- And how long have you
been in the business?

- Like, five years.

- We want to get into
the matatu business

- in New York.
- Yes.

- I think it would add
some improvements.

- Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

- We need a hot tub.

- Yeah, we need a hot... hot tub.

- What's your theme?
- I already picked mine out.

- See, I'm all about
counterprogramming.

I would do like
the Reese Witherspoon matatu,

a tribute to all of the movies
of Reese Witherspoon.

I'm all about...

I'm all about thinking
outside the box.

- I'm thinking the Wolf Blitz...
- "The Situation Room."

- "The Situation Room" matatu.

This could reinvigorate public
transportation as we know it.

- Especially in New York or L.A.
- where people don't like the bus.

And what does it mean
to be conductor?

They don't just let anybody
be the conductor.

- In this job you need to have
a lot of patience.

Just somebody who's had
a bad day,

they just don't want to pay.

If you don't have patience,
you just find yourself

on top of the moon.

So when you carry people,
you need to...

You need to show them that
it's... it's full of energy.

- They need to know how to get
the people inside their matatu.

- So the whistle
just gets everybody...

- Yeah.
- Jumped up and excited.

- Yeah.

- Like I said, this is
a competitive business.

The matatu can cost up
to 60,000 bucks

to buy and build out.

Rides are only 60 cents,

so to make the money back, you
better get the customers in

and out and coming back

for 100,000 rides
before you break even.

- So can you tell me,
what's it like

growing up as an Italian Kenyan?

- Um...

- I was trying not to say white.

In America, white people get
upset when you call them white.

So I was trying to...

- The challenges I had
as a kid was my hair.

Everyone wanted to
touch my hair.

One thing I love about this job
is that

I meet all types of people,

and I don't look down on them
and they don't look down on me.

That's the best part of it.

- ♪ Everyone go amok and groovy ♪

- ♪ Move it, move it,
move it, move it ♪

- Just wait until
New York City sees

Kamau and my joint venture,

the Wolf Blitzer.

- ♪ Move it

- ♪ Everyone go amok and groovy ♪

- ♪ Move it, move it,
move it, move it ♪

- ♪ Everyone go amok and groovy ♪

- ♪ Move it, move it,
move it, yeah ♪

- ♪ Everyone go amok and groovy ♪

- ♪ Move it, move it,
move it, move it ♪

- ♪ Everyone go amok and groovy ♪

- ♪ Move it, move it,
move it, yeah ♪

- ♪ Everyone go amok and groovy ♪

- ♪ Move it, move it,
move it, move it ♪

♪

♪

- A few hours' drive
from Nairobi,

it's another world.

♪

The Africa of dreams, of films,

the natural world,

but a world
under constant threat.

♪

Lewa Wildlife Conservancy
seeks to address

the problem of keeping
all this alive and safe

without excluding
or marginalizing the people

who've lived here for centuries.

That is a delicate balance.

Man and nature,

how to responsibly care for one

without negatively impacting
the other

in a world of
ever-decreasing resources.

♪

- This is Dave, guys.
- Look at this guy here.

This is Dave the Giraffe.
He's a residential giraffe.

- Hi, Dave.

- Our guide is Karmu Shukiama.

He grew up in
a village near here

and has a deep knowledge of
the wildlife of Lewa.

- Are those termite mounds?
- Termite mounds, yeah.

- So that's filled with
termites.

- That's filled with termites.
- That's horrible.

- A little useless trivia,
in a firefight,

you hide behind one of those it
will provide useful cover.

- It's my first safari,
it's a very specific safari

with an expert and with you
with useless information.

- Yes.
- I paid extra for this.

♪

This is significantly better
than the zoo.

I guess that goes
without saying.

- Yeah.

- For some reason,
I don't know if it's just me,

but I had a negative
connotation of safaris.

I mean, I feel like...

- They used to shoot animals
on the safari.

There's our kind of safari

and then there's the,
you know, Trump Jr. safari.

- Yeah, I think that... I think
I was afraid every time I said

the word that people just,
what are you doing, like...

- No, this is... this is
a good kind of safari.

- Okay, okay, good.
- Good for the world.

- It's 100% good for the world.
- Good for the world.

- So good for
all the communities.

- We need another word
or something.

♪

Are there elephants out here
right now?

- So we have elephants, yeah.

- Have you ever ridden
on top of an elephant?

- No.
- I have done that,

and you know what's another
interesting little factoid?

- Here we go.

- When you're sitting
on top of an elephant,

the sensation,
the tactile quality,

it's like you're sitting
on top of a giant scrotum.

- Oh, wow. Well,
you're really selling it.

Tony's useless safari facts.

♪

- See an elephant?

Right there.

- Oh!

- Oh, yeah.

♪

Even if you see them in a zoo
closer, they're behind bars.

It just doesn't feel connected,

but I feel like
we're right here.

- Yeah, he's actually
going someplace.

- Yeah, he's... he's not just
walking in a circle.

He's actually got a...
He's got stuff to do.

♪

- The fact of the matter is
these magnificent animals

would most likely be gone

without the intervention of man.

♪

People pay a lot of money to
come see these animals.

Without that money,
the overwhelming likelihood

is that they would have been
wiped out long ago.

Particularly this one.

Whoa.
What... what... what...

That's a...

- That's a rhino.
- That's our first rhino.

- Wow!

♪

- The conservancy was set up
specifically

to protect these guys.

Initially a cattle ranch owned
and operated

by the Craig family,
the Kenyan government,

after finally acknowledging
that the rhinoceros

was on the verge of
extinction, asked the family

to set aside some of
their property

to bring all surviving rhinos
here to recover

and hopefully restore
their numbers.

From only 15 animals
a few years back,

there are over 150 of them
today.

♪

Poaching is, of course,
an ever-present danger

to both the animals at Lewa

and the people
who look after them.

♪

Particularly the rhinoceros
whose horn is believed

by wealthy Chinese buyers
to be a strong medicine

with virility enhancing powers.

The reality that the substance
that makes up a rhino horn

is the same as the human
fingernail

does not deter a market

that will pay tens of
thousands of dollars

for a single horn.

♪

With 62,000 acres to cover,

Lewa's anti-poaching program
is necessarily aggressive,

inclusive, and cutting-edge.

Relying on local trackers,

advanced tracking technologies,

and perhaps most importantly,
good community outreach

and intelligence gathering.

If the local people are
not on your side,

you are at
a serious disadvantage.

♪

- So that's a white rhino.

- It's a white rhino?

- That is a white rhino.
- How do you...

- It has nothing to do with
the coloration.

- Okay.

- White was an Afrikaans name
"wijd"...

- Ah.
- Which means wide mouth.

And whoever came to
write about them

[indistinct]
and then they became white.

- You said "white rhino,"
and I was like, ah.

- It's not white.

- I think his dad
might be black.

♪

- Does it look like
you wanted it to look?

- Or expected it to look?

- I mean... no.

I mean, I guess I don't know.

I mean, I grew up as a kid,
you know,

my first images of Africa
were Tarzan, you know.

- Mm-hmm.
- So I don't think I knew

what Kenya, Africa was,
you know?

I mean, I think the expanse of
it is not something...

- Yeah.
- I could be prepared for.

Like, it takes over
the entire horizon.

- What a shithole, right?

What a shithole.

I mean, the other thing
I'm aware of too is,

you know, on this trip is that...

Still that thing about like
not wanting to feel like

I have come home, you know.

- Mm-hmm.
- And yet there is a sense

that there is this
diasporic connection

even though it... I did not
come from Kenya, you know.

It's nice to have
that connection,

even if the frame that the
connection was built through

was colonialism, you know,

even though that's not,
you know...

But it's... it's the good part
of colonialism.

It brings people together.

- I don't know, we should kind
of be compulsive reviewing for...

- Yeah.
- Like, if you ever run

for president, you should... you
should be compulsive reviewing.

- At the very least,
I do think that

a lot of perspectives
will be opened up,

a lot of minds will be changed.

You know, this is on
a very personal note,

like, the idea that
I'm sitting here with you

doing this now

knowing where my life
and career have come,

it's pretty cool.

- That's about as meta
as it gets, right.

- Yeah, no, it's just like
every now and again

I have this, like,
whose life is this?

- I will tell you,

I've got 17
fucking years, okay...

- Yeah.
- And I would...

I... as soon as
the cameras turn off,

and, like, the crew will
be... we'll be sitting around,

we're having a cocktail,

I fucking pinch myself,

'cause I cannot fucking believe
that I live to do this...

- I mean, like...
- Or see this ever

or that I ever would,

because 44 years old
dunking fries,

I knew with absolute certainty

- that I would never...
- Yeah.

- Ever, ever see Rome,
much less this.

- Yeah.

♪

♪

- ♪ Hey

- Looking at some of
our cultures,

we know from where we come from.

Traditionally, you know,

we've had some sort of
conservation culture.

It sort of got eroded.

It's been with us,
it's been with our forefathers.

We just lost it
somewhere recently,

and we're trying to get it back.

♪

- When you have traditional
pastoral communities

under intense
and immediate pressure,

trying to convince them
that wildlife

which can, as in the case of
one rhino or elephant,

bring in life-changing amounts
of money,

it's a hard thing to
convince them

that it is in their long-term
interests to let them live.

Particularly when it was often
wealthy white outsiders

doing the asking.

- If you were very successful in
managing this ex-cattle ranch

as a conservancy, but wildlife
across Kenya as a whole

had no future, then to all
intents and purposes

you just established
a zoo, a large zoo.

And so what Lewa's ethos
has always been

is to show Kenyans that actually
wildlife can have value

and benefit.

- Mike Watson is the CEO of
the Lewa Conservancy.

Tom Lalampaa leads
the Northern Rangelands Trust

Faith Riunga is the head
of education at Lewa.

And Wanjiku Kinuthia is
the head of communication.

♪

You're responsible for
a larger picture

involving a huge challenge,
first, the immediate needs

of a lot of people,

but also potential
conflicts with

the traditional way of life.

How have you been able to do
what you've been able to do?

- I was brought up in a very
strong pastoral background

who really aren't anything
about conservation,

really aren't, because one,
we had the perception

that this is a government thing,
this is about grabbing our land.

- And it probably
doesn't also help

that a lot of that land is
owned by white people, right?

Somebody else is
owning our land.

- Initially.
- Okay.

- That was our perception that
conservation was being driven

by the white, and so it's not
about the communities.

It's not about us,
it's about them.

But you know, gradually,
we came to realize that

the approach that was
being introduced

was a community approach.

- Going back the ten years back,
there was one girl

who made it to high school.

And she's speaking English,
she's dressing up,

and the other girls are like,
you know what?

I'd like to be her.

And the more and more and more
they've seen

go through high school,
graduate, slowly by slowly,

they get to see the value
themselves.

Education works very well.

- Are there efforts for
the people in the community

who couldn't afford
to come in here

to sort of see what's
going on in here

so they can have
a further buy-in?

- Yeah. We have a conservation
education program here

where over 3,500 schoolchildren
can come onto Lewa

free of charge, go around,
get to see wildlife.

'Cause you know, unless you can
afford to go to national parks

- or... or to places like Lewa...
- Yeah, yeah.

- Then you definitely wouldn't
have the opportunity

to interact with wildlife.

♪

- So we're headed
towards the lions,

is that what we're doing
right now?

♪

- So now you can see at
the peak, you can just see

something sticking there.
That's a lion sitting.

- Oh, yeah, I see,
right next to the little tree.

- Wow.

Whoa.

♪

- Wow, there's a bunch of them.

- If we're lucky,
they might come down the hill.

- That's lucky?

We define luck
in different ways.

♪

- They seem to be having
their eyes on something.

♪

- Oh! Look, look.

- He's gonna go left,
so we have...

- Oh, jeez, oh!

Hi, how you doing, lion?

♪

So the lion is about...

like 30 feet from us or so.

♪

- Look, look, look, look.

♪

- My family, I love you.

That's just in case.

♪

♪

- Just outside the borders of
Lewa Conservancy

is a Maasai village known as
the Il Ngwesi Community Range.

They're working with Lewa

to not only embrace conservation

but also to maintain
their way of life.

- In a very Maasai
traditional way

we've got our diet, which is
meat, blood, and milk.

At least once in a while
they do blood tapping.

♪

- To the Maasai,
the cow is a sacred animal,

giver of all things.

Unlike the West, meat is not
the primary interest.

Here, cattle are sustainable,

a long-term asset,

for milk, for cheese,
and on special occasions,

blood

straight from the tap.

Okay, here we go.

♪

- Whoa!
- Oh.

- All right, well done.

- Well done.

- Annoying as hell for the cow,
no doubt,

but decidedly not fatal.

It might, however, prove fatal
for my colleague Kamau

who, unlike me,
has never experienced

this local beverage.

A warm jet of arterial blood
into the gourd.

Add some thick, clotting milk,
also from cow,

shake, and down the hatch.

- Would you like to have a sip?

- Yes. Sure.
- Perfect.

- Just straight from here?
- Yeah.

- All right, here we go.

- I can take the next.

- Are you gonna try?

- Kamau, you're gonna like it.
- It's good.

It's so delicious.

And keep in mind, the whole
village is watching

and you're on TV.

- I'm home.
- Yeah.

♪

- Makes you strong.

- Yeah.

- Well done.
- Thank you.

Thank you.

♪

- Working with the local
Maasai community

is both an absolute necessity

and the right thing to do.

To displace and forever
disrupt the people

who've lived here forever

in favor of animals that
wealthy white people

want to take pictures of

would be hideous
and unconscionable.

- [speaking native language]
together: Hey.

- [spekaing native language]
together: Hey.

- This is happening elsewhere
on the continent

but the people at Lewa
and Il Ngwesi

are working very hard to
find a better path.

- [speaking native language]
together: Hey.

- [speaking native language]
together: Hey.

- [speaking native language]
together: Hey.

- [speaking native language]
together: Hey.

♪

- He's saying the meaning of
the word Il Ngwesi

is the people who survived,
you know,

by hunting of the government.

- And hunting wasn't what
we understand of hunting today.

It was hunting for survival,
for food,

not for business,
not for selling...

- Trophies.
- Trophies and stuff.

- Jonathan Kip is
a Maassai chief.

Lela Kenyaha is
a Maasai elder here

at Il Ngwesi.

Was this an easy
or a difficult transition

or was it imposed from outside?

- The transition first is
when the poachers

or the sport hunting
was happening.

We... we think it was
a Western idea...

- Yeah.
- Or Eastern or whatever.

And we were not benefited a bit

until when an idea
came from Lewa

and said, well, we can... we can

here in wildlife conservation
for the future of this land,

conserve land, for the future...
Future generations.

I think they did what
we said, you know,

teach a person how to fish
instead of providing a fish.

So they taught us how to fish,

introduced us into
wildlife conservation.

And from there, we are not being
driven by Lewa anymore

or any white person or any NGO.

Lewa is still a great,
great neighbor.

- Right.
- So we need each other,

but we don't need to...
We're not really dependent

of each other anymore.

We... we value the game,
we value the animals,

and we know where
we're heading to.

Together:
[chanting]

- And just like that,
after months of drought

throughout Kenya, rain.

- I was told since
I'm Kamau from America,

- I brought the rain.
- Right.

- Yeah.
- Well done.

- The bringer of rain.
- Thank you.

- If there was a Maasai...
- A Maasai paper,

today would be...
The headline would be...

- Rain.
- Rain.

- Yeah.

Together:
[chanting]

- Whoo!

♪

- Who gets to tell the stories?

This is a question asked often.

The answer in this case,
for better or for worse,

is I do, at least this time out.

♪

I do my best.

I look, I listen,

but in the end,
I know it's my story.

Not Kamau's, not Kenya's,

or Kenyans'.

Those stories are yet
to be heard.

♪