21-05-2025
On board the pimped-out buses driving Kenya's new language
Commuters travelling into central Nairobi from the eastern neighbourhood of Umoja pile on to a bus splashed liberally with Canadian red and white flags, medical-masked nuns with machine guns on the side and a gangster Pope Francis bringing up the rear. 'Am I extra or are you just basic?' the Pope's likeness asks passengers.
Inside, a flat-screen TV shows American hip-hop videos, music blaring through speakers as riders sit in plush leather seats.
Manyangas, as these wild, unregulated and ubiquitous buses are known, are cool in a way that London double-deckers never could be. The manyanga holds court over youth culture in Kenya, and conductors — or 'dondas' as they would say — are its kings.
These stylish young transit wardens with silver-capped teeth and
