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Blind Man Roams the Globe: Nairobi

Peter White is blind and explores Nairobi through the sounds of the city.

When Peter White jets, sails or walks into a new city, it is the sounds, not the sights, which assail him. In this programme he explores Nairobi through the sounds of this African city.

Peter鈥檚 job as a broadcaster has taken him all over the world. At first he thought that he was missing out on not being able to see the standard tourist monuments, but when he travels now he has an arsenal of strategies to get to know a place. He listens to local radio, he takes in the sounds of restaurants, travel systems and the voices of the locals.

In Nairobi he finds a city struggling to reconcile expansion and commercialisation with the hit and miss access to disabled facilities and the worries about safety around the city. He is forced to navigate a strange environment without being able to see his way around: 鈥淗aving been born blind, I鈥檝e always travelled blind 鈥 and for me, sightseeing is more a case of 鈥榮ound-hearing.鈥

(Photo: Decorated minisbuses, locally known as Matatu, are seen in the Kenyan capital Nairobi, 2015. Credit: Simon Maina/AFP/Getty Images)

Available now

27 minutes

Last on

Mon 12 Sep 2016 06:32GMT

Broadcasts

  • Wed 7 Sep 2016 02:32GMT
  • Wed 7 Sep 2016 04:32GMT
  • Wed 7 Sep 2016 05:32GMT
  • Wed 7 Sep 2016 06:32GMT
  • Wed 7 Sep 2016 12:32GMT
  • Wed 7 Sep 2016 18:32GMT
  • Wed 7 Sep 2016 19:32GMT
  • Mon 12 Sep 2016 06:32GMT