Bargaining in Kenya

“Sister! Sister! Come and look!”

To those who are foreign to Kenya’s many market places, having a complete stranger refer to you as part of their family may come as a surprise. Better yet is when multiple voices yell at the same time creating an overwhelming cacophony laden with startling comments aimed at grabbing ones attention. Needless to say, Kenya’s markets are not for the overly reserved.

For those of you who are determined in your struggle to find the best deal there are a couple of key points to bear in mind. Firstly, clear your whole day. Endless hours are needed to battle it out with vendors, conversations will drag on indefinitely often covering a surprising range of topics. One man selling soap stone hippopotamuses, once advised a male friend of mine that in order to find a wife, you must buy a girl Guinness and not Tusker (Kenyan beer) as Guinness is for big spenders and girls like that.  Having been born in Kenya I think nothing of spending entire afternoons negotiating over a pair of earrings, this concept however, seems bizarre to many of my friends who visit from Europe. One of them was so frustrated with the length of the process that he initiated his next purchase with “Will you tell me the price of that and don’t say something ridiculous, I don’t have all day!” Highly amusing attempt but it failed miserably as the confused stall owner took even longer trying to interpret this new approach to haggling.

Second point: look poor. Unfortunately, me being paler than your average ghost comes as a severe disadvantage in the market place. It is automatically presumed that I have travelled from a far away land covered in snow where money falls from the sky. The poor student who lives down the road line doesn’t go down too well. The chances of this being believed diminish further if you are in any way well put together. I would encourage a completely exaggerated impoverished look, if you have to wear shoes makes sure they have holes in it, or better still wear the local bata flip flops that can be picked up in a supermarket for less than a pound.  The more rumbled your shirt is the better and if you could manage a few rips and tears this would help – when it comes down to arguing over the last 50 shillings (35p) you have got to make it believable that is a choice between a new bracelet or food for the day.

Finally, remember your standard market practice. These tricks apply all over the world and Kenya is not different. Learn a few words of Swahili; “hakuna pesa” (no money) and “bei kali sana” (expensive price) are two of the best and can be used in all situations. Always say you have seen the same thing for cheaper a few stalls back and say you will bring friends if you get a discount. There is some debate over the best time of the day to go, I believe it to be much like M & S, you need to go in the evening to get cheap cookies or in this case soap stone hippos!