Nairobi went into security lockdown on Friday as Barack Obama returned to his ancestral home of Kenya for his first visit since becoming president of the United States of America.
Air Force One touched down in the Kenyan capital just after 8pm, and Mr Obama was met on the tarmac by the country’s president Uhuru Kenyatta and a local drumming band complete with grass skirts.
A crowd of Kenyan gov officials, journalists and airport staff surge forward to greet Obama on this historic visit. pic.twitter.com/zvYL0lKeoe
— Aislinn Laing (@Simmoa) July 24, 2015
Mr Obama waved to the ululating crowds assembled to welcome him “home” to his father’s birthplace, before climbing into his bullet-proof limousine that has been named The Beast for its ability to withstand virtually everything but a nuclear attack.
Meanwhile along the Mombasa Road to the airport, a thoroughfare usually clogged with traffic from dawn until dusk but on Friday night eerily empty of cars, American flags fluttered in a faint breeze.
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