There may be few things that can be considered to be as characteristic for the exaggeration and hype of Kenyan popular culture and lifestyle as the annual commercialised exploitations and celebrations of Valentine's Day.

Cities sinking in a orgy of bright red, wananchi being rushed to hospitals with clear symptoms of severe colour shock, flower farms sold out with what would be a weekly production already at 7:30 AM (but at triple prices), millions of men flooding millions of women with cheesy presents, men who during the other 364 days of the year could not even be bothered to take the garbage out, let alone to make dinner for her... this cheesy show repeats itself with predictable and boring regularity every year anew.

No restaurant, no luna park, no club without an event; an event that more often than not makes the desert anachoretism of Christian antiquity appear as a rather intriguing alternative in comparison.

But shouldn't Valentine's Day be an occasion for a celebration of love rather than of commerce? Of romance, rather than of glitz & kitsch? Are there no alternative venues (apart from the own bed) to enjoy this day and especially this evening in style and with taste? Why are there no enchanted gardens (Eichendorff or alf laila wa laila, your choice), no damsels with a dulcimer, no sensuous escapades without the remorse when the coloured sugar coating hits your tooth?

Apparently, two ladies asked themselves the same questions. Liz Ogumbo and Sharon Mina Olago, somewhat known as international models and as proprietors of one of Kenya's better modelling agencies (ImaniModels), also use their talent and finely-honed taste for event management. Of events that go quite a bit beyond the Kenyan pattern of mere conspicuous consumption and self-celebration for the invidious gaze of the wananchi.

When we chatted about their quest for a special and out-of-the ordinary Valentine's Day event, while jointly having a bite in the Tamarind, I remained in the appropriate distance of an interested spectator. Ah yes; another outing. So, so... But when I saw what they have now come up with, I was stunned. The following three-page flyer shows us a dream that would be the pride of Paris or Rome; but it is in Nairobi indeed, and can still be booked.

So, spare your flower shillings, forget pralinés or a fake ring or new cuff links for your significant other. Drink your bottle of Krug or Roederer Cristal another time, and put your Valentine allotment to better use. Instead, let me just extend this Invitation au Voyage to you:

                                                                                                  Click here for larger, clearer image of left invitation letter

Mon enfant, ma soeur
Songe à la douceur
D'aller là-bas vivre ensemble !
Aimer à loisir,
Aimer et mourir
Au pays qui te ressemble !
Les soleils mouillés
De ces ciels brouillés
Pour mon esprit ont les charmes
Si mystérieux
De tes traîtres yeux,
Brillant à travers leurs larmes.

Là, tout n'est qu'ordre et beauté,
Luxe, calme et volupté.