Leaving the days of handheld recorders behind me, I was excited to land in Nairobi! I'd finally bought myself a Mix-Pre 3 and was ready to go full stealth.

At this point, I had enough experience recording and traveling, I anticipated arriving, maybe taking a day or two getting my bearings. Figure out the currency situation and food. Then explore. Listen. Record.

I hadn't anticipated the concrete brick and security guards surrounding every building. Public or private. Being accustomed to the tall alleyways in Hong Kong, or hidden courtyards in European cities, my access felt extremely limited. What was I going to record?

When a friend suggested the Nairobi Arboretum for recording, I took it. African flora and fauna is what I expected. And a good opportunity to get my bag setup in order (I was in the middle of adjusting when I stumbled on the scene of this recording. Please forgive the water bottle crinkling).

Glossolalia. It's a term I hadn't anticipated learning on this walk.

According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary glossolalia is a profuse and often emotionally charged speech that mimics coherent speech but is usually unintelligible to the listener and that is uttered in some states of religious ecstasy.

And that's exactly what you will hear.