kenya2

Day twenty (continued)

We managed the border formalities without problem though there was a bit of shagging around waiting to get processed. One thing you have to come to terms with when visiting Africa is the time simple things take to get done. It is like things are in slow motion a lot of the time. We constructed a model to get the correct time in Africa. Africa time = normal time * 2.5.

The rest of the day was spent driving into Kenya and we eventually stopped for the night at Elgon's View Lodge. Mt Elgon (where Ebola started) is in sight. We had a few beers and the locals cooked us dinner. There was no cutlery so it made for an interesting time, considering the menu was Chicken, potatoes, rice, peas and spinach....with gravy. It's not easy eating that lot with your hands I can tell you.

Day twenty one

In the morning, we headed into Kitale, a reasonable sized town, to get provisions. Craig, Paul, Ted and Darren the driver were all feeling sick, so they were all checked out by the local hospital. They all tested positive for malaria. Everyone was then tested and charged 100 Shillingi. However the test was only for a local strain, so was next to useless. The only helpful thing out of the whole debacle was that Darren was now called Malaria Darren to avoid confusion between him and me.

After getting provisions from the local market we headed due north in our quest to find Lake Turkana (otherwise known as the Jade Lake because of its colour). One thing to remember when delegating tasks like getting food, is to make sure that the girls do not get sent to buy meat. I am not being sexist. This is the experience of the drivers who have seen it happen over the years. The butchers is not like a normal butcher's shop in places like the UK, America and Australasia. There is no refrigeration system in place and the meat is hung on hooks in shop windows to attract business. The only problem is they also attract a multitude of flies. So, always send the men to get the meat if you don't want be a vegetarian the whole trip. Men (in general) can turn a blind eye to certain things when it comes to matters of the stomach.

We arrived at Marach Pass late afternoon and stopped in a field study centre at the bottom of the pass to camp for the night. It poured down with rain as we were preparing dinner so we had to put the tarpaulin up in a big hurry. I got a little damp to say the least and didn't need a shower. Paul and Cath were on dinner duty and did a good job with all our new food. We even had Bread and Butter pudding for dessert.

Day twenty two

We weren't travelling anywhere today so it was a well earned sleep-in. After breakfast we went on an excursion to a local village market. They were very primitive and definitely not touristy. Everyone was buying gourds and little seats for novelty items. The local fill their own gourds up with goats milk and blood for their own nourishment needs. The village was also a good place to get Masai Mara rugs and cheaper than in other areas we visited.

We had fun trying to get back to our campsite as the Whale got stuck getting up a hill on the road out of the village. A part of the road actually collapsed. We managed to build the road back up with rocks and dirt and we got the Whale out.

That night we saw another wicked thunderstorm with awesome lightning. Or as Pete would often say on the trip, "Sensational Trev!" Craig was unlucky that night as he pitched his tent in an area which attracted water in vast quantities. Corey and me had learned from earlier in the trip and our tent didn't get washed away. Yeah!

Day twenty three

It was back to the early starts again and we headed off to Lake Turkana bright and early. Along the way we picked up three Kenyan soldiers for an escort as Northern Kenya was a bit of a dodgy area for tourists. They sat at the back of the truck smoking away but didn't speak much English so we couldn't really engage them in a riveting conversation.

We dropped the soldiers off after about an hours' driving. The landscape was steadily changing shape and starting to turn into desert. Another first for me. We stopped off at a village to get some provisions. We couldn't find any bread which was disappointing. The locals in most villages we experienced would flock around the truck when we arrived to try and sell us all sorts of things, but mostly samosas. Some places were better than others at making samosas. We were samosa gourmets by the end of the trip so we should know.

After a bit more driving we headed off the main road through the desert. We were now following a sandy track and were not that far from the lake. We stopped in the desert for lunch. This was the part that Rob thought the Whale was going to get beached. We had long metal planks on the roof (sand mats if you want to get technical) for the truck to drive over if we got stuck but we hoped we wouldn't need them.

The road was getting really bumpy as we made our way through the sandy dunes.The Whale went over a really big bump and poor Michelle bore the brunt of it. She had been sitting at the back having a smoke and landed badly on the edge of the seat. She was really badly bruised for the next few days.

We sighted the lake and then suddenly we went into Date Palm trees and white sands. We had finally arrived at Eilye Springs, our own little oasis for the next three days. We had a look around the amenities, which included an outside shower Robinson Crusoe would have been proud off. There was also a swimming pool which was a dodgy looking colour, but we decided it was the algae on the bottom of the pool which was responsible.

I went out to the Lakes edge and was accosted by the locals. I bought 2 small woven baskets off a topless local (as you do) and back at the camp I purchased a hammock which was going to be a vital piece of equipment over the next few days. I tied the hammock up between two palm trees and stretched out in one before dinner.

The temperature had gone up a few degrees during the night but wasn't too bad.

Day twenty four

It was around 30 degrees celsius by 6am so everyone was up early at the oasis. I got my mattress out of the tent and stuffed it in my hammock to increase comfort. I was reading Wilbur Smith at this point of the trip. For those people who haven't read Smith, all of his novels are set in the African continent so the places mentioned in the book take on more relevance when you are in Africa yourself. He also spins a damn good yarn. I think I read Elephant Song and The Seventh Scroll during the trip.

Everybody chilled out during the day. We swam in the pool, played water basketbal....sort of. We had fish for dinner caught out of the lake. The dinner was quite formal set at a table with candles etc, and there was cold beer! Bliss!

Day twenty five

Today was much like the previous one with some serious chilling out in process. There was more swimming, reading, sleeping etc. In the evening the locals provided some entertainment with a cultural dance for our viewing. There was also a great sunset to view that evening and it caused the lake to change colour quite remarkably.

Day twenty six

It was time to pack up and leave our oasis. Rob wanted us to walk out a bit of the way as he was still worried about getting stuck.Rob said that he would kiss the Whale if we got out okay. Luckily there were no problems.A couple of the locals at the Springs hitched a ride to the nearest town on the main highway.

We drove a long way that day covering a fair portion of the Rift Valley. It was a day of contrasts, as we went from a desert environment to a green forest setting. The temperature also dropped markedly as we climbed higher and higher out of the desert region, to the point that we had to resort to wearing sleeping bags in the back of the truck as nightfall approached.

We eventually arrived at the Nairebi Overland Camp at around 8pm. We pitched our tents and then had dinner in the "Crazy Pub". This campsite is set on somebody's farm and the pub is a series of rooms made up of wood and hessian sacks and thatch and grass with areas not quite completed. The inside walls are covered with murals made by all the visiting overlanders, so one of our tasks would be to make our own mural before leaving.

After sausages and samosas for dinner that we bought from the bar, we had a few drinks before retiring. Everyone was exhausted from the day's travelling.

Day twenty seven

Corey and me were on breakfast and we went all out this time with sausage, bacon, eggs, hashbrowns, and toast, which went down well with everybody. In the afternoon, we went on a guided walk to a nearby forest where Colobus Monkey could be found. We could see them in the distance but couldn't get close enough to get a decent photo as they would jump from tree to tree. Our guide seemed to like crossing streams all the time which was a bit of a hassle.

At dinner, Corey and me tried to make rice pudding to use up some of the excess rice we had. There was a mixed response on the final product. You win some, you lose some.

That evening we drew up the mural (see left). I designed the logo and title. Craig and Max did the borders and everyone wrote a little inscription on the mural which was supposed to represent something that had happened or had been said on the trip so far.

It turned into a late night and Craig had spewed again by evening's end.

Day twenty eight

Today we continued our southward path and arrived at Lake Nakuru National Park by lunchtime. We had lunch at the entrance and the local monkeys tried to thieve our fish and chips which we had bought at the town shop. One monkey jumped into the back of the truck, and took off with a box of biscuits.

After lunch we drove into the park and were lucky to see Rhino, Leopard and Lion. At one stage we had a lioness roaring on one side of the road and a leopard sitting on a log on the other side. Cameras were clicking all over the place.

The rhinos came quite close to the road and at one stage a yellow VW Combo Van had a Rhino poking its big head only a few feet away. They would have got some great shots. We drove out onto the lake as far as Rob would dare, as he didn't want to get stuck. We then walked out as close as we could get to the thousands of Pink Flamingos before the ground started sinking under our shoes. I needed to have a bigger lens to get a decent shot. This was the lake they used in Out of Africa for the Flamingo scene.

We made our way up to Baboon Hill to overlook the lake and get some good photos. We met a brazen Baboon there who liked to sit on the seats and show everybody all his bits. Some of the crazier members of the trip got quite close to the ape to get their photo taken with him. Even though he seemed quite used to contact with people, I had read somewhere that Baboons have a vicious bite and looking at the size of his fangs when he yawned, I decided discretion was the better part of valour. Luckily there was no drama for the others.

We made our way out of the Park and drove south another hundred kms to Lake Naivasha and set up camp for the next couple of nights.

Day twenty nine

There were quite a few optional excursions to do at Lake Naivasha. Some of the team went on a lake cruise to see the Hippos that live on the shores. Corey and me were feeling a bit more energetic than that and we hired bikes to go into nearby Hell's Gate National Park. Unfortunately my bike seemed to have only one gear and it was hard going uphills. We rode through the Park looking for the Gorge which was supposed to be the main area of interest because of the hot springs and hot pools at the end of the gorge (hence the name Hell's Gate).

After passing a few antelope and zebra etc, we found the entrance to the gorge and left our bikes with the ranger at his nearby office. The gorge was beautiful and we walked through it for a while. Corey was in front and almost stepped on a green snake which was sunning itself in the middle of the path. He jumped backwards, almost knocking me over as the snake slivered off into the undergrowth. I don't now my species of snake that well so I don't know whether it was venomous or not.

Having been alarmed by the snake, we had the wind put up us further by the nearby bellows of a water buffalo. We couldn't see the buggar anywhere so didn't know if we were going to walk into its path or not. I had read about rogue buffalos that track people and then circle in front of them before charging them when they come into sight. This memory raced through my mind at that point and I became super cautious. Luckily the bellowing seemed to become more distant as we walked further into the gorge and we relaxed somewhat. The gorge narrowed into an area only a few metres across with very high walls. Water was also cascading down the walls from a source high up. I touched the water and was pleasantly surprised to find that it was quite warm. Nature's own hot shower.

While I am on the subject of showers, get used to going days with out having one, and when you do get to have one, it is invariably cold ( ice cold in some places). A warm shower is a true luxury when you are an overlander.

We walked along the gorge for about another half hour but hadn't found all the hot pools at this stage. We had to turn back and return to camp as the group was going to visit Joy Adamson's place ( Born Free) in the mid afternoon. We met up with the others at the lake and walked up to the house which was further round the lake on one of the main roads.

When we arrived they sent us to a screening room to watch a documentary on Joy's achievements before having had her life end tragically. After that there was afternoon tea put on which was tea and cakes. We sat out on the back lawn, which overlooked the lake and while we were there they fed the local Colobus Monkeys. This time we saw them up close and they are very striking with black and white colouring and little old man beards.

A few of us thought we would be funny and try hitchhiking back to camp and lo and behold a pickup truck pulled over less than 5 minutes after hanging our hand out. We waved to the others walking as we sped past them on our free ride.

The camp was really noisy that night with some other campers owning a guitar in their group. Rob pulled out his guitar which he had in the cab and Paul and Dan had turns playing old songs that they knew on the guitar. This was the first time Rob had mentioned his guitar on the trip, and now that we knew we had some guitar players, the rest of the trip would involve a lot more singalongs around the camp fire.

Tomorrow we would be back in Nairobi and we would lose about half of the group who had only signed on for the first 4 week leg. But we would also gain the same amount of new recruits who had signed on for the second 5 week leg of the trip.

Day thirty

We drove the rest of the way to Nairobi and arrived around lunchtime. This time I checked in at a place called The Moreland's where a lot of the others were staying, and it was a lot nicer than Sirona. We said goodbye to Suzie and Lisa who were going to Lamu, a nice beach resort on the Kenyan coast north of Mombasa.

A few of us went to the Thorntree Cafe in the city centre. We got a bit flustered with the waiter as when Heather ordered a Greek Salad off the menu, they had to go down the road to get some cheese. It took an eternity to arrive and when the meal did arrive it was Cheddar Cheese rather than Feta Cheese!!

That evening we went to the Sirona Hotel again to meet up with the 5 weekers. The first one we ran into was Jessica, a 19 year old from England. She would be the baby of the trip. Rob had arranged to take us all to the Safari Park Complex for dinner. This place serves all sorts of different meats such as Giraffe, Zebra, Gazelle, and Wildebeest among other things. Wildebeest was my favourite as it was so succulent. I found this a bit surprising as they are scrawny looking things out on the savannah and give the impression their meat would be on the tough side.The complex also have live cultural shows which were very good and very entertaining.

After dinner we went downstairs to the disco for a bit of a wobble. We boogied into the small hours and then said goodbye to Craig, Pete and Kylie.

Day thirty one

Today would be the start of the new leg of the trip which would involve travelling southwards, eventually ending up in Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe. Kim and Kev and Vanessa waved us off. Kev and Van were already booked on a Contiki trip around Europe but had enjoyed the trip so much that they almost came with us. Common sense won the day and they went to Europe.

The new people on the trip were Jess from England; Tara, Justine, Vanessa, Suzie, Heidi, Frank, Tom and Brad, all from Melbourne,Australia; and Jim from the USA. We drove to Tanzania and camped in a similar place to the first leg.

Click here for Tanzania 2.