Kenya

26th June 2004

We wake early to the sound of many different birds and watch lazily as the Germans repair the puncture. We pass the dusty track to Kenya disappearing into the bush and stop in Illeret for passport stamps, some bread and half an hour trying to get nine beers for an empty Dashan beers and crate – we get five and buy nine. Back to the ‘road’ to Kenya for some serious off-roading through deep sandy riverbeds, under thorn trees and untracked bush trying to follow a single track left days before by German biker. We stop at a dome hutted village and ask which country we are in! We are in Kenya! The border was none existent apart from two bare-chested local girls ‘bouncing’ up and down waving frantically – Gunter obviously stopped for photographs. We stop at a police hut in the next village, register our presence and are told to go to Times Tower in Nairobi for immigration and customs. On we go to enter Sibiloi National Park and see large and small buck and various large birds. Combining our extensive knowledge of birdlife (!), we identify two of these to be the female Abyssinian ground hornbill and the Eastern chanting goshawk. At the park office on the north shores of Lake Takana, we see herds of zebra, pay the 15USD each for the park but refuse the further 8USD camping fee. We drive out of the park and camp on a stony, volcanic ridge for a very windy night.

27th June 2004

Up early at 7am after a max of three hours sleep and set off before the Germans passing through North Horr and stopping at the southern tip of the lake at Loiyangalani. The drive is slow along a stony track through a volcanic shower terrain of black boulders. After five hours of bumping and scraping, we reach the village and find the recommended El Molo campsite, decide not to stay and drive to the waters edge and find shelter behind a derelict, roofless building. On finding the rear lock was seized with dust and removing the rear seats to gain access into the back, we sit around the building and relax. Ranger sets up his hammock, I wander around the water playing with the camera and snapping birds. Later, Claus and I take a ride with a fisherman and friends in his wooden boat whilst they lay nets in a semi circle from the shore as the sun sinks into the water. Back on terra firma, I help pull in the net whilst Claus fishes from a rock. The net hauls in twenty-five fish, Claus brings home two! We buy three more fish from the kids and cook a feast of rice and fresh fish on a fire in the roofless ruins with shadows from the flames jumping from wall to wall. The wind is too strong to erect the roof tent; Ranger decides to sleep under the stars, I opt for the warmer Toyota of the Germans and try to get comfortable on the wooden slats in the back.

28th June 2004

I wake at 5am dying for a ‘jimmy riddle’ and see stars – the roof of the Toyota is down and the Germans have gone - I realise I am staring out of the open sky light and the lads, who were forced to join Ranger outside due to the winds increasing, had failed to wake me up. We set off south along the lake on a very rocky track passing through South Horr and other villages. We see some very tribal people donning some huge earrings ‘inside’ their lobes, large bead necklaces around painted necks and wearing bright clothes. The road worsens to steep rock inclines, impossible in the wet, the landy performs superbly. We reach the hill town of Maralal and set up camp in the grounds of the Yare campsite out of town. We sink our first bottle of Tusker whilst waiting for the Germans and then have a huge meal of beef stew and mashed potato! We sit in the bar. This place symbolises the end of our ‘challenge’ through North/East Africa and the start of our ‘holiday’ south.

29th June 2004

After a heavenly breakfast of bacon, eggs, sausage and toast and a trip into town to the bank, market and to fill up, we drive off towards Mount Kenya in the east. We reach the equatorial town of Nanyuki and laugh at the various brightly painted shops ranging from the Equator Butchery to the Equator Hair and Beauty Salon. We excitedly look out for a huge sign marking the Equator and are gutted when we fly pass a tiny, round sign reading ‘this sign is on the Equator’ – oh well. We cross THE EQUATOR at 3pm BST and boot it down the straight road towards the cloud-covered mountain. We stop at the River Lodge to the west of Mt. Kenya and find the campsite. The hotel with its pool and tennis and squash courts is tempting but at 90USD is slightly over budget! We hit the bar and sip beers whilst thrashing the lads at a Commonwealth vs Germany pool match; Gunter unfortunately being the weakest link! After more lagers, we eat and climb up to the freezing roof tent. I try and sleep clutching my bloated, aching belly – I am defo not a lager drinker – I want Tetleys !!

30th June 2004

After the boozy evening, the clouds from the mountain have moved from the peak into our heads. We drive the 175kms of potholed tarmac into Nairobi. Every vehicle is either a minivan or a brightly coloured bus. We find Times Tower for immigration and customs and have to push through hundreds of Kenyans to get the information desk – it is the last day for tax returns! As expected, the office in another building. We eat fish & chips with workers and school kids on lunch break and find Nyayo House, which is closed till 2-45pm. We decide to fetch the car and ask to park it in a Shell garage for a maximum of 40 minutes. Two hours later, after getting passports stamped and eventually getting the Carnet stamped back in Times Tower, after walking from wing to wing and riding up and down in the lift, we meet Ranger’s friend, Shaylagh, at the car. We follow him to his one-bed lad’s ‘hut’ in the garden of a large house in the green, wealthy suburb of Lavington. We drink beers and chat before being driven out of town to a superb restaurant for fillet steak and lamb cutlets! We sit and chat with one of Shaylagh’s lady friends, Irish Rachael, and phone Nicky Sanders back in the UK to persuade her to fly out tomorrow to join us all in Uganda. We drive back and sleep. Again, I lie on my back clutching my bloated, aching pot of a belly dreaming of a smooth pint of Tetley; this fizzy nats’ p*ss sucks!

1st July 2004

Up early watching Wimbledon highlights and gloating as Shaylagh heads off too work. We do an update and name all our birdlife photos while the house-help cleans the mud and dust covered car inside and out, doing a sterling job. We meet Shaylagh in the early afternoon and email off the latest update from his office. After a quick lunch next door, we sit at separate desks amongst the employed and check emails. It feels funny to be back in an office and after Ranger finishes up and retires to the car, I sit behind the laptop, in grubby shorts and shirt, with smartly dressed professionals floating past my desk heading home – they look down bemused at this casually dressed stranger blatantly thinking I’m one of their technical support geeks and fixing the laptop! On the way home, we stop at a supermarket for provisions and find it extremely hard not to fill the trolley with biscuits, crisps and booze. We eventually find the Red Lion clubhouse at Shaylagh’s rugby club and join him and his teammates for beers. After copious amounts of Tusker and Vodka cokes being continuously handed over the bar by their barman, ‘Ball hair’, we leave the club at 1am. After immediately getting lost outside the clubhouse and getting grounded on an invisible tree stump, Ranger & I then make the decision that the night is still young and hunt for the Green Bar in the centre of town. We’d read about this ‘rough locals bar’ in Swahili for the Broken-hearted and eventually found it. We sat down with an old grey-bearded man surrounded by younger girls, obviously on the game (the girls, not the old man!), and sipped a vodka poured from a sachet with coke. We decide it was best to leave after the old man gets shirty when Ranger takes a photo of him. Amazingly we managed to get home and after filling the hut of a comatosed Shaylagh with burnt toast smoke, we fall into the roof tent at 4am.

2nd July 2004

Getting up at 11am with glazed eyes was a struggle. After fifteen coffees, I organise more photos on the laptop while Ranger cleans some of the food boxes outside. We drive to a bank to get dollars and crawl back home to eat hotdogs and curl up and die. I feel dreadful and manage to change the air filter before having a rather late shower. Shaylagh goes off to play nine holes. At 7pm, Ranger leaves me moulded into the sofa still feeling like death, and goes to meet Shaylagh at the golf club for beers before a huge open-air party in the suburb. After more hotdogs and some TV, I pass out on the sofa pretty quickly, waking three times in the night to the sound of a mozzy nibbling on my ear and no sign of the lads.

3rd July 2004

Awaking at 8am reveals still no sign of the lads and the car! I shower and wait for them; it must have been a huge one! The sun is shining and the plan was to leave early with Shaylagh and Irish Rachael for Nikuru National Park – I hope they arrive soon. Shaylagh returns shortly after Ranger, looking rough – it was a large one. Ranger apparently put the tent up in the field at party; alas he cannot remember doing so. We drive in convoy to the small town of Nakuru, stopping for provisions and then the National Park. After failing to fake being residents and hence a cheaper entrance fee, we pay the 30 USD + 10 USD camping fee and enter the park. Immediately we see baboon, buffalo, zebra, buck, giraffe and white rhino, not mentioning the abundance of birdlife, which we are quickly getting in to. We find the Falls campsite, jump into Shaylagh’s Freelander and drive to lake seeing flamingo and pelican. As the sun sets, we drive back to camp, light a superb fire and eat pasta gazing into the flames and chat.

4th July 2004

Independence Day and apparently the start of the Wilderbeest migration from the Serengeti into the Masai Mara. We planned to be up at 5am to go cat hunting but awake at 7.30am and have a quick coffee to warm us up – it is frigid. We drive into the park and see a Secretary bird (snake catcher), more baboon and birdlife, unfortunately no cats. We head back to camp and sit around reading. I practice some chipping into the washbowl and the baboon pinch three golf balls. Ranger fetches the pineapple, looks up and is being charged at by a large male baboon. The baboon jumps at him and missing the fruit as he throws it to me. It bounces, I miss it as the baboon quickly changes direction, charges at me, grabs the pineapple and returns to his family for lunch – thieving b*stard. At 4ish, Shaylagh leaves for home and we drive in search of leopard, unfortunately failing to see any. Back at camp we build a fire and eat.

5th July 2004

Up at 5.30am. After 10 minutes into the hunt for cats we see a female leopard sitting on the track. She hides in the bush calling. In a panic we frantically snap shots as her cub darts into the road and stops in front of us – awesome. We drive around the park seeing more game. Back at camp we relight the fire, Ranger writes his diary, I change the rear brakes. We set off to reach the main gate by 2pm, our exit time. On the hill out of the camp the engine splutters and power is lost. We freewheel back into the camp and lift the bonnet. The engine idles fine but splutters on medium/high revs. After changing the possibly choked fuel filter and bleeding the fuel system, the problem seems to be cured and we continue out of the park stopping in town for lunch. We drive the 180km to Eldoret to find the Bradt guide recommended Nairberi River campsite. After our best camp dinner so far, we head to bar and enjoy the game photos on the laptop.

To see the pics, click here!-------> Photo Link!