Day 46 - Tsavo West, Kenya

We woke up quite early and had a quick breakfast as we knew we would soon be invaded again. We asked Steve to go to the village and pay our little guard and bade a fond farewell to Solomon; giving him strict instruction that we couldn't leave Andrea there because what would we do with her second hand shoes?

Solomon would not let us go that easily and caught a lift back to the camp with Steve to say goodbye. We were pretty glad he did as he was such an outstanding individual, we exchanged goodbyes, swopped addresses and promised to come back one day when he was made the chief or better still when he found wife no 3 he would invite us to the wedding.

We did a few hours game viewing back in Amboseli and stopped at the lodge there to send the photos via the wifi and have some tea and cake like proper tourists. We were however looking so scruffy that we were a bit surprised when they let us in. It is interesting to note that one of the largest lodges in Amboseli has closed down so the cattle grazing might be having an effect - who knows.

 We had spent some time the night before pouring over the maps as our plan was to leave Amboseli enter Tanzania and go to Manyara. This meant a 300 kilometer drive there and 300 Km’s back and this was just too much driving for two days at Manyara so, we thought of going in the opposite direction and head out to Tsavo West, only 100 Kms there and less back to Moshi which was our next destination on our way to Dar.

None of us had ever been there so it would be a new place to explore. I did however remember from last time when we were in Tsavo East that there had been a bit of trouble in the reserve and a few tourists had gotten shot..... No! said Ernest that is nonsense. Oh well let's go and see!

So we set off going West instead of East where normal people go!

We left Amboseli and drove on one of our dirt roads that was not too bad and had gone about 30 Kms when all of a sudden we came across a lodge called Amboseli Lodge.... How come was there a lodge so far out of the actual reserve? So we stopped to enquire why, only to find it used to be inside the reserve but with the encroachment of the  Masai and their cattle they had had to move the gate 30 Km s. That really confirmed our fears about the reserves future.

Another 25 Kms of reasonable road and we were stopped with a boom blocking the road manned by the Army. We could go no further unless we took an armed Askari with us. Some tourists had been attacked on this road all be it a long time ago and no tourists were allowed through without an armed guard.

So for the (lost count) number of times I could say I told you so! So we put the Askari with Kim together with his AK47 and set off for Tsavo West. The Askari, whose name was Elliot, insisted that Kim was last in the convoy of cars, he reckoned, if the convoy got hit, he could then move in and shoot the terrorists. Kim was telling us later that he only had 34 rounds in the gun and it was on automatic so one pull of the trigger and zip all the bullets would be gone and we would be defenseless, so he made him take it off automatic and onto single shot... Not that he thought that there was any danger whatsoever. Apparently the last person killed was 10 years ago so we were hardly in any danger, I am sure the Government put the system in place and has just forgotten that the whole system is still in place and they are now just really giving someone a job.

We wanted to stop for some lunch along the way but we were told by Elliot that we weren't allowed to stop and could only stop once we were in the reserve.... All very dramatic but unnecessary I am sure.

The first section of the countryside was terribly overgrazed with the usual huge flocks of sheep, thin cows and goats. Heaven knows what they were eating because there is not a blade of grass or a leaf left on any tree. The tragedy is that it has been so devastated that there aren't any seeds left to reseed the area when it rains.

Then suddenly there was thick grass and beautiful vegetation and we knew we had entered the reserve. The difference was just so startling it was a shock. It seemed obvious that there is some strict policy about not allowing any livestock in this reserve or maybe it is just too far away from any of the settlements for them to get the cattle there.

The landscape was really the prettiest we have seen on our whole trip. There were several little volcanic hills, lots of vegetation and beautiful trees. Then, we hit an area that was just a black volcanic flow of cold molten lava. What a sight, just black gnarled rocks as far as the eye could see with small very green trees popping up amongst the rock. You could just imagine the flow of endless lava creeping over the land as it spread out from the volcano and it is still all there exactly as it flowed a few hundred years ago. It has been dated back to between 100 and 500 years ago so quite a recent volcanic eruption unlike Kilimanjaro which was a couple of million years ago.

We got to the gate, paid our usual fortune, dropped off our Askari and went off to find the camp site. Although it was not right on top of the lava flow there were still big lumps of rocks lying everywhere so it is quite rough on the cars as you bump down the road.  The campsite was of the usual shocking standards. I just don't know how they can unashamedly charge what they do yet not keep up any standards of cleanliness or workability, it is so evident that there is no management whatsoever and they just don't care.

 In all our travels through Kenya, we have not come across one other fellow camper, this is such a change from the past as there were always other guys that we met or saw in the campsites. Now the only guys you see are people that are staying in the lodges and are being transported in those mini busses by local tour operators. The only reason we could do this trip in reasonable comfort is because of the facilities in The Queen that make us so self-contained. The ablution blocks were just not confrontable but there were outside taps and plenty of water and with our big hippo that is fortunately all we need.

We settled in for a great night in the wild, having already seen a fair amount of game on the way in, so we looked forward to hearing hyena and jackal which is so synonymous with the bush.

After dinner Kim went off to the other side of The Queen to get hot water from the outside shower in order to wash the dishes... Ernest, always alert to an opportunity to give someone a fright or play a trick, crept around the truck from the other side and crept up to Kim who couldn't hear him because of the running water. Ernest made a noise like a wild animal right behind him. Kim's reaction was instantaneous, in fact the reaction time of a wild cat, he swung around and threw the hot water over Ernest in a flash. It was so fast that Ernest never even had time to duck. Oh wow at last someone had got him back and it took us at least ten minutes to stop laughing as Ernest appeared looking like a drowned rat.... A warm one at that. Kim had said afterwards, he wasn't sure what was behind him but his only weapon was the water and Ernest got the full bowl, quite sharp really. I think he was as surprised as Ernest was when he saw the drowned rat standing behind him.

Sooooo now the game is on!