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!

     

Day 45: Amboseli, Kenya

Somehow I have got all the days muddled but counted up today and it appears we have been traveling for 45 days so far. Sometimes I posted two days in one so maybe that is where my numbers have gone wrong.

So we woke up in Nairobi for my birthday instead of Samburu but oh what the hell, it is not terribly important, only the people that are with you are what really matters. I would love to  have had the kids with us, but I did get all the phone calls, SMS’s and well wishes, so all was good.

We spent the day restocking, washing and generally getting ourselves back together. We realized we were pretty lucky to have escaped unscathed from our night on the road and just generally happy we got to Nairobi before Ken really hit the wall.

 So we were prepared to stay put and go and do the giraffe house and the baby elephants again but we just got too busy fixing and cleaning that we never got there.

Steve literally spent the whole day going over the truck and fixing the indicators that had conked out on the trip from Marsabit and the gearbox which seemed to be losing oil. Ernest has gone over a tree (which I had told him not to go over!!!!) which damaged the solenoid switches that operated the low range and four wheel drive. Thank goodness we have someone who can at least figure out what needs fixing.

Ken seemed to be in high spirits, all the tests showed that he just needed minor surgery so he was scheduled for Monday with a doctor that he was quite confident knew what he was doing. The new plan was that we would continue down to Dar Es Salaam via Amboseli and Manyara in Tanzania and Ken would have his surgery, recover for a few days and then he and Rouvierre would fly to Dar and meet us there. Steve would drive Ken’s car so he didn't have to drive for the next 10 days which would give him time to recover fully before having to drive again.

Ernest did go scouting around and found the most gorgeous hotel, Hemmingway’s, and as a surprise for my birthday the girls were told to put on their best clothes and off we went to dinner.

Oh my gosh what a beautiful hotel. It is so nice to have a break like that from the truck and especially Karen’s camp which I would quite happily never see again.

                                 Hemmingways

 

After two days at this camp we had truly had enough of Nairobi and we decided we would go mad if we stayed for another minute let alone another day, so we bade a fond farewell to Ken and Rouvierre and we headed for the bush again. We knew he was in good hands and the sooner we set off again the sooner we would get to Dar where he and Rouvierre would rejoin us.

The trip out of Nairobi was quite uneventful and believe it or not the GPS worked perfectly and Ernest just followed my instructions and we never got lost once…The trip to Amboseli where we were headed was about three hours and we drove into the gates at about two o'clock.

As you drive up to the gate and get out of the car you are swamped with dozens of Masai trying to sell you everything from beaded necklaces to carvings to spears to bags etc. etc. gosh you get so overwhelmed, it is hard to get from the car to the office to pay and then back to the car. I just wish I had got a picture of them trying to sell stuff to Ernest; they start to climb up to the window of the truck and stick their heads through the window. You can't really buy anything because if you just inquire how much something is they have already pushed it through the window or into your hands and you just can't give it back and then they start demanding money. So you just put your head down and run the gauntlet.

Amboseli is situated at the base of Kilimanjaro. It is very flat and the whole ecosystem is based on two swampy lakes that are fed by water that comes from the melting snow off Kilimanjaro which bubbles up from underground. The areas around the swamps are green and very grassy but as you go further out it becomes very dry and dusty. Last time we were here it had just rained and the whole one side of the reserve had turned into a very shallow lake, this time it was more like a very dry dusty salt pan with very little grass and no trees. As you get further into the reserve and closer to the mountain you find a few forests of trees. The trees are mainly flat crowns and the pictures that you see of Amboseli usually show these trees against the backdrop of the mountain. Most of the time however you don't even know the mountain is there as it is covered in clouds. Now and again the clouds clear and the picture that you see is just wonderful.

 

                             Kilimanjaro in Background

There is a huge amount of animals around the swamps from zebra, wildebeest, oribi, buffalo, grants gazelles, Thompson gazelles, impala, warthogs and just tons of Elephants. A lot of the Elephants are submersed in the swamps up to the middle of their tummy with tiny babies battling to keep up with mama and you can sometimes just see their tiny little trunks in the air as they struggle to keep up. There is also the usual amount of Hippo - I have never seen Hippo actually feeding in the water. They swim along opening and closing their mouths and eating the water grass in the swamps, they don't even get out of the water to feed.

 

 

                            

 

 

 

Our first night we spent inside the park in the official camp as we couldn't figure out where the camp was that we stayed at last time, which was close to the community and near a school which we thought would be a good idea to go and see again.

So our day two in the park was spent driving around seeing the game and making our way towards where we thought the old camp site would be. At the gate they told us that there was only one official campsite in the park but they had said there were other “community campsites” along the edge of the park where we could get permission from the tribe to sleep.

We eventually found the old camp where we had stayed but it was closed “for repairs" --it takes these guys four or five years to repair a campsite .... Talk about efficient.

Anyway, we tried to convince the camp minder that we were completely self-sufficient and we would like to just camp right there or outside the official camp... No! No! No!  Oh dear as we didn't fancy going all the way back to the other camp again.

At this point two Masai Warriors arrived on a motorbike (sounds like a contradiction in terms doesn't it) one really bright young man jumped up to the truck window and asked if we would like to camp in their campsite which was in tribal land 200 meters away. We decided that was exactly what we were looking for so off we went behind the motorbike to inspect their site. (The Masai live right up against the park and it is hard to tell which is Masai land and which is park.)

Whoops, it was right next to the Masai village and not exactly what we were looking for... Too many little kids, dogs, goats, sheep and flies - hundreds of them. So we asked him if we could camp under thaaaaat tree over theeeere. “Sure no problem!” he said. So off with our cavalcade which had now grown to a dozen Masai warriors, to find a suitable tree far enough away from the village not to be swamped with all the undesirables. Eventually we settled under a very shady tree with about a dozen Elephants quietly standing under another tree about 20 yards away.

Now, to deal with our entourage of guys all wanting to assist us in some way or another and all wanting "in" on this very exciting action with these Strange Travellers. The son of the chief whose name was Solomon, took control, negotiated the fee which incidentally was almost the same price as the parks board and was exorbitant, he then organized one guy to clean up the site, another to find wood for us, another to make sure nobody else came near us... All for a little extra! In fact there were 12 of them, putting out the ground sheet, putting out the chairs and generally being very helpful. He very enthusiastically said they thought we could slaughter a goat and let's have a" groot opskop," (big party) ... No no no we thought that wasn't a good idea, but thanks!

 

 

 Then it was photo time! Next thing Kim, Andrea and I all had their blankets wrapped around our shoulders and their beads around our necks...

 

 

Once we were all settled Solomon decreed that it was time to leave us alone. He instructed our Askari to stand guard and see that we were not disturbed. They all left promising to come back later to see if we needed anything else.

There was an old foundation just 10 yards from where we were camping which Solomon told us was the old school.... The very same one we had visited 5 years ago and given them the Way to Happiness and Youth for Human rights booklets. Talk about providence. Wow, these warriors were probably the same kids we saw in the school 5 years ago and gave booklets too. They had moved the school because it was right on one of the Elephant corridors and had become dangerous for the kids.

A little later that afternoon our Askari took us for a short walk around the area. Fortunately the Elephants had moved off back into the park and we never came across any others although there was evidence of them spending a lot of time wondering around here.He showed us the corridors that these Ellie's use to go deep into the Masai territory, all in "Masai" of course with arms madly flying around. He jabbered away telling us this and that about the grass (of which there was very little), trees sand and who knows what.  He ended off the little walk with a challenge to the two men, Ernest and Steve; to see who could throw his knob-kierie the furthest. He beat them by miles but it was quite sweet to see how proud he was that he could throw much further than them. He ended off by saying (in Masai with gesticulations that we kind of understood) that Steve could leave in the car the next day but that Andrea could stay.... And no doubt become wife no 4! Steve was most upset!!

Luckily for us the clouds cleared late in the afternoon and Kilimanjaro showed itself in all its glory!. Apparently it has lost 80 % of its snow over the last 30 years due to the deforestation of the mountain. This is a real worry for the future as once that snow has fully melted then the swamps will dry up and the whole ecosystem will collapse. Hopefully not in our lifetime!

 

That night as it was getting dark they all returned to see how we were doing and took it in turns to sit around the fire with us, two at a time, in our deck chairs like it was the normal thing to do. So mama me, thinking it would be the correct thing to do, cooked some sausage and Pap for them but when it came time to eat, they politely told us that they only eat meat, drink milk and blood so my pot full of Pap went to the birds.

Two of them stayed right to the end to hear stories, they wanted to hear our stories and they wanted to tell us some of their own. So interesting to hear. Solomon had one wife and two children but was now waiting for his parents to choose wife number two for him. The first two wives were always chosen by the parents after that he could choose the rest for himself. He was the son of wife number four of his father, and because father had chosen this wife she was the favorite and so he implied he was the favorite son. So each man lands up with at least three to four wives and they like having lots of girls as they can “sell" them and get lots of cattle in exchange.

He talked about how much he loved his cows and he would NEVER sell any of them. I think he loved them more than his wife. He just could not see the disaster that they were heading for. Just more and more cattle, sheep and goats but less grass and things to eat. The cows were so thin they could barely stand up. The countryside was turning into a desert and they were pushing more and more into the reserve to find better grazing. In fact everywhere you drive in the reserve you just see cattle grazing amongst the Zebras and Wildebeest. Soon this grazing will also be gone and the tourists,  who brings most of the money, will also be gone. Boy this is a downward spiral if ever we have seen one!

We never found out what happens when they run out of girls as I am sure their birth rate is not one boy to three girls. Maybe some men land up with no wives and move away?

Anyway his whole logic was that if the grass runs out, he would find a wife that lived further away and then he would take his cows there for a while and then when the grass was finished there, he would bring them back.

They pride themselves on the fact that they live side by side with the wildlife with little conflict between the two but we could see the looming clash that the huge increase in livestock was starting to create and the possible collapse of the whole system.

Solomon was such a bright and intelligent young man but was so steeped in the strong traditions of the Masai that he cannot see the inevitable impending doom of his future and the future of his tribe.

Steve went to bed that night knowing that he had missed his opportunity of getting quite a few thin cows in exchange for his wife.

Would love to read your comments, until tomorrow!

Nutty Old Men

Day 44: Nairobi,Kenya

We woke up pretty early again and started to prepare to leave the park and head for Samburu. Ernest wanted to see the sun rise over the lake and enjoy the last minutes of this terrific space. We had pretty much run out of water as, when we left Henry's camp the day before, the owner had not allowed us to fill up our tanks as he had no bore hole and relied on rain water...
In the desert? He must be mad!

Anyway, yesterday there had been a suggestion, when we decided to stay an extra day, that we should go back to the lodge and fill up with water. We could have filled up the day before when we had tea there but, because we had all been half asleep and not thinking, we never actually did it. Sometimes you just go blank and forget about everything, even what day it is or maybe it is because we are after all a bunch of geriatrics - except Steve and Andrea of course, but then after much working out of "5 liters each for a bath, 10 liters to wash up, two liters each to drink” we figured we could just make it through the day and then in the morning before leaving go back to the Lodge and fill up. You recall that in the last blog I mentioned that the day before we had gotten to Marsabit and damaged our water pipe on the road and lost the majority of the water. So all round it was a problem and even though it delayed our departure by at least an hour, we thought that we had better get water before trying to camp in Samburu which is a full on desert and we doubted that we would get anyone there to give us the water we needed for the two days in The Samburu Nature Reserve.

Ken had been complaining that he felt he has a bladder infection and had been drinking a large amount of water to flush out the kidneys. He was having difficulty passing water. These men and their waterworks.

So we packed up, put Ken in the truck as I wanted to run the rife machine on him to handle any possible infection and off we set. Got back to the lodge, filled up with water and left the reserve with a very uncomfortable Ken who was now floating up to his eyeballs with all the water he had drunk.

Henry from Henry's camp is a local (so you would think we had a reliable source) had told us the road from Marsabit to Osiola was now tar except for the first 40 Ks. What a relief as that is known as the worst road in Africa.... Never mind the rest of them!

Well 40 Ks came and went ... No tar.... Now we are saying "any minute now" then the next 40 Ks came and went. Now we were just about in tears as it IS the worst road in Africa. Then the next 40 Ks and we realized he had forgotten the hundred in front of the forty. My gosh these people are so out of it. So eventually after over a hundred and forty of the most teeth breaking road we eventually got to the tar. Now our poor friend Ken was really in trouble and the water is now just about coming out of his ears and all the shaking and rattling hadn't helped at all. We realized we were in trouble, he needed urgent help and we had to get him to Nairobi hospital as fast as we could. So when we hit the tar at three o'clock in the afternoon, we stopped, gave everyone a good lunch as we knew we could not stop again and hit the road.

We had 400 kilometers to do of tar but it was still a terrible road and we knew it would be long gone dark before we managed to reach Nairobi. Poor Ken was now in agony but thank goodness he was able to stretch out in The Queen and he wasn't sitting cramped in a smallish car seat. He is a big man with very long legs and I think it would have been twice as bad if he was sitting in a car seat. He was eventually lying on the floor trying to take the pressure off the bladder.

The trip was probably the worst we have ever done in Africa. Our policy of never driving after sunset became ever more real.

The traffic on a Friday night is like being in New York at rush hour, with every skadonk, car, truck, and motorbike in Kenya on the road, some with headlights some without. No motor biker wears a helmet and there are usually three or four people on the bike. They drive in the middle of the road and refuse to get over. Then at night you can't see the holes and some of them are so big, the whole car would disappear in them.  The only way you know they are coming up is because the car in front knows the road and breaks violently.

Then there are the police road blocks. Heaven knows what they are doing there. Suddenly there would be a little one foot by one foot sign, unlit in the middle of the road saying “police stop". You have to madly break as they have these hectic spikes across the road and if you misjudge it would mean two burst tyres. So you screech to a halt and then they wave you through. One policeman stopped us, actually climbed up Ernest's door and opened it and asked Ernest for some coffee money. The smallest change that I had was 1000 shillings so Ernest gave him 10 Kwacha (Zambian money) and said that was all he had. Little bit of arguing back and forth and he eventually let us go. We were by this time at least 10 kilometers ahead of the others as somehow Ernest is a tyrant on these roads and seems to get ahead quite quickly. I think it is because 1) he is a very good driver and 2) nobody argues with The Queen. The bikes just shoot off the road and even the cars are intimidated and move over when they see it lumbering towards them. Anyway we should have known better than to move on as we knew this guy was trouble. He first stopped Kim and said he didn't have the required sticker on his windscreen which was BS. Kim not knowing if he was telling the truth or not, panicked. The policeman said he must give him 500 shillings and he could go. Kim then said he would go straight to the police station in Nairobi and check if this was true, the bastard took fright but still grabbed the money and quickly waved Kim through. The 500 was also meant to cover Rouvierre and Steve's “fine" who were behind Kim. This of course didn't happen and he would not let them through. He wanted to see the Carnet (car papers) which Ken had put in The Queen for safe keeping. Oh my gosh, we now could barely hear them on the radio because we were so far ahead, but we realized we were going to have to turn around and go and sort out the police guy who was just after more bribes. Ernest was going to park in the middle of the road block and block all traffic and sort this guy out!!!

Fortunately as soon as the police guy heard that the truck had turned around and was coming back, I think he thought, Rouvierre and Steve were easy meat but hell, all three of us and Kim's threat of the Nairobi police station was too much so he let them go!!

Gosh that cost us another half an hour and now we had to turn around again as we were now facing away from Nairobi on this narrow road with a constant stream of cars, busses and trucks. So Ernest did what he does best and just turned. Everyone came screeching to a halt, he waved smiling out of the window and we turned. One thing about these people that is quite fantastic is that nobody gets upset or agro, they just wave and carry on.

Shew!! Time was marching on and Ken was now looking decidedly grey and had passed absolutely nothing. When we were about 50 Kms from Nairobi we hit the freeway.... What luxury, we picked up speed and could see some light at the end of this very dark tunnel.The only really ridiculous thing about their freeways is that suddenly, they have some huge speed bumps.... Then a pedestrian crossing, another bump and then off you go again at 100 Kms and hour. The only way you know that these bumps are coming up was a little sign on the side of the road that indicates  “slow to 50" then another that says " slow to 20" then the bump and not a small one at that. The signs are old and some on them have lost their day glow so it's a matter of constantly watching the cars ahead and looking for their brake lights.

We finally drove into Nairobi at 10:30pm, navigated our way through the city with Kens help on the GPS as he just didn't want any wrong turns and as usual there were road works going on everywhere with detours and unexpected stops. Town at 10:30pm was packed with cars, almost as bad as the day and it took us half an hour to reach Karen Hospital with the other cars right on our tail.

We arrived at the hospital and a very puzzled guard said " no no no this is a hospital, you can't come in here.” We told him we had an emergency! Boy was there action! The gate opened, the guys came running out of the emergency rooms with wheel chairs and when Ken walked into the Emergency doors the doctor was waiting at the door and within 5 minutes the catheter was in and the bladder was being drained. They took 2 liters of fluid out of him and basically saved him a burst bladder and some very unpleasant consequences. I think of some hospitals in SA and wonder if the action would have been quite that fast and efficient. His blood pressure as a result of the trip was way up at danger point so we were very lucky we made the call and drove straight through. I think it was on all our minds that we should possibly stop at some camp site in the Abadairs or somewhere and tackle the road again in the morning but thank goodness we just knew it was the right thing to do and pressed on. Ernest, Kim and Steve really displayed unbelievable driving skills, especially Ernest in the Queen which is not the easiest thing to drive. And then of course I need a pat on the back for not screaming all the way to Nairobi. Being the passenger under those circumstances is not easy and I think I should get the medal of bravery!

So it was now about midnight and we pulled into our favorite camp site again (ugh) very hungry but wide eyed because of all the adrenalin. Kim had gone off to find some take away dinner but the only open place was some dingy nightclub that served pretty unmentionable food. We all ate and flopped into bed to catch a few hours’ sleep knowing we had made it in time to save Ken some very dire consequences.

The next day was spent sorting out The Queen after that mad dash, restocking the truck and letting Ken have all the tests etc. done and deciding what his path of action should be.

He definitely would need an operation so we have some planning to do as to how we move forward on the trip.

 

Well im exhausted! until tomorrow

Day 42 & 43:Paradise Crater, Marsabit Reserve, Kenya

We had a nice relaxing morning as we didn't have far to go - 10 kilometers down the road. Just as we were about to start moving, Ernest discovered that the bracket on the silencers had broken... Oh dear! We needed a quick repair job so off he went to Henry's workshop. That done and it was time to pull out, hit the road and head for the 1st crater just out of town. We received the directions from Henry... Go out of town, drive past the daisy patch (the plastic bags blown from the rubbish dump - that is the first thing that greet you as you arrive or depart from this town) at the end of the concrete strip there is a little track that goes right... Drive up the hill but stop just before you get to the top or you will fall straight into the crater.... Comforting!


The "Daisy Patch"

So we turned onto the little dirt track and drove quite a distance but I wasn't too keen on the thought of driving over the cliff so we stopped a little way before the top and walked the rest of the way, always followed by half a dozen little boys who jabber away to us in their local language whatever that may be.

Wow! I have never looked straight into a volcanic crater before, it was quite a sight. The side walls were covered in some sort of euphorbia tree and waaaaay down at the bottom there was a dried up waterhole. There were sheer cliffs around the sides with a drop of about 1000 foot. There was a little narrow path that would take you to the bottom but none of us had the energy to walk all the way down and back up again.

Then we went straight to the Marsabit Reserve where we wanted to spend the night. Only to find the entrance to the park is like trying to find your way through a maze. No wonder not a lot of people visit this park, it is just about impossible to find.

Once in, we were enveloped in a canopy of tall magnificent trees. After having been in the desert for the last few days it was paradise. The park is in and around a huge dormant volcano; there are apparently 22 of them in this area. It is very heavily forested and you have to penetrate this forest as you drive around the rim and onto the first crater called Elephant crater where they have a small lodge run by Kenyan Wildlife Services. We stopped for a cup of tea and were greeted with great enthusiasm by the staff. I am sure they haven't had guests for weeks, or maybe months. Our tea was served with cups, hot water and milk in the tea pot and separate tea bags... I guess there is a first for everything.

We pushed on as we wanted to camp at the Paradise Crater for the night and that involved quite a drive up some very steep sections on the outside of the volcano. When Ken and Steve had come to the gate yesterday to make enquiries about the park, they had asked the guy at the gate if we could camp for the night. At first he said no, because the camp had been washed away in the last heavy rains. Ken said that we were self-contained and didn't need a campsite so could we just camp at the crater. He thought about that for a moment and said that he would have to consult with management if that would be allowed. Ken then asked him who was the manager of the park to which he replied he was, so after a little more talk Ken asked when could this consultation take place as to whether we could camp or not. He looked up said “um yes it will be okay you can camp" .... The whole conference took place in his head in a matter of minutes. It took Steve and Ken all they had not to start laughing as he was very serious about the whole thing.

At last we got to the top of the crater rim and for the second time in my life I looked straight into another volcanic crater. This one was very different, it is heavily forested along the perimeter and the forest extends right up the sides, with huge trunks rooted in between these huge boulders and cliffs. Some of the trees are absolutely enormous, and we saw probably the biggest Strangler figs I have ever seen







At the bottom of the crater is the most beautiful lake which is full of water with a ring of thick grass all along the edge of the water. It was completely breathtaking. The water was a sort of blue green and we all just stopped, hopped out of our cars and did the usual...We just took tons of photos, the beauty of it was just so unexpected, I know Ernest had done some research on it so knew what to expect but the rest of us were quite taken by surprise.




Then we had to continue on dropping down on one side till we could actually drive into the crater just about to the level of the water. We sent Ken ahead to find a decent place to set up camp for the night and we followed slowly till we caught up with him and his chosen spot which was more or less level, on the grass where we had a terrific view of the whole lake with a backdrop of the forest and the cliffs with these huge boulders. The lake section we estimated to be at least 100 acres or more and there were just tons of duck. Big ones, small ones and noisy ones!

We set up camp, put our chairs out and just sat there trying to absorb this beautiful spot on planet earth. Africa is so full of hidden and forgotten treasures.


Camp at Marsabit Reserve

Kim was the first one to spot an elephant coming down to drink and then foraging around the edge of the lake; then came the buffalo and then the bushbuck. We just sat in our deck chairs with binocs and bird books and soaked up the whole scene, regretting the fact that we had not made a bit more effort and come here yesterday instead of sitting in Henry's mud bath. Oh well that is Africa, full of surprises.

We did have one spare day in hand so we decided to just stay put here for an extra day and enjoy another day of rest before going down to Samburu.

We had had such a funny conversation on the radios few days ago while on our way to Turkana. Kim had asked Ernest what tribe was in the area. Ernest had replied Samburu. Kim had said, oh how do you spell that and Ernest had replied (being in a joking mood) Sam Buru the same as Sam de Lange but without the de Lange. Silence....... Then came the “I don't get that” so Ernest repeated Sam Buru same as Sam de Lange without the de Lange..... Silence. Then Kim said “Oh I get it, the Buru is like Boer and de Lange is a Boer so it's like Sam Boere or Sam de Lange”. By this time we were in such hysterics.... That is how you analyze a simple joke and make it not funny or make it funnier. So now we are in the land of the Sam de Lange's not the Samburu. 

We were camping in pasture like grass just at the edge of the lake, on the so called road as we were told we could just camp anywhere. The only disadvantage being that there was no place to make a fire. We were quite certain there would be nobody coming our way so we had the place to ourselves for two glorious days. We were definitely back in “Out of Africa"

The next morning, despite the fact that we were not moving, we were up very early at the first cry of the Fish Eagle as the sun rose to see what was around the edges of the lake.

The same large herd of buffalo were in the water and on the grassy surroundings grazing peacefully. They were right on the other side of the water and looked like little dots to the naked eye. There were also bush buck and Grevys Zebra so we could really look at them and see the stark difference between them and the ones we get back home. They have these huge funny looking ears and very thin neat looking pinstripes and looked very executive like... Except for the big donkey like ears of course. The same bushbuck, the same very noisy Egyptian Geese and numerous other birds were also around…

We had expected to see many more birds but the forest surrounding the crater is so thick and unless you creep right into the forest you don't see any of them except for a flit of the Paradise Fly Catchers or the odd Jacky Hangman. We could certainly hear them but saw very little except the water birds and the Ravens that flew around us trying to pick up any scraps around the camp site. Those birds are fast learners.

So we went for walks around the perimeter which we estimated to be about 4 kilometers, sat and read and watched the activities around the lake. All the buffaloes, zebra and bush buck ran very quickly when they saw the guys walking which made us realize that there must still be heavy poaching in the reserve and we never saw or heard any of the other animals such as lion, leopard and hyena that are supposed to be here. I am sure they are long gone….

Please post your comments, Signing off for now!

Day 41: Marsabit, Kenya

We woke the next morning very groggy eyed from our bad nights’ sleep and can you believe it, it was totally overcast and looked very much like rain. So we packed up the tents before they got wet again and waved a fond farewell to Mama, her little smiling boy who was still bouncing his ball and all the hangers on who were all holding out their hands for more money because they had done this or done that or wanted us to buy another fossil.

So we drove out the campsite and waited for the others to join us and off we went. There was a frantic call from Kim to STOP! Steve was washing his feet at the back of the truck and he was running after us down the road, the tap still on with one shoe on and one shoe off. Oh I wish I had got a photo of that... Steve's attempt to clean those wonderfully dirty feet!

Out of town we drove, but which way? Oh my gosh there was not a sign anywhere to be seen and the GPS showed roads that just did not exist. We wanted to get to the shore side so that Steve could have a swim. He was not listening to all our arguments of crocs and things and he was going to SWIM no matter what we said. So after driving backwards and forwards through the village we decided to just head out on the road to North Horr and somewhere along that route the road got pretty close to the shoreline. Then we could stop, have breakfast and decide what to do about the swimming.

Sure enough we got to within 50 yards of the lake so we just headed the cars off the road and right up to the edge of the lake. We asked a few locals about the crocs and they assured us that there were none there and that they were all on the other side of the lake...yea right! I must admit we had seen many fishermen on tiny boats with their legs hanging over the side so the chances of crocs didn't seem very high. So, OH YES, we all put on our costumes and dived into the water.... Steve first mind you and when he survived we all thought it was fairly safe - we had to be able to say we swam in the Jade sea.

As we were swimming we gathered our usual audience who again thought these Strange Travelers were quite mad! The music was blaring out on our sound system in the truck and we decided good time for a party! I have a fantastic video clip of five old buddies dancing away on the side of Lake Turkana watched by five totally captivated locals. I don't think they have ever seen anything like that in their lives and will probably never see it again… Mind you neither had I. Time to dish out the shirts and send them on their way so they didn't watch every mouthful we took while having our breakfast.



Swimming at Lake Turkana


Then we set off for the long hall back to Marsabit through the Chalbi desert. There was a short-cut which would have cut off a long way but Ernest said we have come all this way, we must see the desert. So off we went for North Horr, which would be our most northern point on the trip. There we would stop for lunch and take a picture, record the mileage and then start our journey with our noses turned south on our long journey back home. It was still very overcast and had obviously rained a lot over the last day or two as there was just water everywhere. So bizarre driving through deep puddles of water in the desert... Only once in a lifetime I am sure. There was a fast flowing river carrying quite a bit of water that we crossed several times and there was one huge river that was wide and carried a considerable amount of water. You would think that the desert sand would just soak up all the rain but this was not so, the large runoff was very evident. So we travelled on north across this huge desert full of rivers and waters. One river we crossed was so deep that we actually had to stop and make sure the other guys went slightly to the side or they would have been up to their headlights in water. That is one of the advantages of the The Queen; you have so much more height and from our vantage point we see so much more and can warn the guys behind us of perils that they might never see. It is such a big and blundering vehicle and sometimes I just long for the Ford F250 and all it's comforts for Ernest and I, but then I realize that to do a trip of this distance with this many people it has made a huge difference to the trip and the comfort of all of us. We are just able to carry so much stuff and gradually, as the trip has progressed the other vehicles have been able to off load their tyres, extra boxes and other heavy stuff into The Queen which just lumbers on regardless. The kitchen also make a huge difference making life so easy for us girls who just open it up when we get to camp and can start the cooking no matter where we are or what time we arrive. The shower and water that we carry has also made the whole thing, especially bush camping, just so much easier. So all in all it has really been worth the extra effort and cost that it takes to drive.

Anyway I digress. The first part of the trip to North Horr was over very rocky terrain, up a few mountain passes and then into the desert itself with its desert sand and more umbrella trees and palms with the dry river beds now with running water. We passed several camels and healthy fat donkeys, eating something that we just couldn't see as it looked so lifeless to us. And oh yes, just tons of those tiny little goats tended by tiny little boys.




North Horr is a settlement that has been built up around an oasis. We crossed the most smelly, dirty piece of water which was obviously the oasis and entered the town. Oh my gosh! We haven’t seen dirt and filth like this before, such an enormous change from the sheer beauty of the clean desert. Again you find the men just sitting around doing nothing, goats eating cardboard boxes and the woman working.... Oh Africa never changes.
We wanted to get the hell out of there as fast as we could but again found no signs on the roads or tracks should I say. We asked some local truck drivers and they sent us off in completely the wrong direction so back again to town and this time we followed the GPS and made it out into the desert again all be it on a very narrow and dicey looking track. But we had to get far enough away from the town to be able to stop, have our lunch, take our photo and record the mileage. We had done 7569 kilometers from the start of the trip to now. Yippee, we had made it through thick and thin and got to our highest point in 41 days. A local truck driver then came past, stopped to have a friendly chat and confirmed we were going in the right direction…

So now we had the journey to Marsabit but, listen to this, we had been told the Government had built a new road so it should be plain sailing like the road to Turkana. Whenever we are told something like that we should know there is going to be trouble ahead. The first part of the trip was on sand with the road ahead going in 10 different directions and you could chose whichever one took your fancy. The trees were big and pretty, there were camels, sheep and goats, a few scattered people and we had a very pleasant journey. When we reached the next town the trouble began.... We hit those dreaded rocks and a road to hell. The countryside turned into black volcanic heaps of stones with no redeeming features at all, just rocky roads that you bounced up and down on relentlessly. You always know when everyone is taking strain as the radio goes dead quiet and nobody says a word. We all just gritted our teeth and endured the ride. We had 140 kilometers to go before Marsabit and we wanted to make it before nightfall as there was NOWHERE to camp or even try and get off the road, just this endless sea of rocks and more rocks…

At one point we heard Kim say "pit stop" over the radio and we just saw him running over the rocks. This made all of us stop and when Ernest got out of the car he found the water filter had cracked and we were losing all our water........STEVE!!! He came running back down the road to switch off the valve as he is the only one who knows where it was. DISASTER. This definitely put pain to any possibility of us doing any bush camping. We had to get to a camp site to do repairs and fill up so our plight became more urgent to get to town. Then we hit a patch of sand and a virtual highway with another one of those places that you could follow any one of twenty tracks... Oh hell didn't last long and we were back to the rocks and bouncing up and down.

That is when we got this very urgent call from Ken on the radio who was bringing up the rear. "Guys, check your oil pressure, someone has just dumped about two liters of oil on the road and it might be one of us” So we all came to a screeching halt and checked the cars while Ken came up slowly behind us. No! there was nothing leaking on any of our cars so we pulled off just as he arrived. Another call in. "Hey Kim it is your car, there is a huge patch of oil right where you were parked!! Heart failure all round, Kim came skidding to a halt and at this point Ernest said "rubbish, Andrea just had a wee in front of Kim's car and that is what the wet patch was. Oh my gosh we laughed, I think all the tension of the day had just broken and then the remarks started to fly, none of which I will repeat on the blog but it did get pretty funny and we could smile again.

Anyway the race to get to town was on again and Ernest and I pulled off ahead and got there a lot quicker than the others. There were three camping sites on the GPS. One called "public camping site no 1" …not so good! The next one was “public camping site number 2”… Not so good either and the next one was "Henry's Campsite". This looked like our only choice, so we went for that one. We arrived after a few wrong turns with Ernest getting mad at me saying "why can't you work the dam thing" but we eventually arrived at the gate of Henry's Camp. We found it a bit stark with red clay and a few thorn trees but they had a toilet and a shower with hot water so we were in just as it was getting dark. The others arrived in dribs and drabs, also getting lost in town which is, as usual, pretty chaotic, but they eventually made it. Henry himself came out to greet us, he is a Swiss man who settled here years ago and is married to a local girl.

That night Ken gave me a double gin and tonic.... Oh dear I got so confused I told everyone we were having Chicken Curry and gave them Chicken a la King. Not sure if any of us knew what we were doing after a day like that! We settled in for the night listening to the sounds of the hyenas. We slept very soundly after our bad night before and our hard day of travel, but it was raining again. Oh well! It seems it is going to keep following us where ever we go…

Until Tomorrow!

Day 40: Loiyangalani & Lake turkana, Kenya

Gosh that must be symbolic, forty days on the road and we were to embark on the most momentous part of the trip. We were all excited but at the same time really dreading the road as by all accounts from everyone who we had spoken to that has been to Lake Turkana, the road is the worst in Africa plus you are lucky to get away with not completely destroying at least one of your tires on the sharp volcanic rock on the way down. We had 78 kms to go and we expected that to take us more or less the entire day or at least till three in the afternoon. Rouvierre had even mailed her 4X4 expert in Joburg to find out what we could do to best protect the tyres... Pump em up hard and protect the side walls! So we decided to pump them up when we reached the rocky sections leaving them soft for now as we are still on a fairy sandy section.

As the sun rose all our visitors of the night before reappeared plus many more. We set Steve onto them so we could at least feed everyone else and pack up as fast as possible. He really was good at keeping their attention and in no time at all they were gathered around him being entertained - they thought these strangers were the best thing since sliced bread. He got out the shirts, gave them all one and generally kept them talking and laughing about god knows what. Gosh he has a really good way with people and by the time we actually left they were thoroughly enjoying themselves.

As I say 78 kms and counting....We did the first 20 Kms at an average speed of 50 Kms/h - all good, spectacular scenery and no real problem. Rouvierre and Andrea decided to ride with us again as they had so enjoyed the day before in The Queen and it is also fun to swap around and have someone different to talk to! They reckoned over the rough stuff The Queen was the best place to be. We gradually left the big umbrella trees behind and the landscape became more desert like with the only green to be seen along the dry river beds. There were no cattle here but there were still the odd herds of goats and of course more and more camels being looked after by tiny little boys, I kid you not, they looked about four or five years old and they must sleep out in the desert as it is too far to walk in half a day. Mind you it was very hilly and there could have been little settlements tucked into crevasses that we couldn't see from the road. The ships of the desert is such a good description for camels, these ones are the single humped ones with short hair and not quite as ugly and dirty as the ones you see in China and Dubai. Then another 25 Ks, still a great road at a good speed. We kept on expecting to come around the next corner to find a dreadful pile of volcanic rock to drive on but the good road continued. The landscape here had turned into hills and valleys all covered in these black round rocks, wow it was very stark completely devoid of any life form and round black rock for as far as you could see---- but would you believe it we still saw camels and goats eating I don't know what!. We realized at this point that the road had been recently rebuilt and we were just darn lucky to have come at this time, before it was again destroyed by no maintenance. But then we also realized there are no heavy trucks using this road plus the traffic was very low and the rainfalls pretty much nonexistent so it will probably be like this for a few years to come. Anyway one and a half hours later we came over a slight rise and there in front of us was the spectacle we had traveled so long and far to see. And we were not disappointed; lying in front of us was the magnificent Jade Sea. We stopped The Queen, all climbed on top and just sat there soaking in the Lake, the rocks, the colors, the sheer magnificence of the whole thing. Ernest had become quite emotional and we had all felt the pure power of his emotion at having achieved this lifelong goal. We had arrived! I think everyone felt their own particular emotion and sense of achievement at having reached this remote and beautiful spot on planet earth. Shew there were tears of joy and happiness and just the magic in the air was almost tangible.

So we must have sat there, all seven of us, on top of the truck for at least an hour, taking tons of photos and enjoying the space. It took a lot of time for us to soak it all up, if time even exists in moments like these.

 

 

                               Lake Turkana at last!

It is quite hard to describe in words what this massive lake looks like - you begin to understand why it is called the Jade SEA. It is 300 odd kilometers long and about 56 kilometers wide so you can’t see the other side. We came in from the south and could see the South Island which is uninhibited except for a few feral goats and really does look like the sea, without waves of course and the color is just very blue with clean clear water. The surrounding Rock Mountains are a great contrast and we couldn't see a blade of grass or green anywhere even though there were little dots of white on the sides of the hills which we realized were goats. Heaven knows what they can find to eat but they didn't look unhealthy. We did notice that all the animals that we had seen since we descended back into the Great Rift Valley were very small. The goats were tiny, the cows small and the sheep also very small. Their growth must be stunted by the lack of food in these harsh surroundings.

 

We still had just over 20 Kms to go before we got to the little town of Loiyangalani on the shores of the lake where we planned to camp for the night. So we just went along slowly, the road still excellent except for a few dicey little bridges which we had to negotiate with care. There were a few pockets of very basic settlements along the shores of the lake. The Turkanians live in these tiny little round igloo shaped huts made up of palm fronds that are very loosely woven to let wind and air through. Some of them had black or yellow plastic woven into the top presumably to protect the occupier from rain but these ones must be unbelievably hot inside. These people that live in the little settlements around the lake are the fishermen and their families. None of them had that thin haunted look of the Masai and the Samburu. Presumably the diet of fish is better for them than the blood and milk that the others live on.There were fishermen in the tiniest little boats with their legs hanging in the water so Steve kept saying “see there can't be croc's here so I can swim” Hell he is worse than a kid!

It took us over an hour to cover those last 20 Kms and landed up in the village of Loiyangalani. It was a dirty little hell hole that stank and was dusty as hell. First you had to travel through the traditional village with their little 'igloos' and then you got to the more formal town with shops lining the street but still built of mud and banana frond roofs. Wow talk about dirty, muddy and full of men just sitting around and doing nothing. So off we sent Kim to find a decent camp site, there were about 4 of them so off he went to inspect them and choose the best. We found a funny little place called the Oasis hotel and stopped there to see if they would allow camping there.

 

We got swamped by the usual touts who all wanted to show us where to go and to sell us anything and everything from stones to fossils. Oh my gosh these guys can really drive you mad. So us girls waited in The Queen which is so high up they can't get to us while Ernest went to check out the lodge. He found an old German guy who had arrived at Turkana 35 years ago, built the lodge  and had just stayed. His wife had left him, his kids had left him and he had just become more and more anti-social as time went on. He just sat in his lodge surrounded by the weirdest pictures of days gone by.  He would not let us camp but would let us use his swimming pool for three hundred shillings a person and we could have one room for 6000 for the night so we could use the toilet and the shower. Ernest told him we would be back to tell him what we wanted to do and we set off to go and try and find a decent place to camp. He would not go back to the shore line as apparently if the wind comes up; it can literally flatten your tent so we had to find a protected shady place to stay.

 

 It was only about 11 o'clock so we had the better part of the day still ahead of us and it was extremely hot already... 36 degrees and climbing. He found the Woman's camp right next door. Oh that was a bad mistake as although it was quite shaded during the day, it was also surrounded by all the palm trees and so completely cut off any breeze during the evening when you need some kind of air movement to cool you down. Anyway it was run by the chairman of the Mama's club and she sat there and ruled the roost with all the men running around her from morning till night. We probably would have been better bush camping down at the water’s edge but who knew if the wind was going to come up and blow us away so we stayed put and set up camp inside the town.

 

 

                               

 

We really broke one of our cardinal rules and that is to never camp in town if possible. Firstly that is when you can pick up malaria, secondly it is never clean and there are all sorts of diseases there which the locals are immune to and thirdly the locals can just pester you from morning till night. I think Ernest had just gone moggie with the heat and Kim had reported back that there were no trees in any of the other sites so we stayed put. We all had lunch, gathered ourselves together and at about three decided to go and swim next door at the Oasis. Well the old bugger who is obviously so eccentric by now had somehow got upset because we didn't take a room at this hotel or come back to him quick enough so he decided to empty his pool and bugger off to town... In fact I think he was a little mad to say the least. Oh well the touts came and told us there was another pool just down the road who would also allow us to swim for 300 shillings so off we went down the road. It wasn't quite as clean as the other place but both pools were fed by the natural hot springs so we just thought what the hell and in we all went. The water was hot from the hot springs so did little to alleviate the heat.... Swim in hot water in the desert and try and get cool, no I don't think so. 

 

 All the girls decided we needed a hair wash by this time, we had missed out on a nice shower in the “best campsite in Kenya" so out came the shampoo and we washed our hair under the hot whatever that was flowing into the swimming pool from the hot springs.  Back to the camp to try and cool down under the shade of the trees where the old lady's grandson was around us all the time wetting the ground to keep down the dust - and cool the desert floor, so we got Steve to blow up one of the soccer balls and Ernest gave it to him.. Oh my gosh that was a moment, he had a grin from ear to ear and had obviously never had anything like that is his life. Granny then got quite carried away and got him to fetch the girls over and she presented each of us with a special necklace that she had made. Very serious and very touching.

 

                               Our little boy with his new ball

After the swim we all went for a guided tour around the traditional village. The tout promised to take us to someone who sold the beaded necklaces that these women wear. They are particularly beautiful and we wanted one for the new library. Rouvierre and Steve were interested in the cultural side of the village and he promised to introduce us to the oldest lady there who was a sear or clairvoyant or something of the sort. Well did we get led up the garden path? He took us around and around and then decided that the old lady was murdered the night before so we couldn't see her, then they tried to rag us for money for the orphan children to go to school etc. in the end I had maybe four or five of the little girls all trying to hold mine and Andrea's hands and one in particular put her hand in mine and just would not let go, she really was too sweet and was completely not going to give up her position next to me. I think she was hoping I would take her with me out of that hell hole.

Eventually we decided this was not for us and we left to go back to the campsite and lost all our hangers on. Funny thing when you stay at a place like that is the camping costs 500 each but you pay double that to all the helpers that will just not go away. 

That night the mama decided not to go home but to stay in the campsite, I think she was hoping to be invited to join us for our evening meal and when we gave her all the rice and veggies that were left over she very indignantly asked where her meat was. Unfortunately for her it was finished. We had a special little camp guard who walked around the whole night shining his torch into every nook and cranny in the campsite plus into the tents just to make sure we were alright (or to make sure we knew he was working.) Kim said he sounded like a grunting hippo.

That night was the hottest any of us had ever been in our lives. It was like an oven in that camp, not a breath of fresh air and I don't think the temperature dropped at all, so we had the whole tent open with no fly sheets, just the netting and as will always happen at about three in the morning the heavens opened and down came the rain. In the bloody desert none of us could believe it; this rain was just following us. So out we scrambled, put on the fly sheets closed up the roof and then the rain stopped and we started to boil again so off with the fly sheet which then brought the rain again.... This time we said to hell with it we would just get wet.

So The Woman's camp at Lake Turkana got the vote as the worst camp site of the trip.

For all the hardship that night it was still an outstanding experience and we loved seeing the lake and its surroundings.

Until Tomorrow!