Tuesday 24th July 2007 Bekele Mola Hotel, Arba Minch
This morning we went up to Chencho, 1.5Km vertically in 25Km. The village is at 2650m from 1100 at Arba Minch, up a winding road through the mist at 19deg C. The village was hosting its market day and our excellent guide protected us from the "1-Birr" kids while Willy and Brian stayed to look after the vehicles. We saw the women selling ensiled Banana plants for human consumption. They also smoke ensiled tobacco through a water-calabash contraption. The horses were very small and delicate and many had huge saddle sores from carrying their burdens to the colourful market. I chose to see one of the traditional homes and was taken even further up the mountain, panting in the thin air to an 18m tall thatched hut. The old man made a living from weaving, shuttle and loom style. It was a time-warp back to 16th century rural Europe. A moving experience. We have taken lots of photos, loaded onto my laptop. Back in Arba Minch Willy kindly donned his gumboots and braved an oil-filled pit to check our Landy's oils little knowing there was a sump in the pit, fell in and canged colour!! He was not amused. He serviced his and Brian's Landys. At the campsite we found our flags from each country which we were sticking onto our Landy had been pulled off, and Brian's ladder (for getting into his tent) had been removed from the front of his Landy. Round Arba Minch the land is flat and fertile with old dysfunctional irrigation canals. The crops which are planted, bananas and maize are excellent, but a lot of the land is fallow. Arba Minch, a beautiful town left a sour taste because of the thieving and begging.
Monday 23rd July 2007 Bekele Mola Hotel, Arba Minch
We decided to leave and had to go over the rocky pass yet again, into Arba Mich and found a campsite with a spectacular view over both Lakes at the hotel. There I recovered from the bout of diarrhea. Maybe I picked up the bug at the village yesterday.
Sunday 22nd July 2007 Bush camp Nechisar National Park, Lake Abaya
Last night was the noisiest night we have spent, and were glad when the rooster started to announce the dawn. Nev paid off Biruk and we headed for 'New York'. Another bad road, and as we arrived there we were greeted by open pit toilets at the view site with ten slotted poles over the pit, no walls. The aim wasn't good because the place was disgusting. 'New York' wasn't a town. It was a place of massive soil erosion of a section of 20m deep soil on a mountain covered in vocanic laval rocks. The wind and water has caused pinnacles of soil to remain looking, with huge amount imagination, like a skyscraper skyline, giving the town of Gesergiyo the nickname New York. The area covers about 20Ha. From there we went to one of several Konso villages over 400 years old, surrounded by 2m high stone walls on the ridge of the mountainous volcanic rocks. They put the rocks to good use by constructing walls around their villages and by terracing the steep hillsides for agriculture. They planted maize, sunflowers, sorghum, hops, cassava and beans all mixed together in the long narrow terraces. Inside the village the animals live with the people and the food is brought to the animals. The young men are separated from the females and sleep in central 'community houses' while the girls live in the parent's home. Each family home is separated by stone walls with dry wooden poles sticking out vertically from the top. They make their living farming and weaving. They have the poorest soils we have seen so far in Ethiopia but are the hardest working, with the women bent double from carrying heavy loads on their backs. Although having been living in this way for over 400 years, they have not adapted to use a pit toilet and all round the village, including on the walls and in the pathways between the houses there was human excreta. Villagers do make compost from their animal dung and vegetable matter which is carried on the women's backs and put onto the lands, but it is insufficient to sustain the fertility. We then dropped off the excellent local guide and proceeded to Nechisar National Park, Ethiopia's premier game reserve. The road was rough, Brian had a puncture. We paid Birr250 for each family to enter and camp and traveled for about 20Km over a very scenic but steep and rough pass between two natural Rift Valley Lakes. This road made Nev cry for his Landy. We fond a nice campsite next to the Lake Abaya, the water was brown! 1160sqKm of lake, not with "ferrous hydroxide" suspended, as the Bradt Guide book, claims, but with silt eroded from the surrounding mountains. The whole lake is brown. The one further south is the usual blue, but has fewer rivers flowing into it from the erode-able mountains. We had a good night and left to go to the plains and the hot springs. The road continued to be terrible, the hot springs were a local washing place and the plains had very little game, a few zebra and gazelle. Only the scenery was good.
Saturday 21st July 2007 Hotel, Karet-Konso
Nev went into Jinka to get punctures fixed and saw that in the town he and Biruk got hounded by guides and touts so decided that we all would catch a taxi and go into town to the market later on.
All 7 of us (plus driver and 'conductor' who hung on the back) squashed into a cute little 175cc 3-wheeler (tuk-tuk in SA) with two rows of seats at the back. It couldn't get up the hill with the load and we had to walk the last bit.
The market we saw the Musi women with their removable plates inserted into their overstretched bottom lips. Their two bottom front teeth had to be removed to accommodate the 12cm diameter round plate. Apparently if they do not wear the plate, the stretched lip shrinks and we saw many with very fat bottom lips. The men had very stretched ear lobes. I didn't feel good photographing them as I felt it was degrading, humiliating and they were prostituting their bodies to get money for photos. I didn't feel much better when the others said they were proud to have photos taken, and we paid them 2Birr anyway. I still didn't feel good about it.
We bought some fruit and made our way back to Karat-Conso to spend the night at the Hotel. Biruk wanted us to stay in the hotel and told us incorrectly that there was no campsite. This annoyed Nev and he was really getting irritated with Biruk, having had him with us for four days. This was the last straw.
Friday 20th July 2007 Rocky Camp site Jinka
Ethiopians we have come across are friendly, spontaneous, generous and a natural, happy people. Being a firanje (foreigner), however, they see us as an easy source of money or Birr. So everything is measured in terms of Birr. It is difficult to get used to negotiating a price for lodging/food/photograph and then have the price doubled after sleeping/eating/taking a picture. Our guide, Biruk (pronounced Brrrook) is invaluable and not only protects us from the aggression which easily surfaces, but also negotiates far better prices than we could, being a firanje. I said to a child with a bicycle, Nice bike, he said 2 Birr, meaning I could have a ride for 2 Birr. Children hang on to your hands and then expect to be paid for being friendly. Biruk keeps telling them that begging is not culture, and firenje come to see the culture.
We left Turmi for Omorate on the Omo river just north of Lake Turkana. We went through NTvl veld again and passed a herd of Galeb nomads moving house and cattle. Their meager possessions carried by the women (wearing only loincloths) on their heads, the men driving the cattle. The possessions were a couple of calabashes, sleeping mats and clay pots. A light load.
We came across the Omo valley which was flat flat flat. 7km from the Omo river we observed disused well contructed, unmaintained irrigation canals. Our guide informed us the the North Koreans constructed it all for flood irrigating, ran the farms and then with the change of government 15years ago, were thrown out of the country and the Ethiopians took over. Need I say more? Biruk said "Africans do not have the mind to do these things." There were 35 parked off tractivators, with ploughs, planters, potato ridgers, spray rigs, trailers, tractors and 8 huge TLBs just rusting with parts missing. (Rick and Patrick: Molubesi revisited!!) A complete power station not operational, all the overhead electric wires, half had fallen off the insulators and were lying on the ground.
The Omo river is half as big as the Zambesi and rapid flowing and could generate all the water and power needed to make the area an oasis with all the soil and heat units lying fallow.
We traveled back towards Weito, and as we got near there was a valley similar to the San Joakim Valley in California, also with all the irrigation laid out, lying fallow for the last 10 years, now the government with the Italians are growing sorghum 4m high, and the scheme is just starting up again. The potential is huge. We proceeded to Jinka on a road built by the Chinese to replace the twisted, rutted horrible road where the Ethiopians think the Chinese are wonderful people because they can see results of input of aid. Up the hills towards Jinka, Brian's landy boiled and burst a pipe, and he had 2 punctures, and we had our first puncture since leaving home. A small piece of rock went right through the centre of a tyre ruining it. With all the delays we arrived in Jinka in the dark.
Thursday 19th July 2007 campsite, Turmi
After spending a really noisy night with radios going, roosters crowing, someone chopping, others cleaning, loud talking and cats mating, we set off from Weito towards the market at Key Afer. We took photos of the people in their traditional clothing, paying 1 or 2Birr per photo and being pestered by kids saying you-you-you-you-you as fast and as loudly as could be said. It means 'how are you' and really gets irritating after a time. They also pull your sleeve and say 'photo 1Birr' over and over again even if you say no thanks.
We then went towards Turmi along a really potholed road, also N Tvl, but slightly wetter through different tribal land who were herders, not agriculturalists and we thought it was thinly populated until we stopped in a remote place for lunch and in a matter of minutes were surrounded by people who were inquisitive and friendly. Brian’s landy eventually couldn't take all the twisting in the chassis and the windscreen nearly fell out of the cab. He braced his cab from the bull bar to the roof carrier to stabilize the cab until he can get it fixed in Addis. If it rained now he wouldn't only get his feet wet, but would get a shower through the cracks – but the bracing helped.
At Turmi we arrived at the camp site and went to see the traditional dancing at a village. On the way we asked to look into one of the huts, a rondavel made of upright poles about 1m high with no cladding, so it was well ventilated. The roof of steeply pitched grass thatch covered a second story which was the sleeping area for the adults. The cooking was done on the floor 1m under the grass mat on poles of the second story, and the children slept on skins on the floor. The doorway was only 800cm high, not meant for old' ballies' like Nev. The dancing consisted of the young men and girls chanting and singing and the men jumped up and down in time to the clapping. They landed flat footed and jumped high with straight legs and their feet parallel to the ground. The girls in their beads just shuffled around. They would approach the 'man of choice' and kick his feet just as he was about to land, putting him off balance and indicating her interest. He would then chase her rhythmically for a minute and then return to the line of dancing men. In the light of the setting sun the dust swirled around their gleaming bodies.
Wednesday 18th July 2007 Hor Hotel, Weito
We left early to go to the South Omo with Biruk sitting in our Landy on cushions, squeezed in between the fridge and the door.
At mega we visited what they called the 'singing well'. Here the well is dug 25m into the hard shale to water their stock. They had dug a stepped roadway 3m wide down to the well where they constructed a trough. To get the water from the well into the trough they use 20l containers, passing the full bucket to the next person in the chain, the last tipping the water into the trough. The coordination had to be good because they were passing the empty containers back at the same time. While they do this they chant, (rightly named the singing well). While we were there, there were at least 500 head of cattle in herds patiently waiting their turn to drink. The cattle looked good and we saw the first horse since Zambia.
At Yabello, Beryl and Dave left us to get their vehicle fixed in Addis Ababa and the three remaining couples continued to the South Omo.
There are many different tribes in the valley, each having their own individual culture regarding wearing apparel, housing and traditions. Any guide book will detail these, so I won't go into detail. The most different from us (I cannot use the words primitive or uncivilized, because I do not believe that westerners are any more advanced or more civilized, because we simply have a different lifestyles) wear soft loincloth skins decorated with colourful beadwork that sway when they walk in a very provocative manner. And the men wear very short mini skirt kilts that show off their very muscular lean bodies to the maximum.
We went over the mountain and onto a flat plain that stretched for miles and miles and looked very similar to the northern Transvaal. Cattle, Boran type were plentiful, as well as the usual goats and donkeys. We arrived in Konso in the mountains. The Konso tribe work very hard terracing their mountain slopes and plant crops to try to save the soil, but I'm sorry to see the soil is all worn out, and although they have had a good season their crops are very poor and really lack nutrition in the form of fertilizer input. They are the poorest people we have come across so far, and the women labour up and down the slopes with huge bundles of maize stalks (after reaping the green mealies) and hay they have baled manually about the size of two of our square bales. They put this on their backs and are bent double hauling their load to market to receive 1 or 2 Birr (R1 or 2) or to take home to feed their own livestock. The women or children can be seen in the fields on the top of a tree in the middle of a field, or on a wooden tower three metres high, guarding their sorghum and teff crops from the birds. These are the genuine scarecrows.
We slept in our tent at the hotel after supper where you call the waiter by loudly clapping your hands together. It is their custom and not at all rude.
Tuesday 17th July 2007 Borena Moyale Hotel still
The morning was spent servicing the Landy (Nev tightened bolts and checked wheel bearings and found the 4th spare diesel tank was leaking – we aren't going to fix it.) Willy's main diesel tank is leaking too, welding the leaking water tanks (Brian and Daves) and fixing punctures, (Brian had two yesterday – surprisingly only 2 on that road) and Dave is replacing rubbers on his shocks again. I spent the time fighting the dust.
Oh the dust! It comes in everywhere and literally rains on the windows outside the Landy and everything is full of dust inside! It is our 'Sandrover'. It would get anyone down, and I try not to kick the pricks, but try to work with it as best I can. We all get dusty, but having five opening doors on our vehicle means 5 extra places for dust to come in and we don't have a working aircon so have to have open windows. Not a situation everybody could tolerate, but the huge advantages of traveling outweigh these slight discomforts, and I love my Landy.
We had supper again at the restaurant. Everything comes with Injara, the brown sour-dough tray-sized spongy pancake. You break bits off and mop up some sauce and pop it in your mouth. It is a very social dish where groups sit around the tray and all partake while chatting loudly. The difference in the dishes is the difference in the very spicy sauce.
We chatted to an Austrian, Martin, who is traveling around alone on a motorbike. He is an agricultural economist who teaches at an agricultural college in Austria. He is just as passionate as we are that the 'donor do-gooders' are ruining the African economy. We chatted for an hour, very interesting man. The electricity had switched off by the time we got back to our room.
Map of Africa
Our route
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Moyale Kenya
Monday 16th July 2007 Moyale Hotel – Ethiopian side
Just to the north of Marsabit the road climbed up the side and round the rim of an enormous collapsed volcanic cone, 500m in diameter, then dropped into the Dida Galgalud Desert of the rocky lava field, with camels and goats. They must live on rocks because there isn’t much else to eat.
Daves Landcruiser’s radiator is still leaking and we spent a lot of time waiting for him to solder up the leaks (which should have been fixed in Nairobi so we are getting annoyed!!!). Then he had trouble with his shock absorber and we had to wait again. This in country where bandits have been known to hijack vehicles!!!
The road was hard and corrugated for the first 100Km and one didn’t know whether to go fast and jump over all the corrugations or slower and hit all the rocks the size of cricket balls and larger. The 250Km took us 8 ½ hours, including g the 1 1/2hr stops for the Landcruiser. Parts looked like the northern Transvaal with lots of goats, camels and Boran-type cattle.
However we got to the border town of Moyale eventually and got through into Ethiopia with no problems. Now the language and writing is totally foreign, so we feel a bit unsure of ourselves, being illiterate in Amharic which is the one (of 70 languages in Ethiopia) used here. Not only is the date wrong in Ethiopia, as they are due to celebrate the start of the new millennium on 11th September this year, (it is still 1999 now), but the time is also different. They have 12-hour cycles starting at 6.00 and 18.00, so things could get confusing! Also they drive on the right side of the road!! When we got across the border Willy kept telling Brian over the radio to ‘go right’, but Brian protested that he had to go straight because Nev had already found a place to stay up the road. So Brian had already driven a kilometer on the left side of the road until he realized what Willy was talking about! Not easy.
We have been adopted by a little man (why are they all so small and thin?) who changed money for us, showed us an hotel to stay, took us to a restaurant for a traditional Ethiopian meal, is a mine of information and is taking us to the South Omo River Valley as our guide.
Don’t think of hotels or restaurants in SA standards. The hotel consists of en suite bedrooms. There is a double bed with clean linen, mozzy net and a blanket and cover, a little table and chair and two small pedestals. None of the colours match. The bathroom has a shower head and a hole for the water, a toilet pan with no seat (we have found this often, that there is no seat) and a basin. Only one tap, as there is no such thing as warm water, and a bucket of water with a jug for flushing the toilet as the water supply is erratic – there was no water when we arrived, but there is electricity from the town’s very loud diesel generator down the road (which switches off between 1.00 and 7.00. Apparently this country is very safe and we can walk anywhere at any time.
The restaurant is clean but just looks grubby and I had roast goat. Pieces served in a miniature braai with the coals on the bottom (very salty) with rolls, a chilly sauce and a small pancake-like roll of fermented teff bread, which tasted a bit like beer bread, and Nev didn’t like. He had a goat-rice dish (very salty too) which I thought was unusual and delicious. He thought it was fine.
Sunday 15th July 2007 Marsbit National Park camp site
This morning we made our way out of Loyangolani and after 50Km the terrain changed from rocks and gravel and hills to flatter, marginally more grass and smaller rocks. Then 40Km from North Horr there were stones that would make a hardware shop owner weep. Scattered everywhere were concrete stones, a layer 10cm deep for miles around. The shop-owner would have had to sweep them all up to sell them.
This gave way to flat desert gravel plains with herds of single-humped camels. Some had a bell round their necks, others were tied in a long string, nose to tail, loaded with yellow plastic barrels filled with water and tied on their backs, together with firewood, led by a woman, her clothing flapping in the wind, her heavy coloured bead necklaces holding her from being swept away.
After North Horr, a dusty conglomeration of rounded huts and brick buildings, we made our way across the Chalbi desert and into the vast (20KmX20Km at least) drying salt pan north of Marsabit. We got left behind looking at some vultures and had to drive through the pan, making our own track towards the well-used one where Dave waited. The poor Landy really had to work, and nearly boiled, but Nev wasn’t going to stop in case he got stuck like Rick did in the Magadigadi. So we kept going and made it safely. It was like being in the middle of a field of blinding white snow stretching to the horizon in all directions.
Marsabit is a really dirty town where discarded plastic bags flutter on the acacias and grass and buildings, and the goats eat the accumulated rubbish in the middle of the streets. These were the fattest goats we have seen, they do well on all the plastic! 5Km from the town was the dump with plastic bags hooked on bushes for a couple on the kilometers in a westerly direction, blown by the wind. The camp site just outside the reserve, however was really pleasant. It was a full days drive, we only arrived at 16.00.
The past 4 days have definitely been one of the highlights of our trip and shouldn’t be missed by travelers in Kenya.
We were sorry to leave Kenya, we really enjoyed it, and had no bad experiences with the people there.
Saturday 14th July 2007 Palm Shade Camp, Loyangolani
The others decided they had had enough of the wind (just as I was getting used to it), and it was too windy to go fishing so we packed up and made our way north towards Loyangolani, a Turkana village near the Lake. We rock-bounced again and after a few Km Dave’s Landcruiser was leaking water again so while more soldering repairs were being done with Will’s help on the road, Brian and we carried on ahead slowly able to admire the scenery, looking at the extinct volcanoes and speculating. Nev spotted a well with fresh water. We were amazed to count more than 40 people in this harsh rocky land where they have built houses of sticks and branches of thorn trees. Even the “Three Little Pigs” were able to build better houses than these Turkana people.
We arrived at Loyangolani. There is a lodge here, closed because it out of season, and four campsites. Nev and I decided to sleep in a banda – little individual room (to protect our tent again) so went with a guide around the tiny village of traditional huts with women dressed in traditional Turkana garb for the tourists. However they dress with their ornate and colourful heavy beaded necklaces every day, not just for tourists. The colours indicate to which family they belong. The girls get ‘booked’ when they are about 10 years old and ‘married’ at pubity. The children gatheres around us and held our hands and Brian looked like father Christmas with all the kids around him. I asked the guide where the toilets were, and he pointed to the dry river bed, saying when the rains come, they wash the place clean.
When we were taken to the hot springs surrounded by palm springs like an oasis, which supplies the town with water. There we met an American missionary who was sick and tired of the United Nations and other “Do-Gooders” dishing out free food and making the people reliant on aid that he has started work projects in the area and is busy negotiating with a foreign firm to built 100X 2Mwatt wind turbines in the area to exploit the prevailing winds. He told us that this is the LOW season for wind, being winter, and the reat of the year the wind blows twice as hard as it was blowing today. Whew! The temp reaches 64 degrees in mid summer.
In our little banda we can hear (and feel, as it isn’t wind-proof, thank goodness as it is so warm) the wind howling through the palm trees and are glad we didn’t put up our tent in this wind.
Friday 13th July 2007 windy camp Lake Turkana
Guess what? We woke up to a gale but while I cleaned out Landy, Nev changed the oil, and filters. So did Willy and Brian while Dave soldered his radiator again. Nev and Brian then went fishing and Nev they both caught their first Nile Perch of about 5-6Kg each. They give quite a good fight, and Brian’s jumped right out of the water like a marlin. Dave’s big one got away, shame.
Nev and I explored the surrounding area of rocks, devoid of cover with the wind howling about our ears and nearly blowing us off the cliff edges. On the plains where there were pedestals of tough spiky salt-resistant grass we came across herds of goats eking out a survival eating virtually nothing. Here was evidence of hyena and mice, we saw a crock, goliath heron, Egyptian Geese, Fish eagle and great comorants, grey-headed gulls and lapwings. We worked out a way to cook using a bit of charcoal and protecting the fire with stones. In the evening the wind abated slightly and Brian decided to put up his roof-top tent again. In the middle of the night he had to abandon the idea and put his tent down again and spent the rest of the sleepless night on the ground in the wind.
Our Landy was one meter away from the Lake. The water is slightly salty and has a slippery feel on the skin. It is alkaline and people and animals drink it readily. We used our own water for consumption, but the Lake water for all washing, and we swam and washed in it near the edge, too scared to go too far into the water because of the risk of crocodiles. We are getting used to the wind,
Thursday 12th July 2007 windy camp Lake Turkana
After proceeding for 15Km we came across South Horr, a tiny town in the middle of nowhere with a huge British flag flying on a pole and a white 50 something year old lady waving at us. We stopped to chat while the others went on ahead. She is married to a black Kenyan, and has become a Kenyan citizen, living now in this remote place in a little block house (nice) in the middle of nowhere with fantastic views. She is as happy as a lark and invited us in for tea. We couldn’t take up the offer as the others had left us and we had to catch up. The road wound along a contour with steep rocky mountains on either side of the valley – really stunning scenery.
The topography changed slowly over a few Km and became flatter and sandier and then evidence of the violent volcanic explosions started with rocks littering the plains in all directions. The were 50Km of stones ranging from cricket ball size to soccer ball size, and some very large boulders lying virtually touching each other, and lying in heaps in places. Black rocks, smoothed by the continual action of wind and sand glistened in the sun. No-one could have dodged that hail of rocks. There were also lava flows. Reminiscent of parts of Namibia, it was fascinating.
We continued along a rocky track and suddenly there she was, the jade sea, Lake Turkana. Blue, blue at first but as we came down the mountain to 350m the reason for the nickname was revealed. Not grass green, but a clear aqua green with the white flecks of waves whipped up by the infamous winds of the area. Not winds, gales gusting up to 60Km/hr and not less than 30Km/hr. We had been told about a camp site which was out of the wind in the south so stone-hopped along an imaginary track which hadn’t been used for months and after about 15Km found what we thought was a relatively sheltered spot under a cliff. This was remoteness in the extreme. But lo and behold, within 5 minutes, there was Samburu wanting work. No matter where you are the locals appear, out of the trees/grass and now even rocks!! We decided to employ him so that if we caught any fish he could scale, gut and fillet them, or be available for any other chores. He was quite happy. We set up camp in a gale, readied the boat, and waited for the wind to die down (it didn’t), so Will and Brian went fishing. An hour later they came back and Will had caught a 20Kg Nile Perch. It was a real beaut (Peter, our man said it was small as they are caught up to 100Kg!!), and proceeded to expertly fillet it and we had a delicious supper. It was so windy we battled to cook as the gas fire kept getting blown out.
The others put out their awnings and roof-top tents. Dave’s awning got bent with the wind so they folded their tents up and followed our lead in sleeping inside the vehicle, which we had made provision for by taking out one layer of boxes and sleeping on a mattress on a layer level with the top of the fridge. We were warned that the wind only gets harder and harder at night. The temp during the day was 34, at 21H00 was 31 and cooled to 24 in the early morning. The Landy was buffeted all night but we slept well.
Wednesday 11th July 2007 Dry River Bed Bush camp Samburu country.
We woke with a start as a church bell was gonging in our ears 10m away from our tent. There were shouts of ‘Neville, switch off your alarm’ and lots of discussion about whether the muslim shouting or the church bells were the worse! It got us on to an early start and we got to Maralal where Willy’s shock absorber bracket was re-welded.
We proceeded towards Lake Turkana, dreading the road ahead. It was not as bad as expected, except for different places where we had to go in “one low” and covered 120Km in 4 hours, having to stop for an hour while Willy soldered up the Landcruiser’s leaking radiator, as it was overheating again. Maureen and I played cards in the shade and Nev and Brian fitted the new hose to our Landy.
From the highlands of Maralal, we saw one of the remaining two commercial wheat farms, passed through areas of heavily overgrazed (the G word again – goats) then beautiful virgin forests of cedar and euphorbia, and got to the Losiolo escarpment overlooking the mountains and valleys of the Suguta Valley below.
United Nations food programmes do not realize how much harm they are doing. In the past when there was a drought the locals sold or ate their goats/cattle/sheep to live, thereby naturally reducing the stock numbers on the land. Now when there is a drought, the locals are given food and water and the stock numbers put even more pressure on the already overgrazed land. If only someone with brains would do a bit of research before “doing good”, which is harming the economy and land. We see this again and again.
The Samburu here dress in multicoloured cloths and piles of beautiful beaded necklaces. The young men have plaited beaded ropes draped around their bodies and red blankets. They all have stretched ear lobes. They are tall and lean. They have similar customs to the Maasai.
We dropped down into the valley with isolated inselbergs rising out of the scrub and found an isolated dry river bed in which to make camp. It is quiet and awesome here.
After some time four armed Samburu arrived with 303 rifles. Nev went to talk to them and found they couldn’t speak English but were friendly. I got out the dictionary and found they wanted to be our security for the night . After protracted discussion we settled for KSh200 each for the night. We felt safe and they did a good job all night by patrolling around our camp. Nev heard a hyena calling, which made his night.
Tuesday 10th July 2007 Catholic Mission, Wamba
We videoed a pair of lion mating, which they do every 8-9 minutes, and saw lots and lots of elephants which are destroying the trees. We were quite disappointed in the number of animals we saw, although the birds were lovely.
We left at about 4pm and made our way to Wamba, 60Km away and slept at a Catholic Mission where the kids bothered me with “give me sweet” and “give me biscuit”, but they left when the sun went down.
Monday 9th July 2007 Samburu camp
This morning before the sun rose and I took a photo of the peaks of Mount Kenya just before the clouds covered it again. Everyone has decided to stick together.
We proceeded towards Nanyuki where we shopped for spare hub grease covers, had some delicious samoosas and proceeded through freezing rain and 13 deg C at 2600m, through fields of commercial wheat with electric fences around, down the scarp to 800m, 30deg C in 10Km.
We got to the gate at Samburu Reserve. Samburu is famous for having a lioness who is in a habit of adopting young Oryx. She has adopted five so far, quite a story. There are also different animals like the beisa oryx (lighter than ours), reticulated giraffe (very cleanly coloured markings), gerenuk (long-necked browsers like impala), Grevy’s zebra (thin pin-stripes) and lots of pairs of dik dik.
Sunday 8th July 2007 Naro Moru River Lodge
Before we left Garissa, Government Hotel (the dust bowl) which is like a large, sprawling Karoo town, Nev spoke to a representative of the United Nations. He was overseeing the processing of food parcels to be given to the 169000 Somali refugees who were in a camp near Dif on the Kenya/Somalia border. The Kenyan police have now been given orders to “shoot to kill” any Somalis who came into Kenya, so no more were coming. Some of the Somali “Shiftas” (bandits) posed as refugees asking for food, and then the rest who were hiding and armed, would ambush the donors, shooting and killing them. So it was difficult to know the difference. In Garissa there were many Somalis who have been there a while and the Kenyan government have been accepted as Kenyans. They were very tall and lean, and wear turbans on their heads. The woman are totally covered up as they are Muslims.
We proceeded towards Thika, passing large herds of camels grazing the acacia. The huts of the locals are sticks bent over, with branches thrown over for shade, temporary housing for the nomads. We did a big shop at a lovely new supermarket while we thought the Landcruiser’s radiator was being welded, and proceeded towards Nanyuki. Running out of light we found a camp at Naro Moru. We could see the tip of Mount Kenya peaking through the couds, full of snow!! Here again, on the equator we had a chilly night. It never ceases to amaze us how cold it can get on the equator. Temperature is a function of altitude rather than latitude.
Just to the north of Marsabit the road climbed up the side and round the rim of an enormous collapsed volcanic cone, 500m in diameter, then dropped into the Dida Galgalud Desert of the rocky lava field, with camels and goats. They must live on rocks because there isn’t much else to eat.
Daves Landcruiser’s radiator is still leaking and we spent a lot of time waiting for him to solder up the leaks (which should have been fixed in Nairobi so we are getting annoyed!!!). Then he had trouble with his shock absorber and we had to wait again. This in country where bandits have been known to hijack vehicles!!!
The road was hard and corrugated for the first 100Km and one didn’t know whether to go fast and jump over all the corrugations or slower and hit all the rocks the size of cricket balls and larger. The 250Km took us 8 ½ hours, including g the 1 1/2hr stops for the Landcruiser. Parts looked like the northern Transvaal with lots of goats, camels and Boran-type cattle.
However we got to the border town of Moyale eventually and got through into Ethiopia with no problems. Now the language and writing is totally foreign, so we feel a bit unsure of ourselves, being illiterate in Amharic which is the one (of 70 languages in Ethiopia) used here. Not only is the date wrong in Ethiopia, as they are due to celebrate the start of the new millennium on 11th September this year, (it is still 1999 now), but the time is also different. They have 12-hour cycles starting at 6.00 and 18.00, so things could get confusing! Also they drive on the right side of the road!! When we got across the border Willy kept telling Brian over the radio to ‘go right’, but Brian protested that he had to go straight because Nev had already found a place to stay up the road. So Brian had already driven a kilometer on the left side of the road until he realized what Willy was talking about! Not easy.
We have been adopted by a little man (why are they all so small and thin?) who changed money for us, showed us an hotel to stay, took us to a restaurant for a traditional Ethiopian meal, is a mine of information and is taking us to the South Omo River Valley as our guide.
Don’t think of hotels or restaurants in SA standards. The hotel consists of en suite bedrooms. There is a double bed with clean linen, mozzy net and a blanket and cover, a little table and chair and two small pedestals. None of the colours match. The bathroom has a shower head and a hole for the water, a toilet pan with no seat (we have found this often, that there is no seat) and a basin. Only one tap, as there is no such thing as warm water, and a bucket of water with a jug for flushing the toilet as the water supply is erratic – there was no water when we arrived, but there is electricity from the town’s very loud diesel generator down the road (which switches off between 1.00 and 7.00. Apparently this country is very safe and we can walk anywhere at any time.
The restaurant is clean but just looks grubby and I had roast goat. Pieces served in a miniature braai with the coals on the bottom (very salty) with rolls, a chilly sauce and a small pancake-like roll of fermented teff bread, which tasted a bit like beer bread, and Nev didn’t like. He had a goat-rice dish (very salty too) which I thought was unusual and delicious. He thought it was fine.
Sunday 15th July 2007 Marsbit National Park camp site
This morning we made our way out of Loyangolani and after 50Km the terrain changed from rocks and gravel and hills to flatter, marginally more grass and smaller rocks. Then 40Km from North Horr there were stones that would make a hardware shop owner weep. Scattered everywhere were concrete stones, a layer 10cm deep for miles around. The shop-owner would have had to sweep them all up to sell them.
This gave way to flat desert gravel plains with herds of single-humped camels. Some had a bell round their necks, others were tied in a long string, nose to tail, loaded with yellow plastic barrels filled with water and tied on their backs, together with firewood, led by a woman, her clothing flapping in the wind, her heavy coloured bead necklaces holding her from being swept away.
After North Horr, a dusty conglomeration of rounded huts and brick buildings, we made our way across the Chalbi desert and into the vast (20KmX20Km at least) drying salt pan north of Marsabit. We got left behind looking at some vultures and had to drive through the pan, making our own track towards the well-used one where Dave waited. The poor Landy really had to work, and nearly boiled, but Nev wasn’t going to stop in case he got stuck like Rick did in the Magadigadi. So we kept going and made it safely. It was like being in the middle of a field of blinding white snow stretching to the horizon in all directions.
Marsabit is a really dirty town where discarded plastic bags flutter on the acacias and grass and buildings, and the goats eat the accumulated rubbish in the middle of the streets. These were the fattest goats we have seen, they do well on all the plastic! 5Km from the town was the dump with plastic bags hooked on bushes for a couple on the kilometers in a westerly direction, blown by the wind. The camp site just outside the reserve, however was really pleasant. It was a full days drive, we only arrived at 16.00.
The past 4 days have definitely been one of the highlights of our trip and shouldn’t be missed by travelers in Kenya.
We were sorry to leave Kenya, we really enjoyed it, and had no bad experiences with the people there.
Saturday 14th July 2007 Palm Shade Camp, Loyangolani
The others decided they had had enough of the wind (just as I was getting used to it), and it was too windy to go fishing so we packed up and made our way north towards Loyangolani, a Turkana village near the Lake. We rock-bounced again and after a few Km Dave’s Landcruiser was leaking water again so while more soldering repairs were being done with Will’s help on the road, Brian and we carried on ahead slowly able to admire the scenery, looking at the extinct volcanoes and speculating. Nev spotted a well with fresh water. We were amazed to count more than 40 people in this harsh rocky land where they have built houses of sticks and branches of thorn trees. Even the “Three Little Pigs” were able to build better houses than these Turkana people.
We arrived at Loyangolani. There is a lodge here, closed because it out of season, and four campsites. Nev and I decided to sleep in a banda – little individual room (to protect our tent again) so went with a guide around the tiny village of traditional huts with women dressed in traditional Turkana garb for the tourists. However they dress with their ornate and colourful heavy beaded necklaces every day, not just for tourists. The colours indicate to which family they belong. The girls get ‘booked’ when they are about 10 years old and ‘married’ at pubity. The children gatheres around us and held our hands and Brian looked like father Christmas with all the kids around him. I asked the guide where the toilets were, and he pointed to the dry river bed, saying when the rains come, they wash the place clean.
When we were taken to the hot springs surrounded by palm springs like an oasis, which supplies the town with water. There we met an American missionary who was sick and tired of the United Nations and other “Do-Gooders” dishing out free food and making the people reliant on aid that he has started work projects in the area and is busy negotiating with a foreign firm to built 100X 2Mwatt wind turbines in the area to exploit the prevailing winds. He told us that this is the LOW season for wind, being winter, and the reat of the year the wind blows twice as hard as it was blowing today. Whew! The temp reaches 64 degrees in mid summer.
In our little banda we can hear (and feel, as it isn’t wind-proof, thank goodness as it is so warm) the wind howling through the palm trees and are glad we didn’t put up our tent in this wind.
Friday 13th July 2007 windy camp Lake Turkana
Guess what? We woke up to a gale but while I cleaned out Landy, Nev changed the oil, and filters. So did Willy and Brian while Dave soldered his radiator again. Nev and Brian then went fishing and Nev they both caught their first Nile Perch of about 5-6Kg each. They give quite a good fight, and Brian’s jumped right out of the water like a marlin. Dave’s big one got away, shame.
Nev and I explored the surrounding area of rocks, devoid of cover with the wind howling about our ears and nearly blowing us off the cliff edges. On the plains where there were pedestals of tough spiky salt-resistant grass we came across herds of goats eking out a survival eating virtually nothing. Here was evidence of hyena and mice, we saw a crock, goliath heron, Egyptian Geese, Fish eagle and great comorants, grey-headed gulls and lapwings. We worked out a way to cook using a bit of charcoal and protecting the fire with stones. In the evening the wind abated slightly and Brian decided to put up his roof-top tent again. In the middle of the night he had to abandon the idea and put his tent down again and spent the rest of the sleepless night on the ground in the wind.
Our Landy was one meter away from the Lake. The water is slightly salty and has a slippery feel on the skin. It is alkaline and people and animals drink it readily. We used our own water for consumption, but the Lake water for all washing, and we swam and washed in it near the edge, too scared to go too far into the water because of the risk of crocodiles. We are getting used to the wind,
Thursday 12th July 2007 windy camp Lake Turkana
After proceeding for 15Km we came across South Horr, a tiny town in the middle of nowhere with a huge British flag flying on a pole and a white 50 something year old lady waving at us. We stopped to chat while the others went on ahead. She is married to a black Kenyan, and has become a Kenyan citizen, living now in this remote place in a little block house (nice) in the middle of nowhere with fantastic views. She is as happy as a lark and invited us in for tea. We couldn’t take up the offer as the others had left us and we had to catch up. The road wound along a contour with steep rocky mountains on either side of the valley – really stunning scenery.
The topography changed slowly over a few Km and became flatter and sandier and then evidence of the violent volcanic explosions started with rocks littering the plains in all directions. The were 50Km of stones ranging from cricket ball size to soccer ball size, and some very large boulders lying virtually touching each other, and lying in heaps in places. Black rocks, smoothed by the continual action of wind and sand glistened in the sun. No-one could have dodged that hail of rocks. There were also lava flows. Reminiscent of parts of Namibia, it was fascinating.
We continued along a rocky track and suddenly there she was, the jade sea, Lake Turkana. Blue, blue at first but as we came down the mountain to 350m the reason for the nickname was revealed. Not grass green, but a clear aqua green with the white flecks of waves whipped up by the infamous winds of the area. Not winds, gales gusting up to 60Km/hr and not less than 30Km/hr. We had been told about a camp site which was out of the wind in the south so stone-hopped along an imaginary track which hadn’t been used for months and after about 15Km found what we thought was a relatively sheltered spot under a cliff. This was remoteness in the extreme. But lo and behold, within 5 minutes, there was Samburu wanting work. No matter where you are the locals appear, out of the trees/grass and now even rocks!! We decided to employ him so that if we caught any fish he could scale, gut and fillet them, or be available for any other chores. He was quite happy. We set up camp in a gale, readied the boat, and waited for the wind to die down (it didn’t), so Will and Brian went fishing. An hour later they came back and Will had caught a 20Kg Nile Perch. It was a real beaut (Peter, our man said it was small as they are caught up to 100Kg!!), and proceeded to expertly fillet it and we had a delicious supper. It was so windy we battled to cook as the gas fire kept getting blown out.
The others put out their awnings and roof-top tents. Dave’s awning got bent with the wind so they folded their tents up and followed our lead in sleeping inside the vehicle, which we had made provision for by taking out one layer of boxes and sleeping on a mattress on a layer level with the top of the fridge. We were warned that the wind only gets harder and harder at night. The temp during the day was 34, at 21H00 was 31 and cooled to 24 in the early morning. The Landy was buffeted all night but we slept well.
Wednesday 11th July 2007 Dry River Bed Bush camp Samburu country.
We woke with a start as a church bell was gonging in our ears 10m away from our tent. There were shouts of ‘Neville, switch off your alarm’ and lots of discussion about whether the muslim shouting or the church bells were the worse! It got us on to an early start and we got to Maralal where Willy’s shock absorber bracket was re-welded.
We proceeded towards Lake Turkana, dreading the road ahead. It was not as bad as expected, except for different places where we had to go in “one low” and covered 120Km in 4 hours, having to stop for an hour while Willy soldered up the Landcruiser’s leaking radiator, as it was overheating again. Maureen and I played cards in the shade and Nev and Brian fitted the new hose to our Landy.
From the highlands of Maralal, we saw one of the remaining two commercial wheat farms, passed through areas of heavily overgrazed (the G word again – goats) then beautiful virgin forests of cedar and euphorbia, and got to the Losiolo escarpment overlooking the mountains and valleys of the Suguta Valley below.
United Nations food programmes do not realize how much harm they are doing. In the past when there was a drought the locals sold or ate their goats/cattle/sheep to live, thereby naturally reducing the stock numbers on the land. Now when there is a drought, the locals are given food and water and the stock numbers put even more pressure on the already overgrazed land. If only someone with brains would do a bit of research before “doing good”, which is harming the economy and land. We see this again and again.
The Samburu here dress in multicoloured cloths and piles of beautiful beaded necklaces. The young men have plaited beaded ropes draped around their bodies and red blankets. They all have stretched ear lobes. They are tall and lean. They have similar customs to the Maasai.
We dropped down into the valley with isolated inselbergs rising out of the scrub and found an isolated dry river bed in which to make camp. It is quiet and awesome here.
After some time four armed Samburu arrived with 303 rifles. Nev went to talk to them and found they couldn’t speak English but were friendly. I got out the dictionary and found they wanted to be our security for the night . After protracted discussion we settled for KSh200 each for the night. We felt safe and they did a good job all night by patrolling around our camp. Nev heard a hyena calling, which made his night.
Tuesday 10th July 2007 Catholic Mission, Wamba
We videoed a pair of lion mating, which they do every 8-9 minutes, and saw lots and lots of elephants which are destroying the trees. We were quite disappointed in the number of animals we saw, although the birds were lovely.
We left at about 4pm and made our way to Wamba, 60Km away and slept at a Catholic Mission where the kids bothered me with “give me sweet” and “give me biscuit”, but they left when the sun went down.
Monday 9th July 2007 Samburu camp
This morning before the sun rose and I took a photo of the peaks of Mount Kenya just before the clouds covered it again. Everyone has decided to stick together.
We proceeded towards Nanyuki where we shopped for spare hub grease covers, had some delicious samoosas and proceeded through freezing rain and 13 deg C at 2600m, through fields of commercial wheat with electric fences around, down the scarp to 800m, 30deg C in 10Km.
We got to the gate at Samburu Reserve. Samburu is famous for having a lioness who is in a habit of adopting young Oryx. She has adopted five so far, quite a story. There are also different animals like the beisa oryx (lighter than ours), reticulated giraffe (very cleanly coloured markings), gerenuk (long-necked browsers like impala), Grevy’s zebra (thin pin-stripes) and lots of pairs of dik dik.
Sunday 8th July 2007 Naro Moru River Lodge
Before we left Garissa, Government Hotel (the dust bowl) which is like a large, sprawling Karoo town, Nev spoke to a representative of the United Nations. He was overseeing the processing of food parcels to be given to the 169000 Somali refugees who were in a camp near Dif on the Kenya/Somalia border. The Kenyan police have now been given orders to “shoot to kill” any Somalis who came into Kenya, so no more were coming. Some of the Somali “Shiftas” (bandits) posed as refugees asking for food, and then the rest who were hiding and armed, would ambush the donors, shooting and killing them. So it was difficult to know the difference. In Garissa there were many Somalis who have been there a while and the Kenyan government have been accepted as Kenyans. They were very tall and lean, and wear turbans on their heads. The woman are totally covered up as they are Muslims.
We proceeded towards Thika, passing large herds of camels grazing the acacia. The huts of the locals are sticks bent over, with branches thrown over for shade, temporary housing for the nomads. We did a big shop at a lovely new supermarket while we thought the Landcruiser’s radiator was being welded, and proceeded towards Nanyuki. Running out of light we found a camp at Naro Moru. We could see the tip of Mount Kenya peaking through the couds, full of snow!! Here again, on the equator we had a chilly night. It never ceases to amaze us how cold it can get on the equator. Temperature is a function of altitude rather than latitude.
Sunday, July 8, 2007
Garissa
Saturday 7th July 2007 Bahir Hotel Old City Lamu Island
This morning we were woken at the crack of dawn by the raucous braying of a donkey right outside our window, and we both jumped with fright. That was the end of all thought of sleep. The rooster started again, and then the muezzin followed, probably also woken by the donkey. We took a fast motor boat back to the mainland, organized by our little goatee-bearded chappie who kept popping up and helping whenever we needed him!
We met the others and proceeded to Garissa via Garsen (No police guard was necessary today?). On the way we saw Vulturine guinea fowl, large birds with pointed tails and stripped neck feathers.
I was a rough road but not as bad as expected. The countryside is harsh, scrub bush with not much grass, resulting in erosion (again). More and more camels are being used as the main source of transport as we approach the Somali border. The cattle are light coloured Boran-type, huge herds, and no agriculture as it is far too dry and hot. Temp went up to 33, but it often goes to 40 apparently. The Landcruiser is having over-heating problems again and electrical problems again. We arrived at Garissa and the locals appear very different here. They are very tall (2m), very skinny, thin-faced and Somali-looking. There are obviously mostly Muslems here. Some of our group wanted to bush-camp but Nev vetoed that idea as he wasn’t happy about the security, and found the ‘Government Guest House”, who allowed us to camp in the grounds. It is Saturday night, and they are having a party.
Dad Karg always talks about Garissa where he came during the war, and when Nev phoned him, he immediately knew where we were and asked if we were next to the Tana River, which is a few meters from us.
The others are debating whether to stick with us and see Africa, or speed on ahead.
Friday 6th July 2007 Bahir Hotel Old City Lamu Island
This morning we were woken at the crack of dawn by a rooster crowing outside our window. He went on for ages, and banished all thought of sleep.
We went on a fishing trip on a dhow to the next Island in the archipelago, Manda Island. Well, the fishing consisted of hand-lines dropped into the water next to the mangroves. The only people who caught anything were the captain and his mate, who each caught one tiny fish. We just baked in the sun. Then while the captain cooked a Swahili meal some of us went for a 2Km walk along the lovely beach. We had to eat the lunch with our fingers. It was rice with a tomato-vege gravy and braaied spiced fish. Yummy. Always serve your guests late, after they usually eat because then they are really hungry and enjoy the food.
When we got back half our crew decided they had had enough of Lamu and went back to the mainland to wait for us while we spent another night there. We spent an interesting evening with an Austrian couple who had just been to Ethiopia and gave us tips on where to go.
Thursday 5th July 2007 Bahir Hotel Old City Lamu Island
We had a goodnight and were awoken by the calling of a muezzin calling the muslems to prayers at five o clock. Due to form our sneaky little fellow showed up at 9am to take us on a tour of the old town. The town consists of narrow little alleys. There are no cars on Lamu except for one Landrover and a 3-wheeled ambulance, so no roads. Transport is by donkey back or people cart from the tidal warf . Most alleys are only 1 to 2meters wide and when the donkeys pass with their load, you have to stand in a doorway to let them pass. All the drainage from bathrooms and kitchen drains into the sea via open drains so you have to be careful where you step so as not to step into the drain. The aleeys are more or less clean, well sort of, at least they do sweep them every morning, but there is a smell. The sewerage goes into septic tanks. The warf is dirty. The town is about 10 alleyways wide parallel to the warf for about 1Km. The town dates back to the 14th century, by the Arabs, and up to 40 houses are interconnected by upstairs passages over the alleys, so the muslem women in those days did not have to leave the houses. Most of the Arab section is made of coral and limestone instead of cement with beautiful carved doors and up to three stories high. The Swahili section is made more cheaply with mangrove poles and mud. They live right on top of each other and the ally-ways are cool with lots of skinny cats and hundreds of donkeys, either carrying loads or just standing around. There are wells from which they draw water. Most of them have plastic bottles and junk inside, but it was demonstrated that the fish in the well are still alive, so the water is not poisoned, and is good to drink!! The people are very friendly and welcoming and everyone calls Jambo (greetings) and Karibu (welcome) to which you have to reply Jambo, Asante (Thank you). Our little chappie did a very good job of the tour, and was really useful and wasn’t a crook at all.
In the afternoon Nev and I went on a dhow for a sail to Shela beach where all the Larny hotels and expensive private homes are One, we were told belongs to Prince Ranier of Manarco, another to “the Italian Mafia” (don’t know if we believed that).July is not peak season because of the winds and the sea is dirty from the rains inland bringing the silt down the Tana River into the sea, so we couldn’t snorkel.
Wednesday 4th July 2007 Bahir Hotel Old City Lamu Island
Traveled from Watamu via Malindi and Garsen to Mot on a potted tarmac road as far as Garsen.Then we had to take two armed police guards to estcort us to M because of the fighting between two tribes, the Ardei and the Orma, and because Somali shiftas were in the area. We arrived at Lamu after taking a short trip (1Km or so) from the mainland and booked into the Bahar Hotel at R120 per person per night bed and breakfast. It was a basic but clean hotel (1 star SA style). There was one short Swahili chappie with a goatie beard smelling of alcohol and tobacco who latched onto us and showed us the hotel. He said he was a tour guide and would show us around the city the next day. He looked to us like a typical shrewd sneaky, untrustworthy crook.
This morning we were woken at the crack of dawn by the raucous braying of a donkey right outside our window, and we both jumped with fright. That was the end of all thought of sleep. The rooster started again, and then the muezzin followed, probably also woken by the donkey. We took a fast motor boat back to the mainland, organized by our little goatee-bearded chappie who kept popping up and helping whenever we needed him!
We met the others and proceeded to Garissa via Garsen (No police guard was necessary today?). On the way we saw Vulturine guinea fowl, large birds with pointed tails and stripped neck feathers.
I was a rough road but not as bad as expected. The countryside is harsh, scrub bush with not much grass, resulting in erosion (again). More and more camels are being used as the main source of transport as we approach the Somali border. The cattle are light coloured Boran-type, huge herds, and no agriculture as it is far too dry and hot. Temp went up to 33, but it often goes to 40 apparently. The Landcruiser is having over-heating problems again and electrical problems again. We arrived at Garissa and the locals appear very different here. They are very tall (2m), very skinny, thin-faced and Somali-looking. There are obviously mostly Muslems here. Some of our group wanted to bush-camp but Nev vetoed that idea as he wasn’t happy about the security, and found the ‘Government Guest House”, who allowed us to camp in the grounds. It is Saturday night, and they are having a party.
Dad Karg always talks about Garissa where he came during the war, and when Nev phoned him, he immediately knew where we were and asked if we were next to the Tana River, which is a few meters from us.
The others are debating whether to stick with us and see Africa, or speed on ahead.
Friday 6th July 2007 Bahir Hotel Old City Lamu Island
This morning we were woken at the crack of dawn by a rooster crowing outside our window. He went on for ages, and banished all thought of sleep.
We went on a fishing trip on a dhow to the next Island in the archipelago, Manda Island. Well, the fishing consisted of hand-lines dropped into the water next to the mangroves. The only people who caught anything were the captain and his mate, who each caught one tiny fish. We just baked in the sun. Then while the captain cooked a Swahili meal some of us went for a 2Km walk along the lovely beach. We had to eat the lunch with our fingers. It was rice with a tomato-vege gravy and braaied spiced fish. Yummy. Always serve your guests late, after they usually eat because then they are really hungry and enjoy the food.
When we got back half our crew decided they had had enough of Lamu and went back to the mainland to wait for us while we spent another night there. We spent an interesting evening with an Austrian couple who had just been to Ethiopia and gave us tips on where to go.
Thursday 5th July 2007 Bahir Hotel Old City Lamu Island
We had a goodnight and were awoken by the calling of a muezzin calling the muslems to prayers at five o clock. Due to form our sneaky little fellow showed up at 9am to take us on a tour of the old town. The town consists of narrow little alleys. There are no cars on Lamu except for one Landrover and a 3-wheeled ambulance, so no roads. Transport is by donkey back or people cart from the tidal warf . Most alleys are only 1 to 2meters wide and when the donkeys pass with their load, you have to stand in a doorway to let them pass. All the drainage from bathrooms and kitchen drains into the sea via open drains so you have to be careful where you step so as not to step into the drain. The aleeys are more or less clean, well sort of, at least they do sweep them every morning, but there is a smell. The sewerage goes into septic tanks. The warf is dirty. The town is about 10 alleyways wide parallel to the warf for about 1Km. The town dates back to the 14th century, by the Arabs, and up to 40 houses are interconnected by upstairs passages over the alleys, so the muslem women in those days did not have to leave the houses. Most of the Arab section is made of coral and limestone instead of cement with beautiful carved doors and up to three stories high. The Swahili section is made more cheaply with mangrove poles and mud. They live right on top of each other and the ally-ways are cool with lots of skinny cats and hundreds of donkeys, either carrying loads or just standing around. There are wells from which they draw water. Most of them have plastic bottles and junk inside, but it was demonstrated that the fish in the well are still alive, so the water is not poisoned, and is good to drink!! The people are very friendly and welcoming and everyone calls Jambo (greetings) and Karibu (welcome) to which you have to reply Jambo, Asante (Thank you). Our little chappie did a very good job of the tour, and was really useful and wasn’t a crook at all.
In the afternoon Nev and I went on a dhow for a sail to Shela beach where all the Larny hotels and expensive private homes are One, we were told belongs to Prince Ranier of Manarco, another to “the Italian Mafia” (don’t know if we believed that).July is not peak season because of the winds and the sea is dirty from the rains inland bringing the silt down the Tana River into the sea, so we couldn’t snorkel.
Wednesday 4th July 2007 Bahir Hotel Old City Lamu Island
Traveled from Watamu via Malindi and Garsen to Mot on a potted tarmac road as far as Garsen.Then we had to take two armed police guards to estcort us to M because of the fighting between two tribes, the Ardei and the Orma, and because Somali shiftas were in the area. We arrived at Lamu after taking a short trip (1Km or so) from the mainland and booked into the Bahar Hotel at R120 per person per night bed and breakfast. It was a basic but clean hotel (1 star SA style). There was one short Swahili chappie with a goatie beard smelling of alcohol and tobacco who latched onto us and showed us the hotel. He said he was a tour guide and would show us around the city the next day. He looked to us like a typical shrewd sneaky, untrustworthy crook.
Tuesday, July 3, 2007
Watamu
Tuesday 3rd July 2007 Ocean Sports, Watamu
The south east monsoon, the “kaskazi” blew gales all night and we had to move the Landy to face the wind as we were flapping and rocking with the wind. The palm trees sounded like the rattle of porcupine quills as the leaves vibrated in the gale. Not a good night. This Kaskazi blows from April to October, then the monsoon trade winds change to northeast, from November to March called the Kazi. These are the trade winds exploited by the arab dhows during the Eoropean medieval times when Europe was in the clench of the Roman Catholic church. East Africa was being exploited by the Arab Sultans who were trading with spices and textiles from Persia for ivory, gold and slaves from Africa.
Monday 2nd July 2007 Ocean Sports, Watamu
North again to Watamu, where the only available campsite near the beach was at a resort called Ocean Sports which was closed for renovations pending the high season starting in August. ‘Helen’ kindly said we could stay here for R40 per night per couple. The beach is full of seaweed and pollution with empty blue water bottles and old broken plastic slops. Not very attractive. B&M and we visited the famous Gedi ruins while the others sat in the campsite.
These ruins are very like the others we have seen, but extend over 45Ha. It is a whole city , but only the upper class ‘inner city’ has been excavated. There were the remains of the palace, mosques, tombs and houses. We spent the afternoon frustrating the otherwise competent guide who couldn’t answer all our questions and speculations. The remains of the water and sewerage systems are always fascinating.
Sunday 1st July 2007 Kilifi Beach North coast of Kenya
We left reluctantly because it was such a beautiful, peaceful site, but Brian had negotiated that if the others stayed an extra night, we would forfeit one night there. (?????????????). Anyway, it had been agreed, so off B,D,I&W went northwards towards Mombassa while B&M and we went south towards Diana Beach and Shimoni. At Shimoni we were guided through a ‘slave cave’ where it is reputed that the Arab slave traders kept the slaves before loading them on the ships. The guide spoke as if he had learned everything off pat out of a book, with little expression, it was quite funny. We could see the remains of the iron shackles imbedded in the coral rocks. There were stalagmites and stalactites around, still growing. There was a well inside where the slaves could have drunk, and the height of the slightly brackish water still rises and falls with the tide. We took a walk around some other old ruins which had been declared National Monuments in 2002.
We couldn’t find a beach to match Kiwi further south as all the lodges were right next to each other and there was nowhere to get down without going through a lodge whose prices were quoted in pounds stirling! Brian had to have a puncture fixed (potholes I the tar again!) And we had a pizza lunch at Leonardos, an Italian restaurant where everything is made of wood. Absolutely beautiful. There were two range rovers outside which had been rebuilt with all the external metal exchanged for magnificent wood, well varnished and glowing. As we left we passed an sorbet parlor and succumbed to temptation and after tasting a few, all chose the passion fruit flavour. Delicious and refreshing. Had a taste of western Italian culture in amongst all the Africanisation.
So we went north to Mombassa, which is built on an island. Three roads link Mombassa with the mainland. The north road, over a bridge, the west road over a causeway, and the south road which uses a very efficient ferry service over the bay (the one we used, for only R6). We drove around the ‘old town’, similar but not as nice as Stone Town on Zanzibar, with similar Arab origins. We drove up the narrow streets, with the streets getting narrower and narrower with the Landys battling to squeeze through the alleyways, and Nev muttering that he thought he was going the wrong way. We eventually ended up going the wrong way down a one-way street with everyone gesticulating, but Nev was already committed and couldn’t turn, would have had to reverse for 300m, so he drove the rest of the way, luckily not meeting an oncoming vehicle, and Brian following shouting over the radio that we are going the wrong way. Mombassa is a typical small African city with dust and traffic, mixture of first and third world, street traders nd luxury shops, and nothing special apart from its unique position. The ferry crosses a shipping route in and out of the harbour.
We then proceeded north to Kilifi along another badly potholed tar road. The others had got there first and negotiated for us to stay in the only place they could find, which was the use of one room at a holiday resort. We had to park in the construction site, but it did include breakfast for all of us, and it was a safe place to sleep. Our worst campsite so far, Nev would rather have negotiated with a farmer.
Saturday 30th June 2007 Twigi Campsite, Tiwi Beach
At low tide this morning we took a walk along the exposed intertidal coral reef which extended 400metres from the shore, spotting cowries, brittle-stars, sea urchins, sea cucumbers, lots of different little fish, and Brian got squirted with ink by a startled octopus. We went snorkeling and walking in the pools and caves. Then I went thud, or sthlup as Nev says, both feet in the air, I slipped and landed on my side on a rocky protrusion on my left thigh, whew ouch! Now I am really handicapped and am battling to walk with a huge bruise on my thigh.
The group seems to have naturally divided itself into two. Those who want to see and do as much as possible (Brian, Maureen and us) and others (Ingrid, Beryl and Dave) who are quite willing to sit in camp biding their time, but champing at the bit wanting to get a move on so that they can achieve their goal of reaching home by 30th November instead of Christmas, as originally planned. With Willy sitting in the middle. We hope it doesn’t cause problems.
This afternoon Nev changed another universal on the prop-shaft and then we went for a swim when the tide was high again. We had prawns for supper while sitting on the beach watching the rising full moon glistening on the sea.
Friday 29th June 2007 Twigi Campsite, Tiwi Beach
We packed and left, taking a lousy side route through the rural areas where the trees have again been devastated by the charcoal demand. In a remote village we were stopped by very smartly dressed, friendly and polite policemen, and for the first time was asked to produce Nev’s driver’s license and insurance papers. All the other police road blocks we have come across seem to wave tourists through. The route took us via Shimba Hills National Park (didn’t go to that reserve either) which was very overgrown with very large trees, and finally arrived at Tiwi Beach where we joined the others.
This is the BEST!
Palm-tree lined white sands, right on the beach, surf sounds, full moon, perfect.
This is the typical tourist brochure beach, paradise.
Thursday 28th June 2007 Royal Safari Lodge, Voi
We went back to Nairobi and the temperature dropped from 33 deg to 14 deg within 20Km as we rose up the hill. Brian’s Landy was fixed, finding that his power steering pump had also given in. He spent a total of R10,000 having the following fixed: clutch, a couple of bearings replaced, and power steering, and brake cylinder. While we waited, we went to a panel beating shop to have bolts tightened as our roof had been vibrating and needed screws replaced.
We then proceeded towards Mombassa along a pretty terrible road, and suddenly after about 80Km we traveled on a brand new “China” road, the best since we have left SA. The country was very dry and desolate like the Karroo. We passed a section of kilometers of extrusive volcanic lava rocks which lined the road, and saw the mountain with its volcanic lava flows steaming off to our right.
There was a section which has the most concentration of baobabs we have ever seen, thousands and thousands of grey-topped trees covered the landscape in all directions between the Maasai homesteads. Maasai cattle sheep and goats are everywhere, and overgrazing is very evident. We made good time and slept the night at a campsite in a nondescript little town near the East gate of Tsavo National Park (which we didn’t go to) called Voi.
Wednesday 27th June 2007 Ologasailie
This morning before it was too hot, for we are now in the Rift Valley where it is hot and arid, Maasai country, we took a tour around the museum and diggings of the archeologists. There was no-one actively digging because at this time of the year it is too hot. It is a joint project between the Smithsonian Institute of USA and the National Museums of Kenya. Thousands of stone hand tools were found in the area, as well as the petrified bones of extinct hippos, zebras, etc, and a complete skeleton of an extinct elephant, twice the size of the African elephant of today which lived 750,000 ears ago. The bones and many of the implements are still lying around in the protected areas. The sites are very well preserved and it was most interesting. I was sad we had missed the Olduvai Gorge in the Serengeti (because of the democratic vote of the others outweighing those who wanted to see it). In Northern Lake Turkana is another such site, I hope to see that one too.
Then we went south to the beautiful pink Lake Magadi where there is a huge Soda Ash mining company and its associated town. This lake was different from the others, although it had thousands of flamingoes, pelicans, yellow-billed storks and other birds which took to flight and settled again as if to an orchestrated ballet.
We loved the Olorgasailie camp site so much we made our way back in preparation to once again spend time in Nairobi for Landrover to complete their job on Brian’s Landy. I am glad we didn’t miss this part of the trip, and cannot understand why the others preferred to spend the time at the beach.
Tuesday 26th June 2007 Olorgasailie
Brian’s Landy was meant to be ready at 10am and eventually at 12.30 they let us have it and we left to go towards Lake Magadi, where we were meant to be by Saturday 23rd. We dropped from 2000m near Nairobi to 607m and realized there were hot places on the equator after all. On our way there, Brian radioed us to stop as there was black oil on the windscreen. It turned out that an oil pipe had come apart and the fan had sprayed the oil everywhere. Also the aircon didn’t work, so the Landrover garage in Nairobi did a terrible half job and we have to go back for them to complete it. Brian secured the pipe and we made our way to Olorgasailie Prehistoric diggings and camped in the silence. There is something about remoteness and silence which is good for the soul. We all felt it as soon as we got here, and relished it after the continual noise of the city. We talked in hushed tones as if the area were sacred. The light of the moon approaching full was sufficient and the crackling of the fire was the only sound. Peace.
The south east monsoon, the “kaskazi” blew gales all night and we had to move the Landy to face the wind as we were flapping and rocking with the wind. The palm trees sounded like the rattle of porcupine quills as the leaves vibrated in the gale. Not a good night. This Kaskazi blows from April to October, then the monsoon trade winds change to northeast, from November to March called the Kazi. These are the trade winds exploited by the arab dhows during the Eoropean medieval times when Europe was in the clench of the Roman Catholic church. East Africa was being exploited by the Arab Sultans who were trading with spices and textiles from Persia for ivory, gold and slaves from Africa.
Monday 2nd July 2007 Ocean Sports, Watamu
North again to Watamu, where the only available campsite near the beach was at a resort called Ocean Sports which was closed for renovations pending the high season starting in August. ‘Helen’ kindly said we could stay here for R40 per night per couple. The beach is full of seaweed and pollution with empty blue water bottles and old broken plastic slops. Not very attractive. B&M and we visited the famous Gedi ruins while the others sat in the campsite.
These ruins are very like the others we have seen, but extend over 45Ha. It is a whole city , but only the upper class ‘inner city’ has been excavated. There were the remains of the palace, mosques, tombs and houses. We spent the afternoon frustrating the otherwise competent guide who couldn’t answer all our questions and speculations. The remains of the water and sewerage systems are always fascinating.
Sunday 1st July 2007 Kilifi Beach North coast of Kenya
We left reluctantly because it was such a beautiful, peaceful site, but Brian had negotiated that if the others stayed an extra night, we would forfeit one night there. (?????????????). Anyway, it had been agreed, so off B,D,I&W went northwards towards Mombassa while B&M and we went south towards Diana Beach and Shimoni. At Shimoni we were guided through a ‘slave cave’ where it is reputed that the Arab slave traders kept the slaves before loading them on the ships. The guide spoke as if he had learned everything off pat out of a book, with little expression, it was quite funny. We could see the remains of the iron shackles imbedded in the coral rocks. There were stalagmites and stalactites around, still growing. There was a well inside where the slaves could have drunk, and the height of the slightly brackish water still rises and falls with the tide. We took a walk around some other old ruins which had been declared National Monuments in 2002.
We couldn’t find a beach to match Kiwi further south as all the lodges were right next to each other and there was nowhere to get down without going through a lodge whose prices were quoted in pounds stirling! Brian had to have a puncture fixed (potholes I the tar again!) And we had a pizza lunch at Leonardos, an Italian restaurant where everything is made of wood. Absolutely beautiful. There were two range rovers outside which had been rebuilt with all the external metal exchanged for magnificent wood, well varnished and glowing. As we left we passed an sorbet parlor and succumbed to temptation and after tasting a few, all chose the passion fruit flavour. Delicious and refreshing. Had a taste of western Italian culture in amongst all the Africanisation.
So we went north to Mombassa, which is built on an island. Three roads link Mombassa with the mainland. The north road, over a bridge, the west road over a causeway, and the south road which uses a very efficient ferry service over the bay (the one we used, for only R6). We drove around the ‘old town’, similar but not as nice as Stone Town on Zanzibar, with similar Arab origins. We drove up the narrow streets, with the streets getting narrower and narrower with the Landys battling to squeeze through the alleyways, and Nev muttering that he thought he was going the wrong way. We eventually ended up going the wrong way down a one-way street with everyone gesticulating, but Nev was already committed and couldn’t turn, would have had to reverse for 300m, so he drove the rest of the way, luckily not meeting an oncoming vehicle, and Brian following shouting over the radio that we are going the wrong way. Mombassa is a typical small African city with dust and traffic, mixture of first and third world, street traders nd luxury shops, and nothing special apart from its unique position. The ferry crosses a shipping route in and out of the harbour.
We then proceeded north to Kilifi along another badly potholed tar road. The others had got there first and negotiated for us to stay in the only place they could find, which was the use of one room at a holiday resort. We had to park in the construction site, but it did include breakfast for all of us, and it was a safe place to sleep. Our worst campsite so far, Nev would rather have negotiated with a farmer.
Saturday 30th June 2007 Twigi Campsite, Tiwi Beach
At low tide this morning we took a walk along the exposed intertidal coral reef which extended 400metres from the shore, spotting cowries, brittle-stars, sea urchins, sea cucumbers, lots of different little fish, and Brian got squirted with ink by a startled octopus. We went snorkeling and walking in the pools and caves. Then I went thud, or sthlup as Nev says, both feet in the air, I slipped and landed on my side on a rocky protrusion on my left thigh, whew ouch! Now I am really handicapped and am battling to walk with a huge bruise on my thigh.
The group seems to have naturally divided itself into two. Those who want to see and do as much as possible (Brian, Maureen and us) and others (Ingrid, Beryl and Dave) who are quite willing to sit in camp biding their time, but champing at the bit wanting to get a move on so that they can achieve their goal of reaching home by 30th November instead of Christmas, as originally planned. With Willy sitting in the middle. We hope it doesn’t cause problems.
This afternoon Nev changed another universal on the prop-shaft and then we went for a swim when the tide was high again. We had prawns for supper while sitting on the beach watching the rising full moon glistening on the sea.
Friday 29th June 2007 Twigi Campsite, Tiwi Beach
We packed and left, taking a lousy side route through the rural areas where the trees have again been devastated by the charcoal demand. In a remote village we were stopped by very smartly dressed, friendly and polite policemen, and for the first time was asked to produce Nev’s driver’s license and insurance papers. All the other police road blocks we have come across seem to wave tourists through. The route took us via Shimba Hills National Park (didn’t go to that reserve either) which was very overgrown with very large trees, and finally arrived at Tiwi Beach where we joined the others.
This is the BEST!
Palm-tree lined white sands, right on the beach, surf sounds, full moon, perfect.
This is the typical tourist brochure beach, paradise.
Thursday 28th June 2007 Royal Safari Lodge, Voi
We went back to Nairobi and the temperature dropped from 33 deg to 14 deg within 20Km as we rose up the hill. Brian’s Landy was fixed, finding that his power steering pump had also given in. He spent a total of R10,000 having the following fixed: clutch, a couple of bearings replaced, and power steering, and brake cylinder. While we waited, we went to a panel beating shop to have bolts tightened as our roof had been vibrating and needed screws replaced.
We then proceeded towards Mombassa along a pretty terrible road, and suddenly after about 80Km we traveled on a brand new “China” road, the best since we have left SA. The country was very dry and desolate like the Karroo. We passed a section of kilometers of extrusive volcanic lava rocks which lined the road, and saw the mountain with its volcanic lava flows steaming off to our right.
There was a section which has the most concentration of baobabs we have ever seen, thousands and thousands of grey-topped trees covered the landscape in all directions between the Maasai homesteads. Maasai cattle sheep and goats are everywhere, and overgrazing is very evident. We made good time and slept the night at a campsite in a nondescript little town near the East gate of Tsavo National Park (which we didn’t go to) called Voi.
Wednesday 27th June 2007 Ologasailie
This morning before it was too hot, for we are now in the Rift Valley where it is hot and arid, Maasai country, we took a tour around the museum and diggings of the archeologists. There was no-one actively digging because at this time of the year it is too hot. It is a joint project between the Smithsonian Institute of USA and the National Museums of Kenya. Thousands of stone hand tools were found in the area, as well as the petrified bones of extinct hippos, zebras, etc, and a complete skeleton of an extinct elephant, twice the size of the African elephant of today which lived 750,000 ears ago. The bones and many of the implements are still lying around in the protected areas. The sites are very well preserved and it was most interesting. I was sad we had missed the Olduvai Gorge in the Serengeti (because of the democratic vote of the others outweighing those who wanted to see it). In Northern Lake Turkana is another such site, I hope to see that one too.
Then we went south to the beautiful pink Lake Magadi where there is a huge Soda Ash mining company and its associated town. This lake was different from the others, although it had thousands of flamingoes, pelicans, yellow-billed storks and other birds which took to flight and settled again as if to an orchestrated ballet.
We loved the Olorgasailie camp site so much we made our way back in preparation to once again spend time in Nairobi for Landrover to complete their job on Brian’s Landy. I am glad we didn’t miss this part of the trip, and cannot understand why the others preferred to spend the time at the beach.
Tuesday 26th June 2007 Olorgasailie
Brian’s Landy was meant to be ready at 10am and eventually at 12.30 they let us have it and we left to go towards Lake Magadi, where we were meant to be by Saturday 23rd. We dropped from 2000m near Nairobi to 607m and realized there were hot places on the equator after all. On our way there, Brian radioed us to stop as there was black oil on the windscreen. It turned out that an oil pipe had come apart and the fan had sprayed the oil everywhere. Also the aircon didn’t work, so the Landrover garage in Nairobi did a terrible half job and we have to go back for them to complete it. Brian secured the pipe and we made our way to Olorgasailie Prehistoric diggings and camped in the silence. There is something about remoteness and silence which is good for the soul. We all felt it as soon as we got here, and relished it after the continual noise of the city. We talked in hushed tones as if the area were sacred. The light of the moon approaching full was sufficient and the crackling of the fire was the only sound. Peace.
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