Kenya

The Omo Valley-Lake Turkana route from Ethiopia into Kenya is somewhat of an overlander’s holy grail. In what can seem a fairly well trodden Cairo to Cape Town trail, this unconventional route has 700kms of tar-less track, a non-existent border post on the Kenyan side, and a lack of fuel, food and water. Combine that with the potential for banditry and the fabulously decorated Samburu and Turkana tribes people who populate the area, and you have a route that appeals to any travellers inner Indiana Jones and begs to be taken over the more traditional Marsabit- Moyale route (though last week's news of clashes in that area mean that now perhaps the opposite is true).




Our first glimpse of the blue waters of Lake Turkana




Bush Camp

 

Dave: modern day Indiana Jones, or just a lunatic in a high visibility jacket in the middle of nowhere? You decide......

It was with a mixture of relief and maybe a tinge of disappointment that the route was actually pretty straight forward, albeit rocky and slow. Perhaps compared to some of our Egyptian desert trips, where you can go weeks without seeing a single person or mark of civilization, it didn’t have that feeling of extreme remoteness-or maybe that was because we were still in our convoy of 4 cars and 10 people! However, once past the first glimpse of civilization at Loyangalani (which had the feeling of an Aussie out-back town and a similar number of toothless inhabitants), we did get a taste of why this route is not one to travel alone. ‘The Boys’ car started to overheat and the tow strap had to come out. In a South Horr campsite, while there was an attempt to patch the radiator, we were informed of recent banditry by a local white Kenyan. James  coined him ‘Charles Dance’. Apparently this was a remarkably apt and hilarious comparison to those familiar with UK celebrity, but a mystery to those from outside its shores or younger than 40. In a remarkable coincidence we actually ran into ‘Charles’ hundreds of kilometers away in the Purdy Arms in Nairobi- more about coincidence and the Purdy Arms later.


Charles, who was really called Nick. A really nice guy.

With some more fixing at various tiny towns and ultimately more towing, our party made our way slowly to Maralal, where we were disappointed to learn that we were 3 weeks too early for the International Camel Derby, but excited to see that the ‘Yare Camel Camp’ was still here 18 years on from when James visited when he worked in Nairobi. It was here that the group, parted ways, at least until Nairobi, and James and I headed towards Lake Baringo.

We remembered with fondness Robert’s camp at Lake Baringo from our last trip, but when we got there we were surprised to see that the lake’s level had risen so much that a lot of the camp (and the surrounding hotels and houses) were completely submerged. The restaurant was still there though- the water now almost all the way up to its edge- and a little room to camp. We had a lovely evening with hippos swimming by as we ate dinner, just meters away and listening to their snorts all night. We took a boat trip the next day to see the lake and the bird life and I found that even though it is very geeky, bird watching is actually quite satisfying!

Feeding the fish eagles at Lake Baringo

When the boat came back to Robert’s camp, we got a shock to find that there was a croc cleverly masquerading as a log right near the tent. The only reason we noticed him was that as that as the boat drove up, his friend snapped at us enthusiastically and swam away! I was a bit slow on the uptake, but I did get a tiny snippet of video.

 

We then headed to the Masai-Mara via Lake Naivasha and Hell’s Gate National Park. We loved Hell's Gate as much as last time: stunning red-rock landscape, a fabulous campsite and the fact that you can walk or cycle around.

The gorge at Hell's Gate

We were pretty excited about the Mara, as although we had visited before,
we had never seen the migration. The Mara brims with life at the best of times, but during the migration the place is absolutely covered in game. We were near the Mara river when we saw a number of vehicles milling around its banks. Suddenly there were people out their cars and, shouted at by Masai guides, they were being herded along the river bank. We decided to get out as well, not the usual practice in a National Park crammed with potentially dangerous animals. When we got to the bank, there were a group of wildebeest on the other side. With all of us people on one side, cameras poised, and the wildebeest eyeballing us on the other, it struck me the perfect scenerio for a far-side comic, with wildebeest saying to wildebeest-“get your camera out, here comes the mzungus ”.

And then, the wildebeest, all at once, hurled themselves off the bank and into the river. It was carnage: some were swept away; some were trampled. Bodies collected on the shore. The ones that made it to our side shot up the steep channels to the river bank, springing up from the river like pop corn. It was quite incredible. We were on a tiny ledge on the river and they were exploding up either side of it and shooting off into the bush. It was amazing to be so close to the action- as well as slighly terrifying!

 



Swim!!!!



 Pop!

 Magestic Lions

 Cheeky Hyena

It was then off to Nairobi where we had a fabulous time catching up with friends and, in James’ case, catching up with his past; in the Purdy Arms he was recognised by a former student who said that “Mr Thomas had not changed a bit” and “was he still an excellent hockey player?” I was highly amused.

Thank you to Carol, Roger, Ollie, Lizzie and Katie for being wonderful hosts and serving us what has to be our best meal of the trip. Another thanks to Lars, Flora and Eric for having us as well- brilliant to catch up with the Cairo crowd. We said our final goodbyes to our fellow travellers and set off towards Mount Kenya, determined to bag the second highest mountain in Africa.

 

We decided to go without a guide and carry all our stuff, which meant that while there were some tough bits, we had the mountain to ourselves almost the entire time and had some amazing (albeit sometimes freezing!) camping on the mountain. On the first, day a group of elephant crossed our path in the forest just before our first nights camping- another incredible up-close encounter with nature on foot! The mountain is amazingly diverse and each section is incredibly beautiful.



A dramatic sky on the first night camping on Mount Kenya-

Camp just before the summit- Point Lenana is behind me

Made it!  Feeling elated but freezing at the summit

 

Coming down from the summit

So it is goodbye Kenya and hello to Uganda! I am seriously behind with this blog, though have set the task to be up to date before we leave Africa, so will get to Uganda soon before I forget everything!