Month: August 2015

Our stay at J-J’s was short the second time round and the car was quite simple to fix once Chris and Alan had found the problem. When we got back the Van Heerdens were still there but the rest were new faces. Such is life at these places. The sun shone which proved that it exists in Nairobi and I had recovered completely from the tummy bug, so all in all it wasn’t a bad stop.

Having tried to go north we decided that it was time to go south to the Masai Mara so we set off on a beautiful clear Thursday, firstly to Narok which is the closest biggest town before the Mara. Leaving Nairobi you leave the escarpment behind and there is a dramatic drop to the plains that take you to the Mara, it stretches out for kilometers before you reach a few undulating hills. The closer we got to the Mara the more red clad people (the Masai) we saw, the most in one place were at what looked like a cattle auction.

 

The landscape is quite dry and barren yet the cattle and sheep still find sufficient grass on which to feed. We couldn’t work out if it was really bad soil erosion due to over grazing or just dry due to lack of rain! We arrived at our campsite Mara Explorers back-packers camp which is run by a Kenyan, Moses and his wife Laura. This is the first time we have come across a local owning a campsite!

Moses is well traveled having spent many many years on overland trucks, he saw a gap in the market for budget accommodation in the Mara and is doing really well. It is a pleasure to talk with him and we would recommend this little site to anyone looking for budget accommodation. Both he and Laura are also a font of information having traveled the area themselves.

We decided to take a game drive with the camp and shared the cost of a vehicle with a young Canadian couple, Ross and Alyce who have been travelling the world for about 3 years now.

Our guide was Joffrey and driver Erikson and the drive was for the whole day. What a marvelous day we had. We found the migration! Firstly to see the vast numbers of Zebra and wildebeest is incredible and as the day progressed the plains got thicker with them. There were thousands of zebra, and tens of thousands of wildebeest who are very noisy, at times when the engine was off you’re surrounded by these grunting creatures with the Zebra whinnying too. Al and I had to pinch ourselves that we were actually here. According to the guide book about 2 million ungulates take part in the migration annually.

We had great sightings of lion. Al spotted a group of four young lions dragging their wildebeest kill into the shade where we found them relaxing having eaten their full. Then another group of lion were at the side of a ravine also just chilling.

The male headed for some shade whilst the female just lay watching us.

The great excitement of the day were the cheetah, they had just eaten a wildebeest and their tummies were so full and round. They were just lying in the shade of a tree but clearly visible along with their catch which the vultures were digging into!

 

That was our first experience of the highway of the Mara, as shortly afterwards all these game driving vehicles came rushing in to see informed by bush telegraph about the kill.
To add to the excitement, we got stuck!

The driver attempted to cross a mud filled ditch in 2 wheel drive and we ended up bogged down to the axle. Unfortunately we failed in our attempts to dig ourselves out and were eventually (after 2 hours) pulled out by another game drive vehicle. Spirits were not dampened as we continued our excursion.
There were also sightings of elephants, eland, impala, Grant’s gazelle, Thompson’s gazelle, warthogs, black backed jackals, crocodile, hippos, Masai giraffe, buffalos and lots of bird life.

We learnt where the strangely named ‘Topi’ derived its designation. Apparently the males frequently position themselves on top of an ant hill, standing watch over the terrain, ready to sound the alarm in the event of predators being sighted.

Then a bonus as were leaving the park at the end of the day a leopard in a tree!!!! Followed by a lone male lion, lying against a majestic backdrop. What a day!
The next day we just enjoyed being in the African bush at the campsite and made plans for the trip into Tanzania. Originally we decided that we would cross the Mara into the Mara triangle and camp in the park to make the most of the park fees. What we hadn’t realized is that you can transit the park at no cost and since we had had such a marvelous day there before we decided just to transit. Before we left the Mara conservancy we came across some cheetah lying on the side of the road. We stopped to watch and were thrilled when we realized there were five of them just finishing eating a kill. They all got up and crossed the road about 15m in front of us. To see them moving was wonderful! Joffrey the guide had told us that there was a mum with her 4 cubs in this area so we assumed this was them.

Crossing the Mara River we saw loads of Maribu Storks feeding in the carcasses of wildebeest who hadn’t made it. The carcasses were caught amongst the rocks in the river around the Mara Bridge.

On the other side we into the landscape that the Masai Mara is so famous for, with giraffes silhouetted against the skyline. It was unusual to see Giraffe grazing!

Herds of buffalo, elephant, impala, gazelles and much to our delight more lion! I don’t think we have ever had so many cat sightings before.
We stopped outside the park for lunch grateful for more wonderful sightings.

We hunted around for a campsite and the next thing we knew we were at the border with Tanzania without having found anywhere to stay the night. So across we went at Isabania which was uneventful, and found ourselves back in Tanzania where we headed to Musoma on Lake Victoria to Matvilla Lodge recommended by the Van Heerdens.

We packed up on our last day at Lake Naivasha with a little trepidation as Nairobi is notorious for its terrible traffic. We travelled the scenic route which takes you along the escarpment that drops to the Rift Valley plains that eventually takes you to the Masai Mara. It is a beautiful view.

The road is busy with lots of trucks, taxis (Matatus) and other vehicles, and not in great condition. We were pleasantly surprised to be directed by the GPS to a highway followed by a bypass which meant that we never had to go into Nairobi center, instead we went through the suburbs on a very quiet Friday to get to our destination – Jungle Junction. Jungle Junction is well known in overland circles because Chris and Diana who run it understand what travelers need after weeks on the road and try to provide it. Chris is a mechanic so all the car niggles can be sorted out, they have washing machines for clothes that have only been bucket hand washed for months and great food at a reasonable price should you need it. Their house is open to all the guests so you also have a lounge to sit in, tables to eat at and fellow travelers to chat with. Nairobi is often the meeting place with people going North and South, so great travel tips can be gleaned whilst here. They also provide vehicle storage facilities for people who wish to leave break their journey in order to continue at a later time. There are vehicles here from all over Africa (including Cape Town, Gauteng and Port Shepstone!) and Europe that are being stored for anything from a couple of weeks to over a year.

We opted to camp in the garden (sounds familiar) because of the Sani door which Chris only had a chance to look at the next day. Well …. The bad road to Nairobi had unjammed the door!!!! Much to our relief and as it turned out a bolt from somewhere (??) was the cause of the jamming and there was nothing wrong with the lock. We had had visions of knocking out the windows to get in etc….. That gave us a good laugh, a bit hysterical with relief. The mechanics gave the Sani a thorough appraisal and she only needed some routine maintenance, a service and some bolt tightening. Front brake pads and front brake disks were the only exception. The pads were down to 2mm after 8500 km and one of the disks was cracked – a function of red hot brakes being taken through river crossings, something that happened quite often in Tanzania! – They took all the wheels off and put her up on blocks and we were transport less until Thursday.

We took a shuttle from J-J on Saturday to the local mall, Galleria, to pick up a few things and found a mall that could have been in SA. On another occasion we caught a bus to the same mall and a matatu (taxi) back. It helps that English is widely spoken. Catching the bus took me back to my childhood as my mother never learnt how to drive so catching buses to town and to school was how we got around. The currency here is shillings and the bus fare was 30 bob (about 30 US cents). It’s really strange to talk about bob.
The beauty of this place is you meet people from all over all doing overland trips like the one we’re on. Only we’re light weights compared to most as most seem to be travelling a year +++ It really is another universe out here. We got friendly with a young Dutch/Finnish couple Bart and Jasmin who have been travelling since October last year, travelled down the West coast of Africa spent a month in Cape Town and are now on their way home. They were stuck here waiting for visas for Ethiopia and Sudan. They were great company and you can follow their blog www.bobotie.weebly.com for a different perspective on travelling in Africa. There’ve been other South Africans, one family with two children, the Van Heerdens who are also taking the year to travel and another on a motor bike just back from Ethiopia. Along with the usual mix of Germans, Italians, Dutch and French. What is amazing about these ‘foreigners’ is that they seem to know more about Africa and her countries that we know about South Africa! For so many of them, there is a strange passion about Africa that either keeps them here or brings them back year after year for months at a time. Many of them have not traveled as extensively in Europe but spend all their spare time and money here. Such is the mystery of this vast continent of ours – it is wild, largely very third-world, uncivilized in many ways; it is really hard and tiring work getting around, (some of the main roads can put our 4×4 trails and play-grounds to shame), officialdom can be difficult and corrupt, governments are dodgy and less able to hide their crooked ways than those in the 1st world – and yet there is an untamed beauty and variety in the ecosystem, wildlife and people that is alluring. It makes us fiercely and proudly claim that we are Africans – for those foreigners that have traveled widely in the rest of the world they state without exception that Africa is unlike anything they have experienced elsewhere – and generally they love it!
J-J’s is in the suburb of Karen so named after Karen Blixon from “Out of Africa” fame. This area used to be her farm and has beautiful large properties in which expats lurk. There’s a giraffe sanctuary just down the road where the Rothchild giraffe was saved from extinction. We went for a walk around the sanctuary, saw the giraffes and then got a little lost and ended up on a forest walk through the sanctuary, fortunately no one minded.

We have a Samburu night guard because Karen is very dangerous at night with gangs operating in the area (home from home!) who apparently are afraid of the Samburu tribesmen, who are a fearsome warlike tribe. This we discovered on our first evening here. During the day it’s the picture of tranquility! J-J is the kind of place that you relax, before you know it the day is gone and you have done nothing but talk, read and eat as there’s not a great deal to see on Nairobi.
Al and I realized that we are only 3 borders away from Cairo and were tempted to go all the way…. But sanity prevailed!

The weather here has been cold and miserable, and J-J s have had a fire in the lounge most days. Seems so strange to come to Kenya only to be freezing. Finally the car was done BUT then I started with diarrhea …..
Eventually we left on Sunday (after 9 nights) to head north to two national parks, Aberdare and Samburu. The GPS took us through the center of Nairobi and we decided that if you have to go through NAIROBI, 10 am on a Sunday is the way to do it as there was very little traffic.

We only got to Aberdare when the car started making horrible noises. We spent a lovely day in Aberdare which has such diverse landscapes, thick bush and wildlife that you only see when they walk on the road with lots of birds.

It also has a thick belt of bamboo forest, something that we never expected or associated with Africa. We stayed in a hotel in a town called Nyeri as it was still raining, which had a bath bliss!!!!! The things you appreciate when you’re on the road. Then it was back to J-Js.

The car noises were caused by 4 nuts bolting the water pump pulley to the water pump which had not been properly tightened. The car being once again sorted, we will leave (again) tomorrow – this time heading south west to the Maasai Mara.

We enjoyed the days spent at Jinja – the source of the Nile just outside Kampala.

We went into the town to sample life and found a coffee shop called “The Deli” which is new in town and very civilized! Even serving wraps and quiche with salad and chocolate brownies!

That’s what gave me the courage to have a haircut. We finished our time there by going on a Nile Sunset cruise to the newly constructed dam wall and back.

Soon there will no rapids left along this section of the Nile as they are building another dam up stream. A pity because Jinja is famous for its water sports. We both really enjoyed Uganda, the people are very friendly and the country itself is beautiful. It’s wilder than we had imagined.

We crossed into Kenya at Busia a slightly quieter border post than Malaba in just over an hour and volia we were in Kenya. We traveled in rain until we found our next stopping point just outside a town called Eldoret at Naiberi campsite. It was very pleasant and we opted to take a room to overnight. The bed was the hardest we have ever slept in!!! We spent Sunday morning in Eldoret getting money and doing a bit of shopping in a supermarket- that was fun. In Uganda we had mostly shopped at the village markets and even bought meat from the street butcher, so to be in a supermarket again was lovely. There are also more tar roads in Kenya. Apart from major roads linking Kampala to the rest of Uganda it was dirt, dirt, dirt!
We moved on from Naiberi to another campsite-Kembu just outside Nakuru which is the 4th largest town in Kenya. Kembu is a beautiful spot on a working farm which does a lot of eco-tourism.

A group of British 17-18 year olds were also staying there having spent time at one of the local schools helping build classrooms. They were the 4th group that we had come across and got chatting to one of the teachers. The kids raise the money themselves and partner with a local school and do a bit of sightseeing along the way. They generally take the development to  a certain point and then leave the completion to the local schools. If the work is not completed within a certain period of time, the Brits find another school to partner with. Quite a sound way of supporting the local communities we thought. It’s for the “Duke of Edinburgh” award. We arrived in the rain at Kembu and it was miserable and cold that night- the coldest we’ve been since we’ve been travelling.  It called for a little home comfort.

The morning was sunny so we got to appreciate more of the place.
We headed north from there to the rift valley lakes, in fact this area is referred to as the rift valley having traveled over the escarpment the previous day to Kembu. This escarpment divides the Western or Albertine Rift from the Eastern . As we traveled north the terrain changed again and became much drier and starker. Quite a change from the green of the escarpment and of the higher area around Nakuru. We arrived at Robert’s camp on Lake Baringo only 100kms away to searing heat! What a contrast. The level of Lake Baringo rose sharply in 2011 putting most of the camp underwater and we could see the aftermath as there were dead trees in the water as well as the remains of brick buildings still in the water.

We spent an afternoon bird watching!

We had pizza “African style” here for lunch with a couple of hornbills trying to steal our food. It is s great place to see birds and that first day we just sat in the shade and bird watched. There were only cold showers available which was perfect with the heat.
The next morning we were up early to go on a boat ride along the banks of the lake then across to a conservancy where they had reintroduced eight Rothchild giraffes who were left on an island with the water levels raising. As we left we were looked down upon by a Verreaux Eagle-owl as we glided in the boat underneath it.

We had a great guide Wilson who was a great birder as well as being very knowledgeable about the area having grown up there. After having bought some fish from the local fisherman, we found some fish eagles along the shore. Wilson put a piece of balsa wood into the fish (as a float), whistled for the eagle, threw the fish and the Eagle swooped in to get it. Quite a trick and a lovely experience.

From there we got to the Island and wandered among the giraffe before climbing a short incline to see another plain stretching out before us with impala, ostrich and warthog.

From there Wilson took us to see the hot springs on another island, where he lived and it was amazing to see and smell the sulfur. He told us that when he was a boy, if it was raining or a cold day he and his friends would come and sit there to warm up. The boat trip was delightful and we thoroughly enjoyed it!

When we got back we had breakfast and were joined by a camera crew who were with a group of Kenyan athletes doing a walk for peace in the areas here that have been troubled. Interesting chaps and later that evening we met some of these athletes as they came for a drink. We also met John and Pam while we were there. A great couple who are so well traveled in Africa that we felt like novices- which actually we are! They have been travelling now in various parts of the world for 12 years so it was fascinating chatting to them. They started travelling in Africa 15 years ago so there’s not much they haven’t seen. We’re discovering a parallel universe comprising travelers from all over the world, many of whom are interconnected via the Web.
Next day we traveled to Lake Naivasha via Nakuru town which is a fresh water lake. We spent ages there trying to get a local sim card registered and finally had lunch at 3pm at a great coffee shop in a shopping mall! We arrived after 5 at Lake Naivasha at Carnelley’s campsite after having driven through lots of people and speed humps, flower growing tents and not even a glimpse of the lake. The fresh flower industry has overtaken this beautiful area. Apparently flowers harvested here in the morning are on sale in the European markets that evening!

 

Well it was beautiful, the campsite is situated under old yellow fever acacia trees on green grass- magnificent – plus hot showers –  wonderful! So we set up camp, parked the car for easy access and….. the back door of the Sani jammed. We were bleak- as that’s where all the food etc is and because of the drawer system in the back we have no access from inside.

Well what were we to do but go to the campsite restaurant and eat!  We discussed what we should do and decided that we would stay another day as it was just so beautiful and restful before going to Nairobi for help.
That was a great decision. The next day a Thursday we went to see Elsamere – the house where Joy Adamson lived (now a museum) which brought back memories of “Born Free”. The house is named after the Lioness Elsa, the subject of Born Free.

After that we spent the afternoon in a small park called Hell’s Gate National Park which has many steam geysers, some of which are being used to generate thermal power.

The park was a surprise and one of the gems of our trip. It’s very small and you can cycle or walk around it quite comfortably. There is something magical for me when you can get out your car in a game reserve and enjoy the sounds of the bush and walk with animals grazing around you.

We’ve come across some different animals than those found in South Africa which has been great.

The scenery was also magnificent reminding us that there is more to see here than the big herds of game. Taking time to see all the other things here is worthwhile.

The other thing that has struck us is that whilst everyone has different travel plans, a trip like this is also about people. I’m not sure if it’s because you have shared experiences but people are happy to chat and before long a small community is formed for the brief time you are together. Quite special. Chance encounters have lead us to experience places we might have missed. Another lovely evening at Carnelleys and we were off the next morning to Nairobi.