Travel Diary: Kenya

Merry Christmas everyone, here is the latest edition of our travel diary, this one covers the relatively short time we spent in Kenya. In addition there are links to the picture galleries, our hopefully “practical info” pages for anybody perhaps planning a trip here in the near future and of course the obligatory maintenance log showing what has required attention (not just Mr. Jones related)

We never look forward to border crossing as you just don’t know what to expect and what hassles you will have however the border crossing into Kenya at the Namanga one-stop border post is by far the simplest and cleanest boarding crossing we have yet to do. Having said that, we were still approached by the inevitable tout (Omar) when filling up with cheap Tanzanian diesel just before the border. Omar was quite the character, he had the facial features of a Somalian, was missing more teeth than he had, wore a Maasai blanket and spoke fluent Afrikaans. He tried to weasel his way in with us and we did our level best to ignore him, at the border boom he tried to get his hands on our documents which naturally we refused and then he got into a small fisticuffs with another tout and was duly hauled away by security, no doubt missing another tooth. Once past the boom however you enter this lovely clean area with nobody hassling you and all administration for both countries handled inside one building, the person taking payment for road tax even providing us with a “hotspot” off his phone so that Stuart could get the OTP needed to process the credit card transaction…

The drive into Nairobi was quite simple and for Stuart it was quite noticeable to see some of the progress that Nairobi has made over the last few years since his last business trip there, with things like the bypass roads now fully complete and functional. Also the traffic was not too bad but perhaps that is because it was a Sunday afternoon.

For the first part of our stay in Nairobi we stayed at Jungle Junction which is an iconic overlanding campsite and has probably seen most overlanders at one time or another who pass through Nairobi. The “honesty” bar fridge and notice boards are covered in stickers and cards of travelers details from over the years and it was so nice to find our friends, Chris & Erin Ratay, sticker on the board with incredibly a space below it for us to stick our own contact details on.

In 2010 we met Chris & Erin in Malawi, at that stage they were enjoying one of their many annual 2 month breakaways from life in Colorado USA. Prior to settling in Colorado they had ridden their motorbikes around the world and hold a Guineas book of records for that. In 2011/12 when they rode their bike back from Tanzania to South Africa, we lent them Mr Jones for a couple of weeks and for them that was the beginning of the end for long term motorbike touring. A few years later, having now done much of South America on the motorbike, they returned to South Africa and purchased a Land Rover 130 Defender which they they have now driven across Africa to Europe. On their way north they stopped over in Johannesburg and introduced Vifaru to Mr Jones, now in virtual spirit we were able to reunite Mr Jones and Vifaru again.

East Africa has been experiencing exceptionally high rainfall this season which is being caused by a phenomenon known as “a positive Indian Ocean Dipole”, this occurs when their is a significant variation in the sea temperatures of the Western and Eastern Indian Ocean with the western side being much warmer. The resultant low pressure cell that forms over the Western ocean causes cooler airflow from East to West and subsequent heavy precipitation.

With all the rain, the Jungle Junction campsite often represented a swamp but we made do as best we could. While there Mr Jones got a well deserved service and we managed a few trips into the nearby shopping mall. On one of those we spotted an insurance brokerage and as we had had a nagging suspicion since entering Tanzania a month ago that the COMESA ( provides you 3rd party cover for East Africa) insurance purchased at the border may not be valid, we stopped past to check and sadly confirmed our suspicions. It meant we had been conned out of USD90, a month ago and had been driving around illegally during that time too. The plus side was to buy insurance for our time in Kenya was relatively cheap, the downside was that due to the regulations and our planned time in Kenya we weren’t able to buy COMESA for the remaining countries and so will need to buy insurance at each country as we enter it.

One of Stuart’s ex-colleagues who now works in Nairobi had invited us to stay over at his house and so on Friday afternoon we drove across town to the newer “expat” areas. This meant heading towards the city centre and the inevitable traffic, while sitting in one of the traffic jams a message popped up from Steve on the phone to which Stuart replied we are “currently at Stork Circle”, Steve’s reply of “see you tomorrow morning” sums up the traffic quite nicely.

Any visitor to Nairobi who has transited from the airport towards town will probably recognize what Stuart refers to as “Stork circle”, it is the chaotic traffic circle next to the national stadium were you are guaranteed to idle for a lengthy period and above which there are always a number of storks perched in the trees. If you are lucky they do not mark your car as you are stuck under their tree waiting for the traffic to start moving. In the end we got across town in under an hour, partly aided by a large bull bar and not being intimidated by the mini bus taxis.

It was great to catch up with Steve & Leonore, meet their new addition to the family (Alexander) and enjoy the simple pleasures of a home (on-suite bathroom, washing machine, large kitchen and freezer so that we could defrost ours, etc). Tania also got to indulge in a back massage which was well deserved after all the long hours in Mr J and one afternoon we took a short walk in Karura forest. This is a 1000ha forest within the heart of Nairobi and is a wonderful breakaway spot for many.

From Nairobi we headed to Lake Naivasha which although it is in the Rift Valley sits at a relatively high altitude of 1800m, the final descent into the valley is spectacular and we naturally stopped for the obligatory photos at the touristy viewpoints. Mr Jones had to do some wading in the last 15km as the tar road along the lake shore had been washed away and a torrential mini river was flowing through, for us the water was only up to the bottom of the doors but for many of the small cars going through it was rather deep. Camp Carnelly on the lake shore is located within a large Fever tree forest and is very pretty, unfortunately they did not have power at the campsite and with the cloudy weather combined with tree coverage it meant for the first time this trip our solar panel could not keep the fridge battery sufficiently charged and so we only stayed two nights.

80km further along was another lake and so with plenty of time on our hands we did some grocery shopping and then enjoyed a lunch at Spur, Naivasha was the last place we expected to find a Spur. The drive along the Rift Valley towards Lake Elmenteita is magnificent with fever tree’s lining the road and wonderful views across the Rift Valley, when not worrying about the Kenyan drivers overtaking antics.

The campsite overlooking Lake Elmenteita turned out to be a real gem with super friendly staff, electricity and hot showers. The only potential negative was the lack of shade but with the current weather that was not an issue for us. We had hoped to use the SUP on the lake but water craft are not allowed as the lake is a haven for Flamingos and Pelicans so we had to make do with watching them from our vantage point in camp. Although we are not great “twitchers” we did get to record some “lifers” while there with the help of WhatsApp , Stuart’s mom and google.

By coincidence, exactly 4 months after crossing the Tropic of Capricorn in the Kruger park we crossed the Equator, naturally we stopped for the obligatory photos. A real pleasant surprise and interaction here was how the hawkers left us entirely alone until we had taken our photos and only then did they approach, it was only lady hawkers and at one point about 5 of them had Stuart squashed up against the open drivers door as they leaned into the car peddling their wares to Tania. They were however so sweet and gentle with each only wanting to sell one item so long as their colleague also got to sell one that we ended up getting out of the car again and going to each stall to buy a small little item and drove away with smiles on our faces.

At the start of the day we had been undecided as to which lake to head to next, Lake Bogoria or Baringo, at the equator we decided for the latter. Lake Baringo is naturally very full at the moment and we ended up camped within 10m of the waters edge, however the camp staff assured us that the crocodiles were friendly ones and thankfully we only saw one baby during the 2 nights we spent there. The sounds of fish eagles calling and hippos grunting made for a beautiful background soundtrack and on the one afternoon we were treated to a young hippo frolicking and eating in the reeds just 20m offshore from us.

A curious hippo at Roberts camp, Lake Baringo

From Lake Baringo we intended to head east towards Eldoret and then Uganda with a stop at Naiberi for a night. The drive there was absolutely spectacular with the GPS leading us from valley floors at 1400m over two mountain ranges, the first at 2000m and the second at 2700m, initially on a minor tar road, then dirt and finally a very muddy pass. Just before the last pass we were confronted with a raging river but thankfully a couple of locals on motorbikes crossed over to us on a pedestrian bridge and showed us the way to a small concrete bridge which Mr Jones just fitted on. On the other side we stopped in the little village to consult the locals on how best to get to Naiberi, with conflicting opinions we decided to risk the pass as it seemed the shorter route. As we got higher and started to experience the first of the many to come landslides the trepidation grew but thankfully each time a track had been cleared through them and ultimately we were able to summit and join the tar road to Naiberi. We learnt a couple of days later that it is quite possible to drive all the way to Naiberi from Lake Baringo on tar but in fact the GPS mis-direction had given us a spectacular drive with great scenery and wonderful people interactions.

River or road, track through one of the mudslides

Although it had been a spectacular drive it had extended the planned ETA and so with only 15km to go until our planned destination we were looking forward to stopping and enjoying a cold beer. Unfortunately only 5km down the road a minibus taxi rolled as it was coming towards us and so we spent the next hour or more applying minor first aid, thankfully there were no major injuries with the worst being a broken collar bone. It was however sad for us to observe how many very smart SUV’s just drove past without any consideration to stop and attempt to help.

Feeling rather shattered we decided that dinner in the rather unique cave bar at Naiberi camp was in order while watching the Cape Town sevens rugby on tv in order to decompress from a day of very conflicting emotions.

Our intention the next day, was to stop briefly in Eldoret for some shopping and then head across to Uganda but the best plans are meant to be broken. While shopping in the very fancy Rupa’s Mall we were approached by a young Lady (Jenienne) who asked if we belonged to the Landy outside and duly invited us to come and stay on a farm nearby.

Before heading out to the farm, part of the shopping mission in Eldoret was to find a louder hooter for Mr Jones. IOverlander referenced a street with lots of spares shops, this turned out to be the “backyard mechanic” hub of town. Google maps took us into the street but it was total chaos and after running out of space we somehow managed to reverse back out while being hassled by boda boda’s (little 100c motorbikes) impatiently trying to squeeze past. Having parked in a quieter side street, Stuart returned on foot to see if he could source something suitable. Being the only Mzungu in a spot like this is guaranteed to create a lot of curiosity. Hopefully now the sheep which are forever wandering into Mr J path will react a little earlier, goats, donkeys and dogs are generally street wise sheep are absolutely clueless!

The Krugers are 4th generation Kenyan/South African farmers, in the early 1900’s a number of Afrikaaner families come to Kenya to farm in the Eldoret area and as we later learnt the Kruger’s are the last remaining family from that migration. Jannie & Jeannine together with Fanie & Carol were wonderful hosts, providing us with a whole house to ourselves and so we spent a couple of nights chilling on the farm and getting some chores done (clothes washing and High pressure clean of Mr Jones underside). The farm itself is spectacular with areas set aside for wildlife and the rest for farming. On an afternoon drive with Jenienne we observed Oribi, Duiker, a herd of endangered Rothschild Giraffe and heard how just recently they had captured and relocated a lone male lion who had wandered onto the farm and then disappeared and evaded all attempts to catch him for nearly 2 weeks. Stuart also got to hitch a ride with Jannie in the massive combine harvester as it is maize harvesting time, which was a new experience.

After 2 wonderful nights but needing to move on, we left the farm and headed for the Uganda border a few days later than originally envisaged.

Summary: Kenya surprised us, after Tanzania we were a bit jaded (in particular due to the corruption and park costs) but Kenya revitalised us. Kenyan’s are very friendly and helpful, English is well spoken throughout the country even when buying veggies or seeking directions in remote villages. Entering Kenya we didn’t really have a plan as to where to go other than stop in Nairobi and regroup, sadly the weather didn’t play along with us and because we have now decided we would like to get to Cape Town for April we ended up spending only 3 weeks in Kenya. We could however have spent much longer, firstly there is the coast North of Mombasa which looks stunning and then we found many little gems throughout the country and are sure there are many more and that is without visiting any National parks.