5 OCTOBER 2011

NYERI

The last home of Scouting

Now I feel safe

An incident today on the matatu on the way to Nyeri – I had purchased two daily papers, reading one with the other in my basket. The girl next to me, without batting an eyelid asks “Will you assist me? Give me your newspaper.” I am amazed and reckon that about sums up a lot of peoples’ attitudes in many countries here – help me before I help myself.I wonder if this is a side effect of so much irrelevant aid.

The founder of Scouting, Lord Baden Powell was quoted as saying “The nearer to Nyeri, the nearer to bliss.” I’m not too sure about that but checking into the Sharbeen Hotel at Nyeri, their motto is “best the first time, every time!”

What the?? Oven fresh candles?

There is a large bar downstairs but after they assured me that it closes at 10pm each night I pay my money to check in and head out to walk around town. Finding the Guide and Scout shops next to each other, I get all excited when I see the Guides have postcards of BP’s grave and Paxtu. I pick out six to send to everyone but adding it up, the girl quotes me an outlandish amount – over $20? After recounting and itemising, I understand that the shop wants Ksh300 a postcard – that is $3 a card – what a rip off! I ask if they are also available in Nairobi at the Girl Guides HQ? “No.” Oooh someone has stumbled onto a goldmine here and they are mining it for all that it’s worth because many mzungus would pay that price not realising the true value and not understanding that this money is going directly into someone’s pocket and not to the Association!

The Scout shop has a range of items at more reasonable prices so I get a couple of things before walking down Baden Powell Rd to arrive at Outspan Hotel. The hotel tastefully maintains the Baden Powell Museum – Paxtu Cottage where Lord Baden Powell spent the last three years of his life. The usual guide is away today but the bloke showing me around thinks it’s all very nice anyway. And so it is with loads of Baden Powell photos and paraphernalia along with many countries offerings of scarves and badges left by visitors that now includes a Bentleigh District Girl Guide badge!  Walking back into town I find the Commonwealth War Graves cemetery where Lord and Lady Baden Powell are buried.

On entry, I ignore the beckoning and head straight out to the lovely view of Mt Kenya and the well maintained grave. After taking a few pics to try and replicate the postcards that were so outlandishly priced, I exit to be asked $3 entry! Now this is the first time I have ever paid admission to a cemetery and by Kenyan standards it is a very steep price too.  This is all a little dispiriting with Guiding and Scouting here turning a quick profit on their own international members. Still a lovely day though and as Nyeri is very close to Abedare NP I am very tempted to spend a night out there to checkout more animals. But on further enquiry one camp, Treetops is closed for renovation and at Ark there are no other tourists about so not really feasible (read economical) for a single traveller to visit!

FACT: In response to several tourist kidnappings from Northern coastal resorts into Somalia last month, Kenya retaliated by sending in between 2000 and 3000 troops across its border with Somalia to hunt al-Shabaab insurgents, whom it blames for the kidnappings. The radical Islamist al-Shabaab controls a lot of Somalia in the absence of a stable and effective transitional government there. But they deny kidnapping foreigners and are repeatedly warning of bloody retaliations within Kenya. This has prompted the US Embassy in Nairobi to cite ‘credible information of an imminent attack on key facilities including where foreigners stay’.  Most governments are warning their citizens to defer travel to Nairobi at this time. Within a few days of the incursion, several grenades were thrown into crowds in Nairobi resulting in some deaths and injuries. As I am almost there I think I will stay with the Girl Guides in Nairobi who have assured me that they are far away from any threatened Nairobi suburbs!!

mmmmmmm

4 OCTOBER 2011

NYAHURURU

Thompson’s Falls - Kirurumo

Very impressive cascades

It is so lovely waking up each morning to birdsong! Its an easy ride from the lake back to town– the matatu spots me walking up the driveway and turns in to pick me up – now that is great service! Back to Navaisha where there is another waiting matatu heading to Nyahururu, this one is complete with flat screen tv playing non stop gospel music videos. APPALLING stuff really BUT we arrive safely and I check in at the Safari Lodge, a hop, skip and a jump from the taxi station. It has been raining here tis morning, judging by the puddles, but again I didn’t see any rain driving here. Nyahururu is one of the highest cities in Kenya at 2360m and on the western edge of the Aberdares region. My room at The Safari Lodge is $5, complete with couch, tv and is self contained – how good does it get! I walk through town towards the Thomson Falls – the reason I’m here. The Thomson’s Falls gets its name from Joseph Thomson, a naturalist and geologist from Dumfries, Scotland who named the falls in 1887 as he was walking all the way from Mombasa to Lake Victoria (five years after Fischer!). But first things first and that is a cuppa at the Thompson Falls Lodge cause I always love all things colonial. Great view of the falls from the lodge lawns and I’d like to walk to the bottom of the cascade so entering the path, I’m immediately caught by a woman in bright yellow coat – ‘There are charges, madam.” But of course, so Ksh200 later I start to head down the path towards a large sign warning single walkers not to venture any further! What is this?

I think this is the only camel in Kenya

I head back to the woman who took my Ksh200 and ask her what it all means. “There are sometimes bad people down there and you are a woman alone – you should not walk there”. Now up here there are crowds of school groups, tourists, a couple of blokes dressed up ‘traditionally’ earning money posing for pics and another bloke leading a camel that takes small kiddies for short rides. It does seem a little unlikely that there would be any problem, but taking her at her word I decide to give it all a miss. “Can I have my money back, please if I cannot walk there?” “But the entry fee is to see the falls.” “I could see the falls eating my lunch. I entered here to walk to the bottom and now I cannot do that. I would like my money back.”
She is soon persuaded that I should have a guide and perhaps my Ksh200 would cover the cost of a guide. We wait.
Another school group comes through – “Can I walk with them?” YES but unfortunately they are not going any further than the fence to take pics and then sit to eat lunch – lazy school kids!! Back to my friend in the yellow coat who then telephones someone else and tells me “One minute.” Hakuna Matata, as they are so keen on saying. I really think that The Lion King has a lot to answer for!! Eventually Moses from the lodge appears – he will escort me, but not before he disappears back to the hotel to return suitably booted and carrying a very hard stick! Feeling well protected now we venture down the rocky steps and slippery mud – I know, I know a recipe for disaster for me – but with Moses leading the way I am confident. I think these rock steps must have been put there back in the colonial days and Moses tells me that they had very heavy rains yesterday and if I had come then it would not have been possible to be going down – so today I am lucky! Eventually we make it to the bottom of the 72m falls and there is plenty of water happening here along with mist and slippery rocks.

Suitably booted up to ward off undesirables

Not quite as impressive as Victoria or Sipi falls but very nice just the same. Clambering back up I head back to my friend in the yellow coat to thank her and she is very happy that I am happy – isn’t that nice! LOL I tell her that for the charges, that they should do something about the path as it is very difficult – she says “See those people there, they are the council – tell them” I ask if she really wants me to, and she is all for it. So off I go to introduce myself to these folk, compliment them on their lovely waterfalls and then advise them that if they are planning to walk done the path to be very careful because it is very difficult, there is no signage, there is rubbish all about and even up here at the top the fence is broken in places and unsafe for the children, let alone the slippery muddy path here. They take it all in good grace and tell me that is why they are here – do these people not have lackeys to write them professional reports?  We part on good terms, my friend in the yellow coat is doubly happy and I walk over to see the source of the falls at the top of the Ewaso Narok river before the rain comes. Big hassles from the local souvenir sellers at the falls here who obviously are experiencing a distinct lack of tourists, but they are all selling the same crap! And then comes the rain but with my trusty poncho I make it slowly back via the Genesis Café for a cuppa and fruit salad to let the rain ease off.

You'll have to squint to read this commerative sign

Calling in at Marleen Crafts - a shop supported by the local Catholic church with loads of unique suede bags and purses so I’m happy to make a few ‘unique’ purchases. Then through the very muddy streets back to Safari Lodge to shower, dry off and relax for an hour or so before heading across the road for some dinner. It’s a local place so the usual ugali, vegies and beef. The ugali has been mixed with beans and looks to have the texture of dog food which is slightly off putting, the vegies are great but the beef is a stew of lots of ‘bits’ and I use the word ‘bits’ very loosely. My bill is 70c because ‘you didn’t have the beef’, how nice are they? Head off looking for a bar for a beer but the roads are so muddy I only walk for few blocks and give up to return and tuck up for the evening to watch Kenyan TV!!

FACT: The Kenyan Prime Minister made a comment regarding the repayment of Kazi kwa Vijana (a project to help make unemployed youths more employable) funds to the World Bank: “It is a misunderstanding and we agreed to refund the World Bank. The ineligible expenditure ought to be paid using the Government of Kenya funds. It is not a loss but confusion in terms of accounting.”  In total it is reported that Ksh2.6bn of donor cash must be refunded . OMG Blatant misappropriation of money meant for development projects throughout the country, gets reported in the national media but is swept under the rug again….

From the bottom of the falls

And another view of the falls

Surrounding lush countryside

2/3 OCTOBER 2011

LAKE NAVAISHA

Where's Wally now?

Easy matatu ride this morning to arrive in the town of Navaisha, walk a couple of blocks to the next taxi park and I’m the lucky last passenger to fill a matatu going to the Lake. Getting dropped right at the driveway of Fishermans Camp, I rent a self contained banda for Ksh1300 a night – but prices go sky high up on Fri and Sat nights to Ksh4000!! Must be a real party place here of a weekend! I’m assured there are no overland trucks booked in and check out my new digs to decide that this is a lovely lakeside place with green lawns with plenty of birdies and very relaxing in the sunshine. Dropping my pack inside, I’m soon back at the main road again within half an hour to travel further west towards Crater Lake Game Sanctuary. Arriving at the small village of Kongoni I take a boda boda along the last 5kms on a very bad road. I take Josh’s telephone number to call him when I am ready to return, pay my US$25 and I’m soon walking a path past giraffe and zebra and feeling a little surreal. There is a fab lookout over the Crater Lake and walking further down I arrive at the Crater Lake Tented Camp – very flash!

I still love flamingos

I set out to walk the lake perimeter after I am assured by staff that it’s ok. The track is muddy and vaguely passable until I hear a familiar sound that makes me check out the lake very carefully – yep there’s a hippo submerged by the shore in the lake waters. Because I cannot see this hippo’s friends or family, after a bit of internal debate I return toute suite to the camp, where they ask me how I enjoyed my walk. I tell them that I came back because of the hippo and they laughingly reply that they didn’t tell me about the hippo in case I got scared – it is a baby hippo and there is only one!  If they had of told me, I could have continued walking….Oh well, the track was very muddy after recent rains so I’m happy to enjoy a yum salad on the camp’s restaurant pontoon on the lake watching their flamingos – wonderfully relaxing gently floating on the lake.

Sign says it all really

Soon enough I guess its time to head back up to the crater lip but on the way get an offer to join a BRAND SPANKING NEW Range Rover to ‘game drive’ here. Of course I graciously accept and then find I am being driven by a 16 year old boy! HE’s a good driver though – but I’m sure a car like this could drive itself – and my invitee is the Hotel Manager entertaining his friend and her son who is receiving his education in London. We get to see zebra, antelope, giraffe and buffalo but not the leopards or the snake! L

Back to the camp and my bodaboda awaits me along with the bad road which is now very muddy with plenty of puddles. Josh says there has been a lot of rain – but I saw very little fall in the crater. He wants to take me right back to Fishermans but I am happy to try for a matatu from the village back along the only road – South Moi Lake Road. Josh is very discouraging saying that after lunch there are few transports but hey, when we get back to the village, there is a matatu waiting. We gradually fill up and soon enough I get dropped at Elsamere - Joy (author of Born Free) and George Adamson’s home here in Kenya. I watch a DVD documenting Joy Adamson’s life which was really quite interesting, although by the end when she claims she is channelling the spirit of Elsa it gets a bit strange.

Read the bus carefully

I am joined by Clare who is staying here and together we partake of the ‘high tea’ that isn’t very high but very acceptable none the less, especially when we get chatting for ages. Clare was originally born in Zimbabwe and now hails from the Jersey Islands, spending her time globetrotting to spend time with her adult children living around the world, including a daughter in Coburg, Melbourne. We have a great chin wag on the lawns of Elsamere, overlooking the Lake Navaisha and before I know it, the blokes here want to close the museum and I haven’t seen it yet. Claire and I part ways swapping emails with promises to catch up in Melbourne early next year, I check out the museum – NOTE TO TERRY; I’m sure Joy Adamson had more dust catchers than I have! As the day slowly ends, I walk the few kilometres back to FIshermans camp and get a hire bicycle sorted in anticipation of a ride out to Hells Gate NP early tomorrow.

Bad bad water hyacinth

Entering the camp restaurant, which is very laidback, I meet a lovely couple: Ian and Georgie - we chat, drink beers, eat pizzas and get on like houses on fire! Georgie however, warns me about the Hells Gate lower gorge walk which they completed today but she was very frightened the whole time – not Ian, he used to be a mountain climber. Shaun, the owner introduces himself to us and talk moves to the water hyacinth which is an absolute ecological disaster happening here at the lake. Locals say that the wind blows it away, and so it does except for the fact that the stuff is doubling and doubling on the lake where they can’t see it and on days when the wind blows it back they can’t even get boats out on the lake. As much as I’m tempted (I think we all were) to keep chatting and drinking those lovely cold Tuskers all night, I know I don’t want a hangover tomorrow, so we bid adieu.

I’m up and gone by 7am for the 5km cycle to the Hells Gate NP turn off followed by another 2km to the gates. By now I have realised that even though there are gears on this bike, the connecting cable has missing – so it’s a one speed bike arggh. Arriving at Elsa Gate, paying US$25 entry PLUS Ksh1000 bicycle charge I am first in for the day! 1Km in is Fischers Tower, a 25m high volcanic column named after a german explorer who reached here in 1882, trying to find a way from Mombasa to Lake Victoria.

HE was stopped by the Maasai who literally slaughtered his travel plans. Another 7km cycling I have the park all on my own, past zebras, giraffe, warthog and antelope to eventually arrive at the Rangers office and Central Tower.  I am allotted a guide for the gorge walk, we start walking and soon he is clambering down a short cliff towards an empty river bed. I can see the path then heads straight up another sheer cliff again – I don’t really think I want to do this. HE is very encouraging but I have decided that I really cannot be bothered – a gorge is a gorge is a gorge and I am none too keen to exhaust myself when I still have another 15 kms to cycle back. He’s disappointed that he doesn’t get his 500 shillings and I am very happy to sit and read the paper in gorgeous surroundings. What I wuss I can be some days!

Hells Gate National Park

As more tourists start to arrive, the park truck turns up so I ask if it’s going back to the Elsa Gate – yes and my mate from the office is more than happy for me to get a lift. Woo hoo – that’s 8 kms of cycling I have escaped! From the park gate I walk half the way back because my muscle spasms are killing me. I eventually arrive back to Fishermans Camp and thankfully return the bike in time for a leisurely crayfish salad lunch. But these crayfish are very tiny – I think they could really be called a freshwater shrimp but the salad is tasty anyway. Relaxing by lake I await the sun to pass its zenith before I venture back onto the highway to take another matatu back towards town to visit the Elmateita Weavers who are very well known in these parts.

Weaving papyrus blinds

They also weave blinds using papyrus which make a very attractive blind compared to a boring old bamboo blind. I make a couple of small purchases, including one that I hope Kyle will like and head back to the lake for a another lovely relaxing evening by the fire, dining on tourist food with cold beers watching hippos investigating the electric fencing and listening to froggies singing all night. Aahhhhh, all is well with the world, I am sure..

FACT: Naivasha was one of the first areas to be settled by whites and was a favourite haunt during the 1930s. The lake itself has ebbed and flowed over the years and currently covers 170sq km albeit with very low water levels and being overrun with the invasive water hyacinth. A freshwater lake, as opposed to the Rift Valley’s soda lakes, the water here is used extensively for irrigation to support a major cut flower industry.

This sign makes me laugh

The huge hot houses line the road all massively fenced and housing supplied by companies for the workers is of very low standard. As many prospective workers continue to flock to the area, they end up swelling the burgeoning ranks of the poor and unemployed here. Not an altogether great vibe for the communities here.

31 OCTOBER – 1 NOVEMBER 2011

NAKURU

There is so much rain falling here this afternoon that the roof of Care Guesthouse is flooded causing a river of water to run down the stairs through each floor level making a very intriguing sight. Soon enough the short rain eases again and things get back to normal i.e. the water stops running down the stairs through each level. I get my washing down and enjoy a lovely dinner at Planet Fries!

Weird name, yum food though, then a nice early evening to be up in the morning to confront Crater Travel - I have decided that if I had let Pega undercut Crater, they may have offered the trip for Ksh25000, so I will work from that angle. But in the morning, the Crater staff are as slippery as worms and will not entertain any refund, as evidenced by my receipt. They deny informing where the camp would be – just that that the safari would travel ‘by’ Sekenani, which it didn’t anyway! Much argy bargy, they call in reinforcements and in the end I get Ksh3000 back ($30) so I’m reasonably happy with that outcome, even if they aren’t. I walk around town doing chores and as I return from registering my new Kenyan phone card, I meet the bloke from Spoonbill travel who offers to take me to Lake Bogoria for Ksh6000 plus my entrance fee of US$25. A bit exxy but with Crater now funding 50% it is all so convenient, he is very obliging, good company and we’re on our way out of town within thirty minutes!

When we arrive at the lake there are thousands and thousands of lovely pink greater and not so pink lesser flamingos. There is also one marbou stork harassing them but still they make a glorious sight prancing by the lake’s shore. The lakes here in the Rift Valley are very shallow soda lakes – saline waters. Due to high evaporation rates the alkalinity is concentrated even more and encourages the blue-green algae growth which the flamingos love! We follow the lake line around to the hot springs – my guide is surprised because these springs are usually boiling metres high. Today there are only a few small springs but they are obviously boiling hot with the eggshells remaining from previous tourist visits.  Heading back to Nakuru in the late afternoon I cross the equator for the second time today and the fourth time this trip. I’m very contented having seen the flamingos en-masse and decide to give Lake Nakuru a miss, especially as its entrance is US$75 for a day trip. Tonight I venture into a local bar, with live local music for great cold beer. I drink Tusker here but locals particularly like their Guinness. However Kenyans partake of Guinness unlike anyone at home – it is served with a thermos of hot water which is used to dilute the beer ½ and ½ which I find truly fascinating. I ask locals about this and I was told it’s to weaken the beer! He never really told me why hot water is the preference though.

Next day I walk out to visit an archaeological site: Hyrax Hill Prehistoric Site. With its simple museum, this site is Kenya’s most important Neolithic excavation site which was initially explored by Mary and Louis Leakey. They soon found it to be littered with Stone and Iron Age implements, building remains and evidence that a freshwater lake once extended as far as the hill here. My guide is lovely and very informative so it’s a pleasant visit with fab views to far afield across both Lake Nakuru and Lake Elementaita. Walking back to town I find a private clinic for a quick doctor’s appointment to get GAP’s medical forms sorted, signed, scanned and emailed off for the tour of Madagascar. That makes another chore off my list and slowly my itinerary for the rest of the year is falling into place.

I have been trying for a few days to find the local Tipsy Restaurant open for dinner. Tonight at 6pm they are closing again and I have no idea why – perhaps the food is so good that they sell out by dinner time? So wandering about I find a chinese restaurant with chinese folk eating there – that’s gotta be a good sign. And it is – I have a fab soup with mushrooms and TOFU mmmmm I miss simple tofu!

FACT: The central highlands are the spiritual heartland of the country’s largest tribe, the Kikuyu. During the period in which Kenya's interior was being forcibly opened up for British settlement, an officer in the Imperial British East Africa Company asserted, "There is only one way to improve the Wakikuyu [and] that is wipe them out; I should be only too delighted to do so, but we have to depend on them for food supplies." Thus the highlands were the home of the powerful Mau-Mau resistance between 1952 and 1960. That violent conflict set the stage for Kenyan independence in December 1963 but divided the Kikuyu community and these divisions exist until the present day. Targeted ethnic violence was targeted against the Kikuyu people during the post-election violence in 2008 – there are still camps of internally displaced persons just outside of Nakuru.

Where's Wally??

28 - 30 OCTOBER 2011

MASAI MARA, KENYA

Up and packed, but Ribbons tea is appalling this morning – there seems to be an oil slick on top.

A safari VAN??

I head out around the corner to the nearby taxi stands where I get a fab cup of tea, piping hot watching the morning news. The morning news consists of a chap standing at a table leafing through the daily papers reading articles of interest. Back to Ribbons for a great Spanish omelette with chappatis, drop off my key with their promise that “yes, you can get a room on Sunday, good bye madam”, before getting picked up for the tour. We drive to a hotel to pick up the safari van? and my fellow tourists. They are a couple from Canada – Kara and Joshua. Having arrived in Kenya direct from a week at a resort in Sharm el-Sheikh resort, to volunteer at a children’s home/orphanage a week ago, they found the volunteering opportunity turned African.

I love elephants

They were threatened with deportation if found working there whilst the US based director had assured them that as volunteers they only needed tourist visas. So with their plans now in disarray, they are planning to travel within Kenya for the time being as their friends and family had made bookings to join them at various times over the next few months. We meet our driver, Mike and then we’re go headed towards Narok then south to the famous Masai Mara Park – our safari vehicle being a Nissan Urvan complete with a roof that lifts up for game viewing. No 4wd?? It takes the best part of four hours to get to the camp and by now I am a little suspicious that we are not at the Sekanani Gate that I had booked for. Sure enough, when I ask Mike tells me we’re at the Oloolamutiek Gate, which is right on the far eastern edge of the park – far away from features that I wanted to be near. To mention that I am a little upset about this is an understatement and there is absolutely nothing I can do about it – I am stuck here on a PEGA tour. Conned again! My phone doesn’t have enough credit to make the call to Crater so Mike kindly lends me his phone and when I speak to them, they promise to ring me back. Knowing that I have no hope of getting back to Nakuru from here, I have no option but to swallow my grumpiness, settle in here and save up my arguments for Monday when I will certainly be looking for some kind of refund, even if my receipt says ‘Absolutely No Refunds’. The tents here at Mara Pega Camp are ok – self contained with comfy beds but certainly on the budget side. Francis the camp manager is very friendly and both he and Mike and I are very embarrassed about my tantrums but both understand that I am stuck here and we all have absolutely no choice about it. But it is VERY ordinary here – both the camp and the surrounding Masai village.

Here kitty, kitty, kitty

Back in the van after lunch for a late afternoon game drive, through the park gates to start spotting an occasional gnu or antelope, zebra and lion. ho hum – where are the herds of animals I had been looking forward to? After a couple of hours driving, we return to the lodge for a yummy dinner and good company with a large group of Swedish student teachers travelling with some of the uni staff. Two have been here for a few months living in Nakuru, others just arrived a week ago with three weeks to go and a couple of others have a whole semester in Nakuru ahead of them. Along with the Canadian couple and myself, we make for a very mixed bunch. Soon enough I make a discovery that the beer here is warm –ughh, what a disappointment!

awww so cute

My ordinary tent does, however provide me with a lovely night’s sleep and easy wake up for a great cooked breaky. Today we have a full day’s game drive and we take along our picnic lunches. In through the gate to spot the occasional animal again and after a while I voice my concern that I had thought we would see herds of animals. Soon enough after driving further and deeper into the park, the zebra herds appear, the giraffes and elephants start appearing in family groups. Yaahhhh  The morning passes in a blur of animals – lion prides, elephant herds, big birdies, buffalo, giraffe and a cheetah! Yeeaah! BUT and this is a BIG BUT, our driver insists on driving off road – a big no no for responsible game driving. At one point we get so bogged in thick mud along with another two safari vans for over an hour. The rutted tracks are a real mess here.

PEGA TOURS off road driving on the Mara

When I tell my Canadian friends that I would like to ask him to stay on the road, they agree with me but I get the feeling they really couldn’t care less. This is confirmed at lunch when chatting, I overhear Josh telling someone that “you wouldn’t see anything if they didn’t go off road.” Oh well, I will quietly submit to this shocker of a safari, saving up my arguments for a face off with Crater Travel on Monday. We park at the Mara River where we see wallowing hippos and three HUGE crocs lazing in the mud.

And down comes the rain, continuing intermittently through the afternoon on our drive back through the park. But we still see more lions and another cheetah for more highlights. Eventually back to the camp with an offer to visit the Masa Marai village but most of us decline on the basis of reports that it’s all a bit sad and expensive. I make an effort to walk out the gate just to stretch a blasted muscle spasm that I am suffering but keep being called back by blokes in blankets – Masai who advise me against walking on my own because of the wild animals. Now its 5pm, still light and there are plenty of other locals walking back and forth, so I venture onwards. One Masai makes a big effort running after me – madam, a man was killed by an elephant just near here. OK I relent and turn back with him until it dawns on me – there is no elephant poo nor broken trees around here, so no elephants. I tell him this, and turn back to walk down to the village and he gives up his last ditch effort.

Hungry vultures dining on leftovers

Good dinner and a busy night at the powerboard, for everyone to charge up while the generator is going. One of the swedes has the Yahtzee game – only dice, scorepad and not a lot of skill needed to play it which makes for a great travel game.  While we play, they recount how they were taken to where a tourist was killed by an elephant very nearby. I tell them that there really must not have been any elephants here for ages judging by the environment. They recount with ‘oh it was eleven years ago and there is a sign there.” AND these tourists paid money to be told this. Lucky Masai!

That’s why they were so persistent with me in the hope that I would pay/tip for them to walk with me. Next day is Sunday, our last day here in the Masai Mara here and an early start for a last game drive spotting more animals including being driven straight to where there are two lions mating and again it’s off road. In the face of human curiosity and the want to see everything there is to see, I understand that the pressure must be on the driver guide to ‘produce’ wildlife for the tourists. And with this in mind it should also garner him a decent tip at the end of the safari if the tourist is happy. BUT at what cost? While the Masai Mara park is big (1510 Sq. Kms), the off road tracks are badly eroded and the expectations of tourists to see animals will always remain undiminished. We are never satisfied. After an hour’s drive we head back to the gate for another lovely cooked breakfast together before packing up and making the long drive back to Nakuru with the highlight for me being lentils for lunch, but obviously not everyone’s favourite. We get to town just in time for another massive downpour that floods Nakuru – memories of arriving here last week.

FACT: Police are hunting for criminals after they escaped from Eldoret Prison. The chief Inspector said that the six inmates cut the ceiling board of their cell on Wednesday night and escaped without the knowledge of the warders. “They are hard core criminals and we have intensified the search.” He went on to say that the inmates were able to cut through the ceiling because it is made of cardboard. You don’t say????

26/27 OCTOBER 2011

KENYA – Country number 23 – KENYA

NAKURU

Crossing at the Malaba border, the bodas here are bicycles that are used to travel the distance between Uganda and Kenya’s border posts – gee those blokes really earn every cent because its hard work when you get a mzungu like me who is no lightweight, let alone the pack I am carrying too. After clearing Kenya’s immigration easily (and quizzing them about a multiple entry – no go). The first thing I notice around here are the Kenyan police who carry a swagger stick – a colonial remnant perhaps?

A panga is a BIG knife, not unlike a machete

I get matatu (minibus) transport to Eldoret where we arrive at a very chaotic bus station. Thankfully I am offered to change to an ‘express’ to Nakuru, my destination today.  Only thing is I have to pay for all the way to Nairobi but as Kenya’s shilling is also being devalued as I type – 3 months ago 38 shillings = $1. Today a dollar buys me 98 Kenyan shillings. So the difference is $1 which is minimal and within a couple of hours I get dropped right in Nakuru, just in time for a massive short rain to hit town.  From the map I know where I’m headed but the rain is so dispiriting – I stop at one corner and some nice blokes ask me what I’m looking for – a guest house. Here is Ksh500 and there is Ksh250 they tell me – I head over to the Care Guest House on top of Ribbons restaurant. Their Ksh500 room is great – self contained with hot water and soon I’m drying off then being fed well downstairs on a whole fish with good vegies for 150 shillings. When the rain clears I walk around town to check out other room options here in town but I quickly decide I’ve got a good deal. Even the guidebook’s fav recommendation is not even as good as what I already have for half the price! There are quite a few street children begging here and with the rain falling again they are particularly pathetic on these puddled streets.

Boda Bodas waiting for a ride

Kuku is swahili for chicken

Morning brings a sunny day and I start the rounds of travel agencies to find out how I can get on a safari to the Masai Mara. First up is Pega Tours who want Ksh 36,000 for 2 nights/3 days and they are very reluctant to let me out to compare prices elsewhere. Next I try Crater Travel, who offer the same thing but for Ksh 28,000 but staying at a lodge near the Sekenani Gate. Last up I try Spoonbill, who undercut Crater but are staying at the same gate as Pega. I decide to go with Crater because their lodge at the Sekanani gate so is sited closer to the centre of the park, the Information centre and less time will be spent travelling into the park. When I go back to Pega to tell them, they are happy to undercut Spoonbill, but I assure them my decision is based on the lodge gate. I try the ATMs for cash but they are only giving out a maximum of Ksh20,000 and because my bank charges for every withdrawal, I would prefer to make a larger withdrawal in one go to avoid paying more of their charges. Eventually one bank admits to allowing larger withdrawals ‘upstairs’ where it takes 30 minutes to get Ksh70,000 in one transaction.

This loads me up with cash so I can return to Crater travel to pay for tomorrow’s safari and I spend the rest of the afternoon relaxing, exploring town and admiring beaded sandals. I quite like Nakuru and will use it as a base for further travel afield when I return from safari next week. For now though I start researching the lakes nearby – Lake Nakuru and Lake Bogoria as both are reputed to have flamingos. Car and driver price quotes are astronomical as I am on my own with no one to share the costs so I forget it for a few days and look forward to checking out animals over the weekend instead.

FACT: Two women are in custody after refusing health workers from immunising their children with an oral polio vaccine. Apparently the priest at the church, who is also a secondary school teacher, chased the immunisation team away because they only believe in God for healing. “We do not believe in medication. We seek spiritual intervention when we become sick,” said the priest.

I reckon they ought to have jailed the priest and not the ignorant women..

22 – 25 OCTOBER 2011

JINJA and SIPI FALLS, UGANDA

Check in at the very friendly Explorers Backpackers and get an empty dorm to myself.

It is very laid back here as all the party animals check into their sister lodge at Bujagali Falls, where the overland trucks pull in. It’s a lovely garden and I settle in to ring and book in to Zen Tubing: no longer operating. Next try booking an African Queen sunset cruise: not operating yet, maybe next year. Then try booking for the Jet boat ride here – no go because the driver is with his wife in england while she give birth to their first child. Oh dear, aside from trying to kill myself on Grade 5 rafting, that only leaves the sunset cruise (read booze cruise, due to its open bar) tomorrow night. I book in and relax in the garden to soon meet  Sam who had been volunteering at a school in Arusha, teaching Physics for the last three months. He is lovely to talk to, free wi fi comes back online and I spend the evening researching ways to pick up a tour of the Masai Mara from Nakuru in Kenya without having to go to Nairobi first. It is lovely and relaxed here and the young uns head out to later while I head to bed. Next morning Sam tells me the night out was good BUT he had his wallet nicked then after trying to ring the bank and running out of credit, had his 

The source of the White Nile River

phone knocked off as well!! I help him out to contact his bank with some cash to tide him over till he gets to the bank to use his spare card. He’s off to battle the rapids on a rubber raft today and not back in time to indulge in the booze cruise. I walk to town, to market, back to a walk bridge seriously guarded by two armed soldiers. I find the Speke Memorial, where John Hanning Speke, an intrepid English explorer, declared this place as being the source of the Nile River – the White Nile at least. This was confirmed by Henry Morton Stanley.

The Blue Nile springs form Lake Tana in Ehtiopia. There is still a lot of argey bargey about tributaries contributing to the river but Jinja is claiming that The Nile’s source is Lake Victoria; therefore here is the source of the Nile. I start to get a bit weary but find its quite isolated around here and no boda bodas competing for business here.  Then in the distance I’m sure I can hear one that eventually appears, so I flag him down and get back to town tout suite.

Fishing on Lake Victoria

Booze cruise is a lovely relaxed evening. I meet a traveller who has travelled south from Ethiopia and she managed to pick up a safari from Nakuru into the Masai – there is hope for my idea maybe… I fill up on drinks and snacks and after getting back to Explorers, Sam I am and I head into town to get online – alas a power outage foils our plans. Our evening is as exciting as Sam getting conned into buying two rolexs for dinner and we walk a length or two of Main St before heading back to the backpackers.

Wake up to rain, rain, go away! Hmm do I want to venture to Sipi Falls today? Or I could stay here in town, check out the Nile Brewery for a souvenir for Kyle, go out to the Bujagali falls and the Kilombera weaving workshop, and there are all the crafty places that were closed yesterday.

I decide to stay. Then the rain eases off and I decide again to go because staying will only mean spending more money and buying more ‘stuff’ when I had planned to leave Uganda on the shillings I have already. So I pack and along with Sam I Am, we leave together to find NO boda bodas at the gate, nor at the corner – the rain has sent them all into hiding. We walk a couple of blocks when one boda boda sheltering calls out and Sam I Am kindly offers it to me. I get off to town to sit in a minibus headed to Mbale for the next hour. It takes so long to fill (my fault I know because of my lazy late start) that folk on board are ordering lunches, getting it delivered and dining right there in the back seat! Lol

We get on our way, a trouble free160km trip and I get dropped at a central corner in Mbale to look for another taxi traveling to Sipi Falls. I walk around the corner – “Auntie, Auntie, Sipi Falls? Crows Nest?” Why yes, my man, that’s exactly where I want to go and my carriage awaits me needing only two other passengers to fill it. Half an hour later I get dropped at the Crow’s Nest’ driveway, get greeted by a prospective guide (or is that he sees a prospective walker) who carries my pack up the hill to check in. I take a bed in the dorm – which is empty, nicely netted and with amazing views from the verandah.  No power here – they have a generator but only turn it on for groups.

At the bar

Sipi Falls is in the western foothills of Mt Elgon in Kenya and the countryside is lush, green with only the constant cascading water for a soundtrack. The rain is setting in to a light drizzle making the mud paths very treacherous for awkward old me but I persist; make it down to the village where the poverty is so striking and reminiscent of many parts of West Africa. Except there it was hot and here it is cold and wet. To see little skinny kids shivering away in a thin shirt and shorts or skirt with the only toy in sight, a buckled bicycle rim that kids take turns pushing along with a fashioned stick, stopping every now and again to wash it down in a muddy puddle because this mud is very sticky. The majority of elderly women are also barefooted but gumboots are favoured by the men. Everyone is stepping lightly except for some kids that are skidding down the slopes on the mud.

Sheltering from the rain

No power here either but the bar offers to put a beer in the fridge – ten minutes. As if, but I go along with it and ask them to keep another one in there for tomorrow same time – with some luck I may get a cool beer tomorrow night. Do you have Club? No. What do you have? We have Nile, Pilsener and Club. I will have a Club please.

Somewhere over the rainbow

There is a television hooked up to a DVD player that shows continuous African music videos – if its not a religious song, it will be gangster rap with many gorgeous girls wiggling hips. The kids on the street take in every bit of it and I can only assume they have memorised all the moves.  Back to Crows Nest for my pre ordered dinner of bamboo shoots in groundnut sauce, vegies and rice – Delicious and today’s paper even had a recipe for bamboo shoots that I have now saved – I’m sure Tez will be impressed.  Tonight the quiet countryside is disturbed by music and DJs very close by, until 5am.

I sleep with earplugs and it is not enough to stop this racket. At breakfast I ask about it – it’s the neighbouring lodge whose owner passed away but is not yet buried. The family are keeping a vigil each evening for him. Yes they have electricity and they will keep vigil every night until the funeral – BLAH I find it quite bizarre that I came here because it is gorgeous and natural and quiet and this chap passes away at a lodge right next door to where I am staying and his vigil requires loud music, karaoke prayers to loud music and by daybreak many spoken prayers and hallelujahs…



Next day I walk and walk, check out falls one and two, find that I am still instilling fear in small children although the occasional kid is brave enough to come and shake hands with me. Visit a few other lodges especially one built around the last English Governor’s holiday home – great views of the main cascades. Lunch at another UCOTA (Uganda Community Tourism Association) project – Moses - with great views and vegies on a lovely deck.  Only one tourist here as well, who is camping in his 4wd. Getting back to Crow’s Nest in loads of time to watch the gathering clouds and a heavy downpour that followed. But soon it stops enough to head back to the village for my daily beer then back for another dinner of bamboo shoots – I feel like I’m competing with the gorillas for their fav foods. The evening begins very quietly but around midnight I am woken by dreadful singing accompanied by the same amplified music. Now I think it may be a backing track for sung prayers??? Either way it’s very annoying and I decide I’m out of here – two nights with no sleep is all I can handle. By 6.30am I’m packed and walking to the main road for a matatu back to Mbale. Of course my appearance attracts the young village men who quickly inform me that today is market day and there won’t be many matatus going all the way to Mbale – of course, my good luck has well and truly run out here in Sipi. They suggest I get a boda down the hill to the junction, but I don’t fancy heading right down the hill for 10kms with my pack. Eventually my patience pays off and a crowded car pulls up with room for one more. He kindly drops right at the taxi going to the border town of Tororo and they turf a young man out of the front seat and give it to me. I have no qualms whatsoever about this nowadays and soon enough we’re off, an hour late we pass through Tororo and onto Malaba. A lovely wander through another crummy border town and use the last of my Ugandan Shillings to indulge in that wonderful Ugandan specialty, my last rolex. Easy out of Uganda but Kenya only gives me thirty days at a cost of $50 – I will have to investigate extending it in Nakuru or Nairobi.

FACT: Uganda seems like it is may be on a road to nowhere very fast – after reading this collection of items I will let you be the judge.

Big news every day in the newspaper this week with much lamenting is their beloved Cranes’ football loss to Kenya and their failure to qualify for the Africa All Nations Cup next year. Their star player, David Obua was expelled from the training camp a day before the match because he did not appear in a photo shoot audience during a visit from the president. Memories of General Amin??

Current Parliament is in an uproar after revelations that some ministers abused their powers and profited from cash gifts off foreign oil companies. People were riveted to their TVs for 2 days as parliament was televised showing MP after MP making statements demanding conduct investigations. The President maintains that the tendered documents were fake and so far that is that! Caucus has now decided that it would be unfair to make ministers accused of alleged corruption step aside. And the current transaction that is pending a parliamentary probe is not affected by the recent parliamentary resolution that asked the Government to impose a moratorium on all new oil transactions until the necessary laws have been put in place.

A woman tried to kill herself after finding condoms in her husband’s trouser pockets. He claimed to have received them from an NGO who was distributing them free of charge, but she remained unconvinced and tried to hang herself before neighbours rescued her.

More than 200 children have been evicted from the Buddikiro Childrens Agency after the District Board allocated the land to Lt Col Muheirwe. Newspapers report that the majority of stranded children have resorted to house breaking, pick pocketing smoking marijuana, robbery, theft and burglary. I assume they were ignoring the land theft that contributed to the children being on the streets in the first place??

A Health + Beauty liftout had several features including one about skin cancer reporting that light skinned people and albinos are at greater risk. A statement from Claire Wabule, Secretary for albino women and children: Our lives are endangered. People sacrifice us because they believe our body parts can be used as medicine to cure diseases like HIV/AIDS, and make fetishes for acquiring wealth. Sounds like she has more to worry about than too much sun, methinks?

Lwengo district sacks 120 teachers: Accusing them of failing the Universal Primary Education programme, the chairman related how over 30 teachers had been found with fake credentials while others had abandoned their schools for over two months. “When we discovered the majority of the affected teachers had left their work for a long time and were continuing to receive their monthly salaries, we had to take action” he said. They have now finalised plans to advertise and recruit 120 teachers to replace those that were fired. Ahh efficiency?

Ten million Ugandans do not have toilets – the report went on to say close to 30.3% of the Ugandan population have no toilets. Statistics also show that over 17% of all deaths in children aged under five are caused by diarrhoea. This is supported by the report which shows only 24% of the people living in rural areas wash their hands after visiting the latrine, but this is an improvement from 21% in the 2009/2010 financial year. Experts attributed the rampant bacterial diseases in the country on poor sanitation. OOOH perhaps they need toilets and then the taps can follow?

The security minister has asked his constituents to desist from practising witchcraft because the vice was causing the district to lag behind in development. He also warned that the culprits risked being lynched by mobs.  The next article went on to say: Traditional herbalists recently fled after residents attempted to lynch them. The residents were upset when the herbalists failed to heal their colleague, who had been attacked by demons, after raising sh800, 000 to pay the traditional healers. 

Walk to Work protesters from Activists for Change, are charged with taking part in an unlawful assembly. The Police Chief would like to charge them with treason punishable by death and the President would like anyone who is charged to be imprisoned for six months, without trial on the grounds that the Walk to Work protests are a deliberate and well planned plot to overthrow the government. The Opposition feel that this is distorting the law to suit the Presidents whims over the right to demonstrate.