The safari with our friends from home and my brush with the Kenyan legal system were behind us. We were looking forward to exploring Kenya with Paul and Julie. First though, we had to fix the leaking power steering pump. Jason and Shanna had brought a seal kit with them, so I set to work on the repairs. Three days later, I had completed the job. Bruiser Conversions has found a way to shoe horn a Cummins 4BT under the hood of a Jeep Wrangler, but it doesn’t leave a lot of room to work. Ready to roll, we pulled out of Nairobi with Paul and Julie, headed for Lake Magadi. Flocks of flamingos and the promise of a hot spring were all we needed to trek to this soda lake. Lake Magadi is home to a large soda “mining” operation. The company controls access to the lake, even at the far southern end, away from the soda “mine.” We checked in and got directions to the camping area. As we arrived at the south end of the lake, we saw a shade where a group of Maasai women were gathered with their beadwork. Camping was dispersed, with no set spots nor bathrooms. We found a quiet place and set camp. It wasn’t long before the Maasai women came over for us to inspect their wares. Their work was beautiful and Jen found something handy to purchase. Afterward, they retreated back to their shade to wait for the next campers.
The next morning, we woke to the glass smooth waters of the lake, and the reflections of a handful of flamingos. Beauty set amidst a dry, desolate land. As we sat in the shade of our awnings, a couple of curious Maasai kids came over. They peppered us with questions about the Jeep, the trailer, and where we were from. As we enjoyed our morning cup of coffee, they seemed content to sit and watch us, a couple more finally joining them. One spoke fair English, and she explained to the others what we had said about our camp. Most though, sat and watched us in silence. While we are not new to being the object of such curiosity, this was the first time it had carried on for so long, and with so little interaction. Most of the curious ask a few questions, take a look around, even take a photo of the Jeep, but then move on. These kids just sat and stared. Finally, they must have gotten bored and moved on. We would see them around, and they would come to the rise behind camp in the mornings to see if we were still there, but they didn’t sit around watching us like “Mzungu TV.” (Mzungu is Swahili slang for white person)
After a couple of days in the heat of the Rift Valley, we headed out of Lake Magadi. Paul was keen to stay down in the valley as we worked our way north. The previous rainy season had flooded many of the roads in this part of the Rift Valley, and we continually found ourselves on smaller roads, or sometimes just following river beds. At one point, we followed the access road for a pipeline or power line. We pulled into Lake Oloiden just after dark. It had taken us all day to drive 150 miles! And we couldn’t have been in any different a landscape to where we had left in the morning. We had climbed over 4000 feet and it was cold. Everything here was green and lush, we had left the dry climate behind. After the long day of driving, we were glad to have the campground to ourselves. That night, we slept well. The next day, we decided to spend another night here, watching the pelicans fishing in the lake. During the day, I discovered that one of our shock absorbers was broken and needed replacement. I had a spare, so I replaced that, and replaced the bushings in the other one. As we drove out towards the highway the next day, we saw giraffe right along the road. This was quite a treat, as the area is heavily populated. On our way to Lake Baringo, we crossed the Equator! It may be an imaginary line, but it seemed like such a milestone in our trip. We were back in the northern hemisphere.
On the shores of Lake Baringo, we found our paradise. Camp was shady and cool, the lake was nearby, with hippo even, and it didn’t have too may bugs. Over the next 5 days, we went on a boat ride looking for birds, saw fish eagle snatch fish right out of the lake, and had hippo wander through camp, grazing on the grass. We used this time to look at a map and plan our route to lake Turkana. This would be some of the most remote country we would visit since our trip into northwest Namibia and the Marianfleuss Valley. All the locals at the camp told us the road around the north end of the lake was open and in good condition. It was also beautiful, as we discovered when we drove through. We were able to get fuel in the town of Maralal before heading through the mountains.
Click play on the sound bar below to hear the sound of a Hippo.
As we climbed out of Maralal, we found muddy roads where it had rained in the none to distant past. One section looked rutted and bad, but the Jeep just trudged right through it, without issue. We turned off the main road towards a camp, only to find more muddy roads. We did fine, but Paul and Julie’s Land Cruiser slipped into a hole, lifting their right front wheel more than 3 feet in the air! They were stuck. Quickly, we hooked their winch line to the trailer hitch on the Jeep, and they pulled themselves out of the hole. Just a few hundred yards down the road, it got muddier and steeper. We decided that we wouldn’t risk going down it, mostly because we didn’t think we could get back up it the next day. As we worked at turning the Jeep and trailer around on the narrow road, we attracted quite a crowd. One guy, Jack, was eager to be helpful, cautioning us not to try the hill. We had already decided not to, and told him so. He asked if we had somewhere to spend the night, quickly following with an invitation to stay in his “special camp.” We finished turning around the Jeep and trailer, then went with Jack to talk to Paul. He speaks Swahili and could make sure Jack’s offer was completely understood. Everything seemed OK, so Jack jumped in the Jeep and we headed out. It turns out, Jack’s “special camp” is the yard in front of his family’s farm, right beside the main road. The extra bonus was that less than a quarter mile up the road from his place, a semi truck was stuck in a mud patch, with another 8 unable to get around. All we had to do was drive around the stuck truck, through ditch and brush. Again, the Jeep took it all in without issue, even backing up the rain run-off ditch to get back on the road behind the stuck truck.
Jack lived with his wife and kids, his father and brothers, and even his grandfather. They were all excited to have us camped at their place. They pointed out where to set up camp, and jumped on making a fire for all of us to sit around. We sat into the night, listening to their stories and learning about the road to Lake Turkana. Jack even offered to guide us to the lake, but we didn’t want to take him away from his family. He cautioned us not to stop anywhere but a town with a police station, bandits were a real possibility in the area. The stuck convoy even had armed guards, locals with ancient or (hopefully) non-functional guns, hired to keep the empty trucks safe. We had heard this before, but also known so many travelers that had gone through the area without problems. The next morning, we were ready to go as they got the stuck truck pulled out of the bog. Once the rest of the trucks passed by, we were off. Out of the mountains, it got hot and dry again. Nearly to the end of our journey, we felt the trailer buck so we stopped and found that we were dragging a brake line, broken off right at the hub. I tucked it out of the way and kept on. Just within sight of the lake, we encountered a wind farm, waiting for the power line we had seen going up all the way from Nairobi. That is what the stuck convoy was doing, delivering parts and pieces for the power line.
As we pulled into Loyalangalani, the town on the eastern shore of Lake Turkana, we heard a clunking and rattling from the trailer. Unsure what we’d find, we hastened to find a place to camp. The one campground was hosting a conference of some sort and super busy. We opted for a room at a lodge that wasn’t busy. That way, we could work on the trailer without having to fold everything up and away. We enjoyed a view of the sunset over the lake and slept soundly that night. Working in the parking lot, we tore into the trailer. We found not only that the break line had pulled off, but everything inside the drum came loose when it did. I pulled out not brake shoes and parts, but abstract metal sculpture. Fixing it was out of the question, so we removed anything that was or could come loose and junked it. The trailer would still roll, but it had no brakes on one side. Nor a shock, as the one that didn’t get replaced at Oloiden had broken off. I removed it too, but saved it to help find a replacement in the future. Jen also noticed that the body work in the fender had broken the rivets holding it to the frame, and in a couple of places was actually cracking to allow dust and water inside the trailer. We were bummed out, this would require another trip to Nairobi to try to repair. Adding insult to injury, as we were putting things away, a dust devil blew through, catching the awning on the Jeep and snapped a spar on that.
Over the next two days, we slowly worked our way across the inhospitable landscape of northern Kenya on our way to the highway. Herds of camels, and their armed herders, did keep it interesting though. We spent the first night at a catholic mission, glad for the rest. Upon reaching Marsabit, and the highway, we found another camp before heading south, towards Nairobi. From here, we made it to the flanks of Mt. Kenya. From our camp, we watched black and white Colobus monkeys jumping from tree to tree. Stunningly beautiful and high enough to be cold, we piled on three blankets that night in bed. The next day, we pushed through to Nairobi, and our third visit to Jungle Junction, to see about repairing the trailer. Over the next week, we replaced the shocks, and repaired what we could of the bodywork, with a lot of help from the Jungle Junction crew. We had made reservations at a couple of places near Mt. Kenya, and were working our tails off to get repaired in time to make our reservations with Paul and Julie. When it became clear that we wouldn’t get done in time, Paul and Julie headed that direction and we said we’d meet them when we could. When repairs were finished, we had only lost 2 days. We met Paul and Julie at the first place, and it was wonderful. Quiet and peaceful, we slept well that night.
The next place was only a couple of hours down the road, near Nyeri. Paul’s dad had played cricket when they lived in Kenya, and often played at the Nyeri Club. We dropped in one day for lunch and Paul told his story to the manager. He also wandered around the golf course, looking for signs of where the old cricket grounds had been. Also in town is the Outspan Hotel. This luxury hotel dates from the colonial days, and was a grand place to have an afternoon drink. It also is the final home of Lord Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the Boy Scouts. He lived in a cottage on the property, one that you can still rent and stay in, for the last three years of his life. They had converted part of the cottage into a museum of sorts (see it here), and scouts from all over the world have left neckerchiefs and badges from their home countries. It was fun to see this homage to Scouting’s founding father. Also near Nyeri, we found a coffee farm where we could buy locally grown and roasted coffee. We were pretty excited to try Kenyan coffee (check it out here), we had enjoyed coffee from the other countries we’ve visited.
From the Nyeri area, we started to work our way towards Uganda. We dropped out of the mountains and back into the Rift Valley, stopping for the night near Njoro. The first woman to fly across the Atlantic east to west, Beryl Markham, was from Njoro. Little did we know that the farm we camped on had moved her cottage onto their property. They even let us take a quick tour of it, while the family that had rented it was out for the day. She sounds like an interesting lady who led an interesting life. Jen has started reading about her, and I am sure we will continue to learn about her life. Here, we were able to replace the brake on the trailer, with parts we ordered in from South Africa. We were finally whole again. From Njoro, we stopped on the shores of Lake Victoria again. This was to be our last camp in Kenya, Uganda was calling. After a couple of days by the lake, we headed for the border and Uganda. Kenya had been exciting and full of adventure.
Here is Paul and Julie’s take on this part of our journey through Kenya together.
Kenya by the Numbers
Miles Driven: 2,645
Days in Kenya : 55
Visitors from Home: 2
Court Appearances: 1
Lakes Visited: 6
