Days 64 - 65

Day 64

Ate breakfast in the hotel - Kenyeje and Chapatis - and then set off on the road towards Arusha. It wasn’t a long drive, only 380km so we reached Arusha at about 2 and booked ourselves in the ‘Masai Camp’ and rather large establishment with a very cool bar/restaurant area, that must get very busy during Christmas/New Year but today we seemed to be the only people filling it, or at least we thought so at first. After putting the tents up we retired to the bar for drinks and crisps. About 40 minutes later I wandered back past the tents to get something from the car and received a bit of a shock; an Indian family had opened our two tents and taken out our yoga mats which they’d spread out in the shade between the two tents and were lying on. Even funnier, one of their children was stetched out inside James and Robert’s tent fast asleep. I was a bit embarrassed so I didn’t say anything but went quickly back to the bar to tell the others, who didn’t believe me at first until they went and looked themselves. So funny, I actually couldn’t stop laughing about it all afternoon. At about 5 the family got up, rolled the mats up and put them back in our tents, zipped up the tents and left, we didn’t see them again. Very hilarious, although a little weird perhaps. At about 6 we took our place in the restaurant for our final meal of the trip - pizza was the restaurant’s speciality so pizza we ordered, and a lot of it! It was a very good final meal and after a few more drinks we decided to call it a night and retire for the last time to our respective tents.

Day 65

We left Arusha at 7, keen once home was almost in sight to get on with the final leg of the journey. The road took us through a large, dry, desert-like landscape which Seren morbidly declared had been created by goats. The road surface was pretty poor, lots of diversions on dust roads and lots of random bumps which made driving a bit difficult but we still made good time, reaching the Kenya border at 11, after a bit of a run-in with a truck full of about 50 Masai…Robert decided to take a picture of them, because they looked so funny piled up on this truck, through the windscreen, just at the moment when James decided to kangaroo the car making a bit of a noise which made all the Masai look around in time to see Robert capture them on film, which they didn’t like one bit. Some them started shouting at us and making angry gestures so we overtook them rapidly, hoping to hurry through the immigration processes and get back on the road before they could find us. Luckily the border was a quick one and we were through before 12 and back on the road. It was a better road than the one we drove down on 2 months ago, as much of it had now been tarmaced over, although there were still lots of diversions, so we continued with our quick progress and just before 2 we were driving into Karen and at last back into Robert’s gate from which 2 months and 3 days previously we had left. We were greeted by Sue, Rob’s mum and given a very yummy lunch of Macaroni Cheese (Nursery food, how appropriate). Then it only remained to unpack the car, split everything between us, give the car a good wash and then say our farewells and head off in our separate directions. It was weird being home again, with even that day’s journey already drifting off into the recesses of memory. But it was nice too being able to get clean and put on fresh clothes that didn’t smell of damp and dirt.

It’s been an incredible journey; we’ve seen and experienced so much and we all feel so lucky to have had the resources and the time to allow us to have this amazing adventure. The first question my sister asked me today, when I called her to say I was back was whether I felt changed at all. I wasn’t quite sure how to reply but in the end I said that I just felt slightly older, a little wiser and full of the unquenchable desire to travel and to see more. I think this also reflects how James, Robert and Seren feel, and I know that we will all miss the traveller’s lifestyle. It now remains only to say thank you to everybody who has shown interest and offered support to us, particularly over the past two months, but also during the planning stages of last year. It has been lovely to read all the feedback from those of you who have been following our progress and reading this blog, I hope that you have enjoyed reading it as much as I have enjoyed writing it! We all feel very strongly that the drive from Nairobi to Cape Town and back is a trip we would all love to do again, albeit perhaps with a bit more money, so watch this gap…four years time could bring more travel and more blog!

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