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Published: August 28th 2012
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The border crossing from Ethiopia to Kenya was very easy, Kenyan visa on the border, a friendly Kenyan officer, and the cost is already a little higher than Ethiopia, even for the same city, Moyale. We stayed just one night in Moyale, next day we got a truck to Marsabit, the road condition was not good at all, very bumpy and dusty road, and traveling on the truck sitting and holding metal pipe was like a cowboy in the desert, you get tired in the end of the day.
Marsabit, a main city in the desert area, on the way to Nairobi, dusty and also a small city, we stayed 2 nights there, but Christian left us after first night, he was a little hurry to go to Tanzania. On the second day we saw some local people with very beautiful dress, that was Samburu people, similar to Masai, so we started to find out how to visit them in their village, after some talks we found out the place, named Karare, and we also met a school teacher Emily, who accepted us to stay in her school in Parkishon, and that is very close to the Samburu villages. And
Travelling on truck
That was our transport to cross the north part of Kenya from Marsabit to Parkishon, we met another guy from Sweden, Axel, he stayed with us for 2 nights in school, but me and Kiarash we stayed 3 nights there.
3 nights in Parkishon school was one of the most wonderful experiences I got in Kenya. We went to a small village nearby, named Ula Ula, there were 3 wedding parties happening, we were treated very well as guest, and we could see and be part of that wedding party. We tried to get in Marsabit Park, but the entrance fee was too high to foreigner, so we went to Karare to visit a local friend, Jonah Lekiliara, which we met on the way. And the day before we leave, we went to Parkishon village and danced with Samburu warriors.
From Parkishon to Nairobi, there only me and Kiarash, now we are really traveling by low cost, because he was really running out of money, so hitchhiking, asking for free foods and sleeping any possible place, on the way to Isiolo we got wonderful helps in Nomad's hotel , people giving us food and the owner gave us also Ksh 200. In Isiolo we met a Kenyan Indian guy,
named Sadik, he was a really nice person, actually Kiarash met him by buying a cigarette in his shop, and in the end Sadik hosted us for one night and gave us so many things for camping.
Next city was Meru, very close to Isiolo; we decided to visit Meru because we met many nice people from Meru on the road. Meru is a beautiful city, full of green around, different from the north part of Kenya where was very arid. Kiarash was trying to find a mosque for us to sleep that night, but the leader refused to host me because I am not a Muslim, and that action is against the Muslim principle, because the mosque is a place of God, and everyone should have the right to stay, somehow the leader felt wrong what he did, so he sent another guys to host us and also gave us Ksh1000 as gift, but we didn't go with guys because they were taking us back to Isiolo. In the end we found another mosque to sleep where accepted both of us, but actually it is not easy to sleep in a mosque, they start to pray so early!!
The car to Karare village
That small car was carrying more than 30 persons Finally we were arriving in Nairobi, big city, expensive life, chaotic and full of security check, we didn't feel good to stay there longer, even our host gave us a very nice place and feeding us very well, our host house was living with 5 women and a little boy. So we were checking some information about Kenyan visa extension and Tanzania visa, trying to fix my notebook, and waiting Moe coming from Egypt, the Japanese girl I met on the ferry trip from Iran to UAE.
Now our destination is Mombasa, the coast city, we started to hitchhike from Nairobi to Mombasa for 3 now, me, Moe and Kiarash, our plan was 2 or 3 days to arrive in Mombasa, but some extraordinary episode happened to us. First of all we got a truck to Salama, but we were stopped by police and took off from truck because the police said the truck cannot carry passengers, there were so many police check points on the road. So the police forced us to take a bus to Salama, arriving in Salama we went to find the food for us, free food for sure, we were really in low
budget, and a local woman Lydia approached us asking what you are looking for, then she got really surprise about our action looking for free food and ride to reach Mombasa, so she talked to some guys around and said you can go to restaurant and they will pay your food, we were really concerning about that offer, anyway we were hungry, so we thought the worst thing could happen just we pay our food. When we were almost finishing the lunch, Lydia came back to pay our food, also paid 3 bus tickets to Mombasa for us, also gave us foods and water for the trip, and Ksh750, that was around Ksh3000 in total!!! That was really weird for us, too much goodness from nothing, we were really worried about that, so we were trying refuse the whole offer, just accepting the foods, but there were a lot people around convincing us to accept that, seems all of them gave a small quantity help us, in the end we accepted the offer, got into the bus, but we were still concerning about some trap on the way for us. Finally we arrived in Mombasa, safe and nothing happened, so
we realized the people were really with good heart, wonderful people!! And until now we still keep in touch with Lydia.
We arrived in Mombasa at least 2 days before our plan; we never could image such goodness from the people. We got 4 hosts in Mombasa; Phil, a Irish, very cool guy, with a wide world view; Liz, a British, English teacher in Mombasa, a sweet woman, she left her apartment for us during her 2 months vacation; Peter, a Kenyan, public employee with very heavy atmosphere, my first really bad couchsurfing experience; Nick, a Kenyan, touristic driver, very cool guy, simple and with a wonderful family. We were just relaxing there, enjoying the beach of Mombasa, and Moe did a safari in Shimba national park with Nick, 2 days later she was flying back to England, and I was going to Tanzania, because my wife was arriving in Dar Es Salaam.
After 8 days in Tanzania with my wife, we were coming back to Kenya together. My travel plan already changed, I and Kiarash will go together to South Africa slowly and to do some project together as well, like photography and music, so I will
skip Europe and Russia from my trip plan, just staying in Africa. During my stay in Tanzania, Kiarash got a volunteer job in a hostel; he got free food and accommodation, so there were only me and my wife in Liz's apartment, sometimes Kiarash come to visit us, because his hostel was around 25km from Liz's apartment.
Next 3 weeks we spent the time in Mombasa, relaxing, hunting the crabs on the beach, walking around, making food, going to some nice restaurant, took Kiarash and my wife to casino, that was their first time in casino, and the luck of beginner was pretty good, we won Ksh3000, so Ksh1000 for each. We also did a safari with Nick, then I got a really nice temporary job offer and a possibility to do a free SAP academy course in Brazil, so I decided to go back to Brazil, a break of my trip, that was a really hard decision for me, I was suppose to start to learn djembe with Kiarash, one of thing I would really like to learn, and whole project linked to the trip in Africa, the things were really getting the way.
Well, the decision
was done, I got flight back to Brazil on July 26th, to do the stuff in Brazil, but I will definitely go back to Africa and stay more there, the experience from Kenya was really wonderful, incredible Kenya people, beautiful landscape, I am really missing Africa now, especially Kenya.
Final account of Kenya:
First part of Kenya, when I was alone, 1 person
- 16 days
- Total 130 USD
- Average 8.13 USD per day
Second part of Kenya, when I was with my wife, 2 persons
- 24 days
- Total 1155.42 USD (Including Safari in Tsavo Park, very expensive in Kenya, and a dinner in 5 star hotel on my wife's birthday)
- Average 24.07 USD per day
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