Blogs from Marsabit, Eastern Province, Kenya, Africa

Two hours after my truck south is cancelled, there is banging on my room door and I am told that a private vehicle has arrived. I head outside to find a Landrover that I've seen somewhere before, probably Ethiopia. It's driven by a Swiss guy, Patrik, who is overlanding from Switzerland to Cape Town and he says he is happy to take a passenger - he can't guarantee that he will be going all the way to Nairobi, but will definitely be going at least as far as Isiolo, which is fine by me. English is a language he doesn't like and which is perhaps his fourth best - indeed his friends had asked him how on earth he'd be able to travel through Africa with his ability being so poor - but, in that annoying ... read more

The lorry roled into a small, dry, dusty outpost of a town where trucks congregate to form a convoy before heading north to Moyale, as what lay ahead was bandit country and lorries are prone to being raided by Somali's fleeing the fighting in their own country and desperate to get anything they can sell on. This was also the place where they were assigned armed escorts (a guy with a sub-machine gun). If it wasn't for the African people, this could be a hollywood film set for a western. There were 3 blocks of buldings that were made up resteraunts, shops and pubs that had faiding paint and covered in the yellow dust that formed a gritty layer over everything including my clothes, face and hands. The town has about 3 small blocks of shops, ... read more