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Published: March 3rd 2009
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On the road
this is pretty typical of the terrain for all of northern Kenya We started out on our great safari (trip) at 5AM Saturday. Since the word got out that we were going to Nairobi, we had enough people who wanted to come along that we could filed up about ten vehicles. She had a definite priority list: 1st - sick people and relatives to care for them, 2nd government officials and dispensary staff 3rd church members, 4th other townspeople.
As it turned out, Gloria and Cheryl were in the front of the ambulance, Matthew and I were in the back on fold-down metal seats along with six other people and plenty luggage and other cargo.
The trip would end up taking about 14 hours and cover only 400 kilometers (250 miles) the roads (if you can call them that) are ruts interrupted by boulders. If you can imagine the roughest country lane you’ve ever seen and then multiply it by about 10 and you’re getting close to the road conditions in rural Kenya. When it smoothed out, we’d be close to that country lane you just imagined.
Along the way we were able to see lots of wild animals. While our main destination was still the game parks that provide
Grevey's Zebras
just mosying along the road where we're traveling refuge for the animals, we were still able to spot zebras, gazelles, and all sorts of guys we’d never heard of.
We made a couple of stops along the way. First was Baragoi for tea and about mid afternoon we made a lunch stop in Maralal. There’s also where we offloaded the rest of our passengers. From Maralal they could find public transportation to Nairobi.
It took us about 8 or 9 hours to get to Maralal, the place where Gloria receives her mail. She was concerned that the fees charged by the post office were a bit high for receiving the mail. After she complained to the authorities, they set up a sting and busted the crook in the Maralal PO. It seems that as the packages from America would arrive in Nairobi, they would be assessed a charge for customs of 300 or 500 Shillings and then forwarded to Maralal for her to pick up. The postmaster in Maralal would simply put a “1” in front of the actual charge and pocket the extra 1,000 Shillings ($13 US) himself. She went to the authorities with her receipts and they confronted the culprit together. The official was
Maralal, Kenya
It kinda looks like a wild west town doesn't it? Gloria has to drive 7 hours to pick up her mail from here transferred the same day to the Kenya equivalent of Siberia. I shudder to think what that must be like. This all happened over ten years ago and she’s had no problems ever since.
We had hoped to make the edge of Samburu National Reserve, a game park, by about 3 or 3:30 in the afternoon. We’d then spend the rest of the daylight hours driving through the park to see what animals we could before the park closes at 6:30 and darkness takes over this part of the world. We could go on to the town of Isiola and spend the night at a semi-reasonable hotel.
Unfortunately, with all the extra demands on our (really Gloria’s) time, we only made it to the edge of the park, the village of Archer’s Gate, in time to find that the sun had disappeared for the day.
We checked into the better of the two hotels in town. It is a series of concrete block cabins with one single bed (again by a wild stretch of the imagination), a single bare light bulb, a toilet, a shower, (no, really just a pipe up high that if you turn on the
Gazelle
Another animal just hanging out along the road. single faucet, it drips occasionally), and a slatted bed-like structure with a thin mattress.
The rooms and bed were so small that Cheryl and I each had our own rooms. If we had tried to stay in the same room, we probably couldn’t turn around at the same time.
My major regret is that it was dark by the time we checked in and dark when we checked out in the morning, so I couldn’t take pictures to show you. My friend, Loren, and I usually spend a week or two each year backpacking through Mexico. We’ve stayed in some pretty run-down flea bag hotels. This one would have to upgrade considerably to make it to fleabag status. Loren would be pleased to hear that we paid 300 Shillings (under $4 US) each for the four rooms.
Did I say something about electric light in the room? Well, when we checked in there was that bare bulb in the middle of the ceiling. When I got up at 12:30 for midnight potty run, the lights didn’t work. Can you say “bait and switch?” Remember, I said this was the better of the two hotels. I wonder what the other one was like. Hmmmm, we could have saved 50 Shillings($0.65) per room…
We walked down the street to one of the better family restaurants in town. There’s an old adage about when traveling eat where the locals eat. Well, the whole town is nothing but locals and this place was the most happening joint in town. In places like this, there is one thing on the menu for the evening. Today’s special (and only) was goat. Four orders of stew and soft drinks all around came to a whopping 780 Shillings ($10 US) for us.
We turned in early and pulled the mosquito netting down around the bed and tried to sleep in the stifling heat until about 5:30. The bed was a bunch of wooden slats that could be felt through the thin mattress. If we never go back, it will be too soon, Matthew is an African man who herds camels and lives in a stick house. Even he thought the conditions were abominable.
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