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Published: August 5th 2023
I woke just before 5:30 this morning to the faint smell of wood burning. They start the fire in the boiler each morning at 5:00 so there is hot water by 6:00 for guests. It would be good to have a more ecological way of heating water, because the boiler is fired up again 4:00 in the afternoon. Kenya is very ecologically minded, on the whole. The use of plastic grocery and zip bags is forbidden both here and in Tanzania. I had to think up several different ways of packing the items I customarily put in plastic bags, including buying reusable plastic shoe bags. Indeed, I have seen very little litter along the roads, except in some villages, and rarely is it plastic. In the hotel rooms, soap dispensers are used rather than little individual bars. Many places provide handwashing facilities where we would use hand sanitizer. This hotel provides small towels rather than paper towels in the common facilities, as well as the rooms.
We started at 7:00 for the border, trying to miss the congestion usual in the late morning. We soon climbed out of the
Rift Valley , which we will re-visit much later in Tanzania. At
Volcanic geology
5 - 23 million years least half the way was on the rough stone and dirt roads we have come to know from the game drives. Near to significant towns, the road was paved. A lot of the land was fenced for large and small farms, which impeded the movement of the wildlife population; however, this was private land. The main crops we saw were corn and bananas. In the early morning, shops and homes were closed; around 8:00 people were coming out, opening businesses, and walking from here to there. Lots of children were walking to school, over a period of much more than an hour. I couldn’t figure out when classes started. The younger children shouted hello and waved. There are a lot of primary schools and some secondary schools; all children wear uniforms.
Just after 10:00 we came to the border. Exiting Kenya was fairly easy, just requiring our passports and covid QR codes, which they didn’t actually read; it was enough to show vaccinations done. Of course, entering Tanzania was more complicated, as entry to any country is. There was a health screening form, not for covid but for
Ebola , which is prevalent in neighbouring Uganda. They checked that
we had our covid QR code and yellow fever vaccination certificate or waiver; after all my worrying about only receiving a waiver, the document check passed in seconds.
Our luggage was put through an airport-type scanner, and then we had to line up to show our visas. No organization at all. The people buying visas at the border were not separated from those with visas, so for some time we waited with little progress. Then a big loud man (an official?) tried to organize lines, although he changed his mind about which was which and didn’t seem to consult the visa officers. Then another guide tried to herd her people in some way I didn’t comprehend. Finally, Lucas did instill some order, and two lines were designated for visa holders. During all this, one tourist kept barking at others that they were taking advantage and shouting to countermand other people’s organizing efforts if they didn’t favour her. I just waited without comment, stood in one of the lines, and quietly provided my documentation when required. Almost everyone was served within what seemed a confusing but reasonable time. The two borders together took about an hour.
The immediate difference
between Kenya and Tanzania was how clean and orderly the houses, streets and towns were, although that waned over the day. Near the border the houses and buildings have steeply-pitched steel roofs to deal with the heavy rain. The area is prosperous because of gold mining and because the soil is fertile, from volcanic remains. We saw tomato stands in many places; mesh bags holding about 1.5 kilos sold for about 50 cents.
The road was smoothly paved, and its purpose was to move people to and from the border; large passenger buses regularly passed us going to the border. (On the Kenyan side, the nearest town was packed with motor-cycle taxis.) To my pleasure, the
Kuria people in Tanzania favour strong colours of bright red, orange, pink and turquoise, as do the
Masai . Lots of goats were being herded, gradually giving way to sizeable herds of cattle, guided by a boy or sometimes a girl, with a long switch.
Near the Mara River were huge, strange rounded rock formations that looked like the remains of mountains. Our new driver, Jay Kim, said it was very old granite.
(Kopjes are the visible evidence of a thick layer The Great Serengeti
Western Corridor region of granite that spewed up in a molten state from below the earth’s mantle.) The
Mara River flows from Kenya to
Lake Victoria , which is the source of the Nile, which empties into the Mediterranean Sea. Thus, the crushed remains of wildebeest and other creatures that perish in the great Serengeti migration eventually find their way into the ocean.
Near lunch time, we stopped at a “shopping point” (roadside convenience store) for cold drinks and snacks. I chose ginger cookies that were nicely sweet and peppery. About half an hour later, we entered the
Serengeti National Park . At the entrance were picnic tables, which were just right for eating our boxed lunches. We have had boxed lunches more often than not. Although the contents are just ok, they do save time compared to eating in a restaurant. Yesterday, for instance, they enabled us to drive a long way from the hotel, rather than making short morning and afternoon game drives. Today they helped us get on the road again quickly, hurried along by the pestering monkeys hanging out by the picnic tables.
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Isabel Gibson
non-member comment
I admire your restraint at the border. Sometimes the best we can do is to wait quietly, but it's not my forte. Your seen-in-passing street scenes are fascinating, as are the kopjes (which are new to me). They look OLD. And with the Serengeti now coming into play, I hear Toto's "Africa" playing in the background. :-)