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Published: January 20th 2010
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Shela Beach Lamu
Yes, it was a taste of paradise! Lamu - A Small Piece of Paradise
Hello again. So to try and bring you all up to date a little. Just before Christmas, and so that we didn’t come home to our families exhausted from our time in Kibera, we headed for the coast and some relaxation. But our journey east was a tale of two entirely different modes of transport:
1. The train line to Mombasa dates from colonial times, and we doubt it has changed much since then. The timetable says the journey takes 15 hours, but in truth I think it rarely manages that. Ours stopped numerous times, went backwards for a few miles at one point and managed the journey in a little over 20 hours. But who is in a rush? First class tickets include a two bed cabin, silver service evening dinner and breakfast the following morning and there is a bar where you can sip away on tusker beer to your heart’s content (and we did!). It was a great way to see Kenya in all its glory while meandering our way slowly through the countryside.
2. Then there was the bus up the coast towards Lamu. We
got the last two seats at the back (Lesson 1: Never do this!), and squashed in with our bags at our feet. To say that the road was uneven implies that (a) there was a road, and (b) that there were places where it resembled being even. Neither of these were the case and so we bumped around for 6 hours, were entirely air born (back of the bus you see!) on a regular basis but could only smile when we glanced at the young man in front of us who was sat in the bus aisle on a crate. If our bums were sore, they were not a touch on his!
And then we arrived onto Lamu Island. Lamu is not so much a place as a whole experience. Fresh fish, fresh fruit and fruit juices, lots of sun, long long beaches, no local hassle… it is the place where chill out Arabic culture meets chill out African culture. Perfect. A planned few days visit quickly turned into a ten day stay; including a local dhow trip out to a deserted island, sleeping under the stars on the beach, spear fishing for lunch and hanging out with the
dozens of local Pundas (Swahili for donkey - there are no cars on Lamu and the locals regularly tell us: “A man without a donkey is a donkey”).
Home to Eire to enjoy the Christmas Festivities
Then home for 2 weeks over the Christmas break. Bloody cold though. Especially when you arrive in London at -2 degrees in flip flops. But great to be home, recant our stories of distant lands and fatten up again for the months ahead. Imagine eating a Chocolate Kimberley for breakfast and not feeling guilty because you know it is going to be all rice and beans for the next 8 months? Yummy!
We spent some time with Niall’s grandparents Jerry and Freddy McCarthy who are 89 and 88 and have been following our progress on their map of the world at home in their living room, and via the postcards we send from each country.
Last but certainly not least we had the pleasure of attending the wedding of our good friends Richie and Paula (avid followers may remember them from our "And It Starts!" blog). And great news for us over the Christmas was that the other
Myles, Stef, Niall and Dee
Our own personal Overland Tour two stars of that first blog Mylo and Steff (from now on renamed to Stylo) are travelling from Kenya to Zambia at the same time as us. Completely unplanned and coincidentally they even happened to be on the same flight back to Nairobi as us, so there is now twice the amount of fun ahead as the four of us take on Africa together until mid March. This will also hopefully bring some fresh conversation to our evenings - between just us two, new topics had pretty much dried up (“So “What did you do today?” or “How was work'?” do not really work anymore…)
And Back on the Long Winding African Road
So with a brief sojourn in Nairobi, we said “Farewell for now” to the many many friends who have been so good to us over the last two months. We thoroughly enjoyed our time in Nairobi and Kibera, taking so much personally from the experiences that we had there. We sincerely hope to take the memories of these experiences with us into whatever we do in the future.
And then it was time to pack up the tent (no, not a typo
Back on the Long Winding African Road
Dee & Stef with all their belongings in the world! - the Vango Alpha 300 is our new home for the next 4 months) and headed north to Hells Gate National Park - the only one in Kenya that you can cycle through. Dee has come a long way in the last few months, from the girl who enjoyed having her hair done regularly with the odd facial on a Saturday morning she is now sleeping in a tent with Hippos outside at night and cycling with lions during the day. I am so proud!
After Hells Gate we rendezvoused with Stylo who had headed north a few days before us and set off for the Ugandan border passing through Nakuru, Eldoret and Malaba on the way. We crossed into Uganda a few days ago and so far love the place. The people here are so friendly and it is nice to meet the people living outside of big cities. Everyone is a small farmer of some kind. One farm we saw had Coffee, Bananas and Irish potatoes all growing on the same plot.
And so the Ugandan adventure begins. Tune in next time for tales of all it has to offer.
All the best,
Niall
Niall on Cycling Safari
Hell's Gate National Park and Dee
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Heidi Small
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A Blog Escape
What a great update and for me, a great 10 - 15 minute getaway from a stressful morning at work in London. Dee, I'm so proud of you for the camping, cycling and national park adventure. Didn't know you had it in you! Pics are great and I wish you both a safe journey to Uganda. Love, Heidi