Southern Ethiopia & Kenya

Well, it's been a long time since we last had internet so this blog post will be covering a lot.

We left Addis on Monday 13th June and it's fair to say that Athena did not have a good day. It started badly with a flat battery and then the fuel cap was left behind at the petrol station. Things got progressively worse when the front window was shattered when a road barrier was not lifted high enough. Fortunately, no one was badly hurt despite the shards of glass throughout the truck. After clearing up the glass and rigging up a tarp, we were able to get on our way. To make matters worse, it rained all day and then the windscreen wipers broke as well. Despite all these set backs, we made it to our destination, Arba Minch, by night fall. I am constantly impressed on this trip by how resourceful the crew and my fellow expedition members are at dealing with and finding creative solutions to any problems that arise. The windscreen wiper solution of a rope tied to each wiper and fed through into the cab for Alison and Rogan to manually operate was particularly amusing! Probably less so for them, but it entertained us in the back.

We ended up spending two nights in Arba Minch whilst we waited for glass to fix the window to be shipped down from Addis. Our hotel / camping ground overlooked the Rift Valley Lakes so it wasn't a bad place to spend an extra day, relaxing on the terrace enjoying the views.

From there, we continued south through Ethiopia stopping at an eco lodge in the town of Konso for a night to break the journey. In Konso, we were able to go on a village tour to really get an idea of how the people live. When you see how basic the living conditions are, and children dressed in dirty rags with flies in their face and distended stomachs from malnutrition, it serves as a stark reminder of how fortunate we are..

Our final drive in Ethiopia took us through more remote and less populated areas. The people we saw were dressed in more colourful, tribal type clothing than we had previously seen. We stopped off briefly in a village that clearly doesn't get many foreigners passing through as we were a source of great interest to the locals! Later that afternoon, we finally reached the Kenyan border at Moyale. By the time we had got through the border crossing, it was getting late so we ended up camping in the police compound for the night. Not the most scenic campsite but it served a purpose and at least it was safe!

If we thought some of the roads in Ethiopia were bad, they were nothing compared to those of Northern Kenya. Considering Kenya is supposed to be more developed than Sudan and Ethiopia, the roads are shocking. Tarmac is yet to reach the north of the country so we had some very bumpy driving conditions for the next couple of days. The distances were not necessarily long, but it was very slow going - 250km in 10 hours.

On Sat 18th June, we reached Samburu Game Reserve where we camped for two nights by a river. Apparently, there are crocodiles in the river so no swimming or pitching our tents too close. The following day we went on our first game drive. Samburu is known for being home to some more unusual types of animal such as reticulated giraffes and Grevys Zebra. We saw both, plus elephants, impala, water buck, gerenuk, Thomsons Gazelle, wart hogs and much more. I really wanted to see lions so I was delighted to spot two lionesses sleeping under a tree by the river. Considering there were 20 people on the truck, I am amazed that it was actually me who spotted them (especially given my lack of observation skills normally!). Later in the day, when we stopped for lunch, there was another lion only about a 100m away. Fortunately, she didn't seem too interested in us..

From Samburu, we drove on to Lake Nakuru National Park crossing the equator en route (yes, I do have a picture of me next to the sign). Athena was again not having a good day and we ended up walking the last mile to our camp in the dark when she got a flat tyre. Luckily for us, the crew had phoned ahead and organised a three course dinner to be waiting which was a great surprise because no one was looking forward to setting up camp and cooking late at night. This was our first "proper" camp site that caters for overlanders. Lovely grassy camping areas, cooking shelters, toilets, hot showers, bar and restaurant - bliss after some of the wild camp sites we have had so far on the trip. The farm on which the camp site is based is a working dairy farm and home to the biggest race horse breeder in Kenya with over 300 horses. In many ways, it felt like an English farm. Kenya (once we reached the more touristy areas) is notably more developed than Ethiopia. Education and religion are big with children in school uniform everywhere and lots of schools and churches.

We were based at the camp for two nights so we could go on game drives the following day. Lake Nakuru is famed for its pink flamingos. We also saw water buffalos, giraffes, rhino, zebra and got really close to some lions. It was incredible to be that close to them. Literally, with one leap, they could have jumped onto the open roof of the mini bus. However, lions seem to display the same sort of nonchalance that domestic cats display in that they completely ignore us - just as well really.

From Nakuru, we started our journey to Uganda (although we return to Kenya later en route to Tanzania). A night was spent just outside the town of Eldoret. If we thought our Nakuru camp site was nice, Eldoret definitely topped it with a swimming pool and a very cool underground bar. Yesterday, we entered Uganda - our smoothest border crossing yet with the minimum of hassle and no duplicate form filling. We are now in Kampala, the capital, and will be heading towards the moutain gorillas tomorrow.

Hopefully, internet will be more frequent from here on and I can update the blog more often...