A gaggle of geese in Kenya

15 - 19 August, 2024

15 August - Day 41

Arusha - Nairobi

Accommodation: Wildebeest Eco Camp

I had been warned about scorpions sleeping under my tent to keep warm but never a mouse. Thankfully, I always move my tent before rolling it up, this morning it saved a life.

It was going to be a long day driving but we set off at the reasonable hour of 0700 after cereal for breakfast. It took us about two hours to arrive at the Tanzania/Kenya border. We knew we had arrived with the hundreds of B-double, semi-trailer and prime movers all lined up outside the border. It took us five minutes to drive past all of the trucks, thankfully we didn’t have to wait behind them being a tourist truck.

The border was a one-stop shop and was potentially the most organised and efficient that I had experienced. Even though we had to offload our luggage for scanning.

Our Kenyan welcoming party was donkeys, cows, goats and dogs lining the streets. The ground was covered in red dirt with scrubland as far as your eye could see. We passed a few towns and people walking with their cattle as we continued all the way to Nairobi.

Nairobi wasn’t as crazy as I had expected, especially compared with Dar es Saalam. However, traffic did certainly hold us back arriving at the final destination. After doing a few laps of a section of town, Zeph pulled the truck into Hotel Boulevard. Sadly, all of my fellow tour mates got off the bus. Only two of the seven from our tour would be re-joining me on the last leg of the trip in a few days but for now it was goodbye. It was incredibly strange getting back onto the truck alone.

Wildebeest Eco Camp was so much nicer than I had expected. The grounds were large and had a paved track winding through bright green grassy patches. Big tan tents formed the reception and activity booking office, while the restaurant was a modest but beautiful wooden structure set into the hill that looked over the large pond home to giant koi. It was an oasis, a paradise with lush green grass, a restaurant overlooking a bright blue pool. I could have stayed at this camp for a week.

I enjoyed the afternoon relaxing by the pool and speaking with family before dinner. I decided to eat at the restaurant and shared a table with a wonderful Spanish lady, who lives in London, Kat. We shared our travel tails and I heard about her Kilimanjaro trek while we both enjoyed a delicious dinner, before an early bedtime for me.

I enjoyed a dinner with a wonderful Spanish lady Kat, who told me about her travels and experience hiking Mount Kilimanjaro. We shared travel stories and laughed before calling it a night around 2100 - before my big day tomorrow.

16 August - Day 42

Nairobi

Accommodation: Wildebeest Eco Camp

My body isn’t made for early mornings, so the 0415 wake up was not welcomed. However, it was absolutely worth it for the day we had in store. I made sure I was waiting at the reception for our driver 15 minutes early, just in case he arrived at my accommodation first by accident. Waiting in pitch black area by reception, I could hear hyenas and lionesses calling to one another nearby. While it’s not unusual in many parts of Africa to hear these noises - I couldn’t believe it given we were so close to the city and flanked by highways.

I was ready for our adventure in the Masai Mara National Park » (link coming soon).

The drive back from the Masai Mara was just as sketchy as the drive to the National Park and had us travelling on the National Highway, Kenya’s most dangerous road. I got back to the accommodation at 2015, devoured a healthy dinner of a packet of chips and fell asleep in the comfort of my warm tent.

17 August - Day 43

Nairobi - Lake Nakuru National Park

Accommodation: Punda Milias Camp

Wildebeest Eco Camp was incredibly peaceful and quiet - I woke to the sound of a pack of dogs howling after one of the most restful sleeps I had experienced all trip. It was a cool night but my sleeping bag was so cozy and even with my wet hair after my shower I wasn’t remotely cold.

I enjoyed breakfast on the deck with Vincent and Zeph, overlooking the pond and bright blue pool as the sun rose. We left the accommodation a little later than planned and picked up one other passenger, Lynley, from Boulevard Hotel before we set off in our truck en route to Punda Milias Camp.

The roads were just a treacherous as always, with trucks overtaking on blind corners and cows, goats and donkeys flanking the highways.

We arrived at camp early, Punda Milias was beautiful. It was green, with well manicured gardens and a grassy area to rest my tent. Incredibly the owner was also a tour guide and Zeph and I had met him in Swakapmund weeks before by coincidence. I also met the campsite cat and two of the seven dogs that called the property home, Nina the German Shepherd and her daughter Tina, a Shepherd cross.

The restaurant served the most delicious vegetable pasta for lunch, which tasted like home and had the most lovely outdoor area to sit and enjoy it. However, there wasn’t much time for us to sit, as soon as we had finished our lunch the owner took us in his car to Lake Nakuru National Park, where we enjoyed our second day straight of game driving. Read about Lake Nakuru National Park >> (link coming)

It had been trying to rain on our drive back to the campsite but thankfully held off. It was pitch black and our driver was trying to navigate the streets, including the tiny dirt alleyways that led back to our accomodation. Surprisingly, I knew exactly where to direct him and we got back just in time for dinner.

Lying in my sleeping bag, it was relatively cool with a slight breeze, so I had shut the side windows but left the flap to the tent door open. I had just finished reading and was listening to the calls of the hyenas, which sounded closer than I had ever heard them before when I heard rustling in the bushes by our truck. It was just 5 meters from my tent. Not moving and barely breathing I listened out for any other noises. Whatever was sniffing about had moved to our camp kitchen. I considered it might have been one of the dogs but after hearing the hyenas call so closely and the lions the morning before I truly had no idea what was searching around the area. Minutes later, it was at my tent door, sniffing up the length of my zip and it was big, big enough to be a hyena. Without trying to move, I lifted my head to try and see out of the thick green mesh separating me and whatever was lurking at the zip. It was TIna. I breathed a sigh of relief. She trotted off but ten minutes later returned with Nina, wrestling with her on the grass in front of my tent. Calling out to them both they finally sauntered off and I got some rest.

18 August - Day 44

Lake Nakuru National Park - Eldoret

Accommodation: Naiberi Overland Camp

Water flooded the streets of Kenya as we drove towards Eldoret. The temperature dropping too. Both Lynley and I noticed many of the people in this area were darker than others we had seen previously. Many were donning their gum boots or laying on the side of the road near the puddles. I hadn’t seen this amount of water since arriving in Africa.

Naiberi Overland Camp looked small when we arrived. However, as we were led by the Receptionist, Mary, through a stone tunnel we saw the rolling hills of the property which led out to the garden, pool, river and indoor restaurant area. It was incredibly green and beautiful. I spent the afternoon exploring the property and watching the ten geese chat and as they waddled along the paths.

As the sun lit the trees that hung over the property I had to join the group for dinner of stuffed butternuts and cheese covered vegetables.

I enjoyed an early night listening to the rain patter on the sides of my tent as I drifted off to sleep.

19 August - Day 45

Eldoret - Kampala

Accommodation: Red Chilli Camp

We left the campsite at 0600 ready for our drive to the border of Kenya and Uganda. It took longer than we all had expected, with Vincent saying it should only be a few hours. Instead it took us a little over four hours to arrive.

We had driven through the town of Eldoret, which was flush with large buildings and many clean buildings. Eldoret even had paved footpaths through the middle of the town, which was one of the first larger towns we had seen with this kind of infrastructure. Cows still seemed to own the towns, walking along the side of the road where they please - three of them had even sat down for a rest on the medium strip near a roundabout in the middle of town.

The border was busy. We drove for about 10 mins past lines of trucks that were stationary heading towards the border. Rather than having to wait behind the kilometre long line we took the right hand side of the road into oncoming traffic to overtake the trucks. It worked for a solid few minutes with only smaller cars and motorbikes having to veer off the road. However, then the trucks started coming towards us. I had no idea how Zeph was going to manage it, as the side of the road was only a small patch of red dirt and street lights inconveniently stood in the dirt. Somehow, we veered off the road, leaving the tricks coming towards us in their lane and we overtook on the outside. It was genius and millimetre tight. A police checkpoint was holding up the line of trucks, but it turns out a line of trucks, which we drove past for another five minutes, waited beyond that point all the way to the border.

Immigration checked our passports and we were on our way into Uganda.

Unsurprisingly, like many other countries, it was cows and goats that greeted us in Uganda. We drove through the small shanti-like town markets, where a truck with four large speakers on its tray blasted music and had a guy shouting through the speakers “God will save you” - it actually hurt my ears as we drove past.

Uganda was incredibly lush, with big green trees, rolling hills and vast farming land. Watching the women dressed in beautiful bright colours tending to the crops, the children running around their houses or walking through streets was magical. Villages popped up in between the farm land, some were solid structures which were well maintained and homely, while others were circular clay homes with a roof of sticks.

Iganga town was bustling with people as we drove through, many of which saw Lynley and I standing in the bus and started frantically waving with huge grins on their faces. I felt very welcome. Sadly though, piles of rubbish lay on the side of the road through many of these towns - plastic bottles and what looked like bits of plastic bag primarily.

We arrive in Kampala just before 1700, the city was incredibly busy with people, cars and motorbikes. Thankfully the streets were in quite good condition without potholes and even had painted lines on the road, but of course these were just a guideline. Traffic lights too were just a suggestion with motorbikes riding through the intersections whether it was green or red. We drove for a good 45 minutes before we pulled over to the side of the road for what seemed to be Zeph getting some money out. It turned out while that was correct, we also picked up a motorbike rider to guide us to our accommodation. We were lost. We turned around during the peak hour traffic and started driving the way we had come before turning off through a small alley way. The street went for kilometres with traffic on both sides of the road. Unfortunately, our run without potholes was over as the bitumen tormented our tires, rocking the truck from side to side.

The street should have been a one-way road, but somehow trucks and cars squeezed past us, just millimeters from the shops on the side of the road. Nobody seemed phased as they continued walking along the street shopping. It was incredible to just see a slice of the life in the backstreets of Kampala. I honestly couldn’t stop watching the road, despite seeing markets like this at least 50 times per day, it’s just incredible to peer into the lives of so many people.

We continued following the motorbike for an hour before we pulled over again. He was lost too. Vincent our guide let us know at this point that we were officially lost, it was good to hear his honesty and we appreciated it. We recruited another motorbike and provided our tour guide with the address of our accommodation, which strangely he didn’t even have. Vincent showed the new motorbike rider and we could hear him say, “Ah, I know where this is now.” So, we set off following our new motorbike driver.

It seemed, however, he too did not know where our accommodation was. We drove over the railway line, three times, through tiny backstreets, even visited the industrial area. He stopped a few times to ask other locals for directions. It had been dark for 45 minutes now and we just had to sit and wait. We felt sure we had find the right place until we pulled into a dead end street where a hospital, mental hospital and police station were. Thankfully we weren’t far off and the police officer directed us to drive down a few side streets, where we arrived. It was 2000 when we arrived after three hours of driving around the city.

Thankfully for us, Vincent had ordered dinner at the campsite restaurant. However, sadly for the people that were starting the trip the next day, Vincent missed running the pre-departure meeting because we weren’t there. I enjoyed a quick shower with a friendly frog before bed.