When in Kenya …
After a
distinct shortage of some very basic items in Tanzania, Malawi and Zambia,
it’s a great relief to find the kind of things you’d expect to find in
SA. In many respects Kenya is
similar to SA, only much more expensive and a bit more run down – perhaps
like South Africa in a future of neglect.
The parks are in a similar price range as Tanzania.
So for this trip, Kenya was more of a repair, restock and transit
country.
Places
to stay along the route:
·
Upper Hill campsite, Nairobi (S01°18’00.4”
E36°48’43.0”)
– Very close to the centre of Nairobi if you have errands to run.
This is actually a backpacker’s lodge that allows camping in the
yard. Not the greatest place
(name but one campsite in Johannesburg or Cape Town city centres!) but
it’s in a fairly quiet place and, as with all backpacker’s lodges, the
notice board is an encyclopaedia of travellers’ info.
KSh 500 pn (not quite clear about how this is made up).
·
Fisherman’s camp, Lake Naivasha (S00°49’28.0”
E36°20’01.3”)
– Sprawling lawns amongst some very large and unsteady fever trees that
may reshape your vehicle and your trip if you park too close. We were there
at Christmas, which is very unfortunate considering the huge crowds.
Toilets and showers only for hardened travellers, the desperate or
the blind with blocked sinuses. KSh
200.- pppn. Right next door is Fish Eagle Inn which was substantially
quieter. Both border on the
hyacinth, which borders on the lake.
·
Lake Elementaita Lodge (S00°28’33.3”
E36°15’59.4”)
– This lodge does not really offer camping facilities but they allow you
down to the lake shore (a soda lake with stupendous numbers of birds,
especially flamingos and pelicans) and you can take your pick of camping
spots. There’s a hot spring
at the south eastern end that makes for a great hot, albeit shallow, bath.
KSh 500.- per tent. Masai
herders will spend hours staring at your vehicle before having to rush their
sheep and goats back to their homes.
·
Robert’s campsite, Lake Baringo (N00°36’47.3”
E36°01’26.5”)
– On the shore of Lake Baringo, very hot and dusty in the dry season.
Water only gets switched on after 6 in the evening.
Luckily there’s enough shade and the beers, although expensive, are
cold. Don’t plan on sleeping
in late – there are so many birds that you won’t stand a chance.
KSh 600.- pppn on top of KSh 200.- pppd entrance to the conservation
area.
·
Naro Moru river lodge campsite (S00°09’13.3”
E37°00’38.8”)
– This campsite itself is not much to speak of but you do get a view of Mt
Kenya when the clouds clear. Supposedly
also a good base from which to organise a climb.
KSh 350.- pppn.
National Parks
National
Parks are sprinkled everywhere, most of them are quite small, most are $27.-
pppd (plus additional cost in dollars for foreign vehicle and camping) and
they appear to monopolise most of the beautiful places in Kenya.
If you’re travelling on a “shoestring” – the term used by
Lonely Planet guides for “low budget”, and one which appears to be
hopelessly inappropriate for East Africa – it’s best one is very
selective about which parks are visited (see also When in Tanzania).
·
Marsabit National Park – this park is well off the beaten track (at
least the track beaten by tourists) on the Trans East Africa Highway.
It is an oasis of forest in the middle of the Kaisut Desert.
The forest is dense and populated by more butterflies than any other
place we know. There is a
track, for the most part very good but with sections exclusively for
low-range 4-wheel drive, that leads to a crater lake aptly named Lake
Paradise. Because of the
remoteness and difficult access to this lake you are almost guaranteed to
have the place to yourself. Camping
is on an open patch (N02°15’50.1” E37°55’52.7”)
at the edge of the forest overlooking the lake – bush camping at it’s
best. Not much scope for driving around as there is only the 15 km
of access road. Also not so
good for tramping around – thick bush makes for close encounters with
elephant and buffalo and the smaller, creepy beasts.
Cost: $15.- pppd entry
and $ 2.- pppn (yes, $ 2.-, not $20.-).
There is also a campsite just outside the gate (N02°19’16.8”
E37°57’03.9”)
that costs $2.- pppn, no entry fees applicable.
The flying shadows in the loo are bats.
Other:
·
Fuel is more expensive than in Tanzania, especially close to the
borders. In Nairobi the price
is in the region of KSh 55.-/l, going to up KSh 64.- in Marsabit.
·
The exchange rates for traveller cheques are very close to those for
cash, making Kenya another country in which TCs are a friendly commodity.
·
The Roads in Kenya are best where they are least used.
The main roads, especially those farther away from Nairobi are
cracked and shattered, have more patches than all Microsoft software put
together, and are more corrugated than most SA gravel roads.
But at least there’s no dust.
Driving ability of local taxis and buses drops by another notch
compared to Tanzania and we’ve seen some very creative and exhilarating
overtaking manoeuvres.
·
The Trans East African Highway is a 500 km stretch of road from
Isiolo northwards to the Ethiopian border.
It is a highway in name only and constitutes one of the worst
stretches of gravel road we’ve travelled so far.
The track is either very corrugated or deeply gouged out by trucks
making straddling of the middle-mannetjie with puny little 16x7.5 tyres very
difficult. Vast amounts of
concentration are required not to crack the front differential on some of
the larger rocks. The journey
can only be completed in two days with a stop-over in the half-way mark
Marsabit. Both halves are
supposed to be done under military escort, but the first section is a bit
lax – we got to Isiolo in the afternoon and bush camped 40 km farther
north behind some granite boulders. The
first stage makes for some good bird and game viewing so travelling slowly
becomes a pleasant option. The
second section is rather more strict with the escort as there are more
incidents on this stretch. The
bandit attacks appear to target the trucks only, so as a traveller one is
actually at greater risk in the convoy.
Nevertheless, the convoy rules are rather loose and one can travel in
front of (if you wish to be shaken apart) or behind
(if you wish to chew dust) the trucks.
There are several police checkpoints along the way and no-one is
allowed to pass these until the whole convoy is together again.
For a fee of KSh 1,200.- you can hire your own armed policeman and
travel at whatever speed you desire. Don’t
take pictures of the camel trains or the stones in the road will be used to
pelt your vehicle.
·
Food in Kenya is available in greater quantities with the same
selections you’d expect back home. Still
no Woolies, Dol! In the larger
supermarkets prices are very reasonable by East African standards.
The quality of meat is as you’d expect to buy it in SA – the
butcher’s tactics are closer to what you’d expect back in SA.
·
Nairobi has a good industrial area that includes a spring
manufacturer that can re-tension leaf springs as well as sell, at wholesale
price, those individual leaves that have fractured, and a filter
manufacturer that will make oil, fuel and air filters from sample
(particularly useful if you drive the 6 cylinder Series III Land Rover that
no-one outside of SA has heard of).
·
Landmarque (S01°18’27.9”
E36°45’40.2”)
will either service/repair your Landy (specialising in Forward Controls) or
allow you to do it yourself. If the repairs are extensive they offer the unique service,
so important to overlanders living in and from their vehicles of allowing
you to camp on the premises/using your rooftop tent while your Landy’s in
the warehouse. The camping is
at an average price (for Kenya) of KSh 250.- per night.
The use of the workshop and/or tools is not as cheap – make sure
you get the full picture from Paul and Lucy before you commit yourself to
stripping an engine or a gearbox.
·
If you’re heading north to Ethiopia you can get a visa in Nairobi
within 24 hours or the same day if you apply on the 24th of
December. Visas cost $28.- pp,
are valid for 30 days and you get 30 days to cross the border.
·
You can travel most countries south of Kenya without a Carnet de
Passage if you’re prepared for some extensive haggling and the odd bribe.
The same does not apply for Kenya.
We met a South African couple travelling without a carnet that got a
police escort to the nearest city, followed by hours of negotiations with
customs officials, the outcome of which was a seven-day duty free period
inside Kenya. The alternative
is a 150% import duty.
Yours in
Africa,
Riff-raff
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