Boy some of these northern Kenyan roads can give you a hard time. We knew
what to expect heading south from Moyale, but I guess ones memory sometimes
gives a false picture of what lies ahead. The drive to Marsabit was long and
hard again but not too bad, even though we weren't expecting such a bumpy
ride. Thankfully this time the drive passed without any incident and it was
a much relieved Mufasa and passengers that rolled into Marsabit and the
wonderful Henry's Rest Camp (N2 20.737 E37 57.934). At least when you
retrace earlier steps it is nice to know that there is a good camp waiting
for you. As it had been an early start leaving Moyale we arrived in Marsabit
not long after lunch so there was plenty of time for Sue to catch up with
the washing and for me to do a few jobs on Mufasa and the laptop. By
nightfall we had completed our tasks, eaten well, and stocked up with bread
and cakes from the bakery at the camp. Once again it was a windy night but
at least this time we were expecting it!
Another early start the next morning but a new road to navigate, west to
Lake Turkana and Loiyangalani. When we had filled up Mufasa on arriving in
Marsabit we were given some good advice on which road to take west. The
northern route via North Horr was a no no as apparently there had been some
bandit activity in the area and livestock had been stolen and a few police
and locals killed. Best avoided! So we chose the southern road, which was
about 20km shorter anyway, and it was a great choice. The first few
kilometres out of Marsabit were ugly on the road to Isiolo but we soon made
our turn west and the new road to explore. It had been a cold and misty
start up in the hills of Marsabit but we soon descended down via a lumpy
bumpy lava rock road to the Koroli Dessert. After about 25km of the lava
rocks we were in sand, nice smooth sand. It was a nice change and our first
real adventure across a sandy dessert in Mufasa. I guess it was good that we
enjoyed the experience as we had about 160km of it before we reached the C77
the other side and the road north to Loiyangalani. The down side for us with
the sand was the 'cement dust' sections! Thankfully you can see them coming
but when you hit them you disappear in a huge cloud of very fine dust. Most
of the time we managed to wind the windows up in time, but once or twice we
failed in our efforts. Imagine sitting nice and comfy driving along and then
some bugger chucks a bag of cement in your face thru the window! There were
the odd patches of deep sticky stuff to navigate too but with a bit of
judgement and a good helping of luck we managed to avoid getting stuck. The
dessert was beautiful and it was strange to come across several communities
in the middle of nowhere. What these people do for a living and how they
feed themselves and survive is a mystery to us. It was bad enough just
driving through the place let alone living there! Once at the C77 the road
took us north to Lake Turkana. The first 60km were nice sand with the odd
rock here and there, but then the lava fields started again. It took us
about 90 minutes to drive the last 20km on the rocks! It was a slow and hot
drive on the rocks, but the scenery was absolutely stunning. Again, how
people manage to survive in these conditions is lost on me. The lake is
quite a site when it comes in to view but with the sun high in the sky the
views were a bit hazy, but still spectacular. Loiyangalani is an oasis when
it appears, lush and green with palm trees, quite a change from the rocky
surrounds it sits in. Our stop for the night was the Palm Shade Camp (N2
45.377 E36 43.275) and very nice it was too if a tad pricey. The showers
were cool, well they were actually very warm thanks to the thermal spring
that the water was taken from, natural hot water. We had read that the wind
blows hard from the hills thru the town and it certainly did so that night.
Despite having plenty of shelter from the palm trees we were still rocked
around a fair bit and it took 3 attempts to finally sort out the flysheet to
stop it flapping around.
We had managed to communicate with Rich Kaz and Rebecca via email and SMS
and worked out that paths would cross in a day or so a bit further south at
Lake Bogorio NR. So we left the Palm Shade camp and hit the road south to
Maralal. Once we had renegotiated the 20km of lava rocks the road became
sandy again. The route took us up into the hills again and across the Akirim
Plateau and eventually via a few ups and downs to Maralal and the Yare Camel
Club (N1 03.526 E36 42.650). The good thing about being back in Kenya, apart
from the roads, was being able to camp and cook for ourselves again and the
shops in Maralal, few that they were, filled up the fruit and vegetable
boxes and also our bread and cake supply. The Camel Club, where the annual
Camel Derby is held, was a cool spot and cheap too. Despite having
resupplied we treated ourselves to a few beers and dinner in the restaurant
which was nice and gave Sue a break from the kitchen too! It was a chilly
night up in the tent and the dew in the morning was very heavy so it took a
while to get things dried off before we could hit the road again.
We had arranged to meet up with the Bushcats at a campsite in the Lake
Bogorio NR that day. The drive was good and we made the reserve just after
lunch. It is not the biggest of reserves but it has two attractions,
Flamingos and hot water geysers. The Flamingos were there in quite large
numbers but probably not at their peak and the geysers were great but quite
busy with day trippers. As it was a scorching day we decided to visit the
geysers again in the morning when they would be quieter and pushed on
through the reserve to check out the two campsite options and also try and
locate the Bushcats. Acacia camp was very nice but we needed to check out
Fig Tree Camp as the book had made it sound the better option. The track to
Fig Tree was long, narrow, and rocky. You could almost guarantee that if we
were going to bump into the Bushcats it would be on the track to the camp,
and we did. Thankfully it was only a few meters from the camp and Rich was
able to reverse back otherwise it would have been interesting if we were
half way along with a few km either way for one of us to back up on!! It was
great to catch up with each other again and we soon made tracks to Acacia
Camp as we thought it much nicer, and it was too. We camped right on the
shore of the lake with hundreds of Flamingos for company, and a few thousand
flies too!! Information was shared on our respective trips to Ethiopia and
Uganda and before we knew it the following morning had come and it was time
to go our separate ways again. First we headed off to check out the spouting
geysers and thankfully we had them to ourselves.
The Bushcats then headed north taking the route that we had come, Maralal,
Loiyangalani, Marsabit and then Ethiopia. We headed west and Eldoret. As we
were passing the Kerio Valley / Lake Kamnarock NR we thought we would stop
off and have lunch there. It took an hour to get there from the main road,
only about 25km, and the lake was pretty dry. So a quick lunch was had and
then we backtracked to the main road and continued on our way. Our
destination just west or Eldoret was the Naiberi River Camp and Resort (N0
26.864 E35 25.333). The Bushcats had stayed as had a few other people we had
met and it came highly recommended, and we can see why. The place is great
and we have it to ourselves too! We are in our own pitch with a huge bandas
to use. The facilities are great and there is a swimming pool too! It has
been a great spot to get ourselves sorted out again. The truck has been
cleaned in and out, the washing is again done including the bedding, and
Mufasa has been fixed up. I needed to rotate the tyres as we have done
nearly 15000km on them and the rear tyres are looking a bit sad. The rocky
roads have taken their toll on them and they look like they have been in a
battle zone with chunks missing from the treads. So our two spares are now
into the action. I have also fixed another couple of problems that raised
their heads. On leaving Maralal the Netstar Tracker alarm started to sound
after we went over a heavy bump. I had to cut the earth to the siren as the
remote would not disable the system. All seems ok now and I have rewired the
siren, so fingers crossed. The other problem was the lack of reversing
lights. After checking the fuses and cleaning out the very dusty rear light
clusters the problem was located. The switch that engages the lights when
reverse is selected sits in the side of the gearbox and I think a stone must
have spat up and broken it off. It has been glued back in place but a
replacement will be needed at some point.
We now have to plan our route out of Kenya seeing all we can before crossing
over to Uganda, a place that everyone seems to rave about!
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