It is however completely understandable, for our time at NRE was simply wonderful. The last week we mainly hung out with Wesley (a kayaker from Montana), Tom (a carpenter from Australia), Mona (an aid worker from Germany) and Sarah (an aid worker from Australia). Wesley had his tent right next to ours, so we were neighbors. We all spent most of the nights having a barbeque at “our place”, engulfing vast quantities of fillet and roasted potatoes. Life sure is good. =)
One night in the bar Wesley got a great idea: Why not arrange a boda boda race? Boda bodas are the small motorcycle taxis that swarm like flies all across Uganda. Their drivers drive like maniacs and the idea was to make them race for a decent lump of money. The first price was set to USH 10,000 (USD 6) and the drivers went crazy when Wesley presented his idea. Before we knew it, the whole place had been transformed into one big party. What used to be any no-name gravel road in eastern Uganda was now Rio de Janeiro during the Carnival. About a hundred people (where did they all come from?) were singing and dancing on the street and the four contestants where revving their engines on the makeshift starting point. The race was, eventually, a success. Due to a false start and a stalled engine the race was divided into two heats, also Kina pitched in for a price for the runner up. That evening was quite amazing, have never had such an surreal experience in the middle of nowhere…
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Life sure was good in Jinja, but since Ann (a good friend of my uncle and aunt) was waiting for us in Kenya we did however decide it was time to call it a day (or rather five weeks) and set course for Kenya. One day’s drive (300km) from Jinja lays the town Eldoret, where we previously had spent time at the Naiberi River Campsite. The owner, Raj, had promised us that his mechanics could have a look at our car, so the day after our arrival was spent at Raj’s factory, servicing the car and mounting padlock holders on all 5 doors. Since we are going to Nairobbery, padlocks are essential. Whatever isn’t welded to the car should be padlocked – and now it is.
We spent three nights in Eldoret and the Naiberi River Campsite before going to Ann’s place at Solio Ranch near Nyeri. Solio is a 7,000-hectare game reserve right on the foot of Mount Kenya offering not only a great view of Kenya’s highest mountain, but also an embarrassingly high percentage of Kenya’s total population of black and white rhinos. Embarrassing for the other parks and game reserves in Kenya, that is.
For the night of our arrival Ann had invited the owner of the park, Edward, and his “cultural wife” Landi for dinner. The two proved to make a really colorful couple and were as friendly as interesting and we had a great evening together. Edward offered us free access to the park and we were happy to accept. The following day we went to the park office and after signing the indemnity forms we were allowed to enter the park.
WOW… after 5 minutes in the park we were simply a loss for words. The place was stunning! There were rhinos and buffalos everywhere and we soon realized that we were all alone in the park. Magic!
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The day after we went to Nanyuki, the nearest town, to stock up on supplies and service Ann’s car. Since Nanyuki is the last civilized outpost before the scarcely inhabited northern part of Kenya, the stores are surprisingly well stocked. For lunch Ann took us to one of here favorite restaurants, the Trout Tree. We were quite surprised to see that the anonymous gravel road took us to one of the coolest restaurants we have ever seen. Built in a tree, overlooking a fish farm, the Trout Tree really lives up to its name. The resident colubus monkeys and the hyrax living in the bar add to the experience. The food was also great.
On our way home a huge truck carrying a stone crusher blocked the small gravel road we had to pass. The truck driver had seriously misjudged his trailer’s size and ground clearance so it was now hanging on a narrow railroad track. Hence we had to drive on the side of the road and crossing the railroad track on a stretch not particularly suited for crossing. Not even with a Land Rover. We did come across without any problems, but a clonking noise from the front soon raised our concern. It turned out our railroad crossing had resulted in a cracked front right shock absorber mount. Crap. The 25km drive home took us a good two hours, but was actually really nice. The sunset was astounding and the full moon was as beautiful as can be. When we came home Wanjiku (Ann’s housekeeper) had prepared a wonderful meal and Ann had made us ice-cold gin and tonics. So life was actually quite good once you think about it.
The following day we then had to make another trip to CMC Nanyuki, though this time to pick up parts for Bumblebee and not for Ann’s car. Since Bumblebee was injured we rode with Ann, an experience on its own since neither Kina nor I knew a Defender could go that fast. G4 challenge, anyone? =) Thanks to Ann we also got a 25% discount on the parts… so we only had to pay 5 times more than home. Spare parts sure are expensive in this part of the world. Before leaving we also got a tip on how to change the parts: just jack the car up on one side and then slide in the new mounting bracket on top of the spring. Easy enough, right? No. Bumblebee has a 2” lift… so the standard procedure doesn’t quite work. Instead we had to “compress” the springs with ropes before jacking the car up. It’s said that practice makes perfect, so the first spring (the practice) was almost sent out into the atmosphere – thus we learned that we also needed to tie a rope holding the spring to the side. The first side took about 2 hours and just as we were done Ann had to take her car to get some good cellular reception… but she had gotten a flat. Luckily we had all the tools out, so five minutes later she had her spare on and was good to go. Fixing the suspension on the left hand side took a mere 1 hour 15 minutes. Guess practice do make perfect. =)
In the middle of our Bumblebee surgery I got a call: Richard from Adventure Family called to say they had reached Kenya and our vicinity. After checking with Ann the two families were cordially invited to Solio Ranch and Casa de Olivecrona. Three hours later the house had been transformed into an overland camp, with three expedition-prepared Land Rovers parked on the yard.
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The Adventure Family (-es) stayed for a week, and when two journalists arrived to interview Ann we were 9 adults and 4 kids in the house. Poor Wanjiku did an extraordinary job feeding us all. Kudos! Wanjiku was however not the only one working hard, since the rest of us spent the day primarily cutting down trees and fixing cars. Milan is a mechanic (with a PhD) so soon were all Land Rovers in the area properly tuned and serviced.
We also had time to visit the park. This time guided by Edward and Landi. Amazing!
The next day the journalists wanted some pictures of Ann and Solio's trademark rhinos for the article, and Kina joined them to the park. Lucky her, as they got to see a leopard. With a prey. In a tree. Incredible! I was green of envy, though happy for her.
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After five nights our Swedish friends headed for Nairobi, to pick up Pia’s parents and travel with them for three weeks. The house got remarkably quiet after they left and so the dogs, the cat and I passed out cold in the sofas.
Over the next few days it rained pretty heavily, turning the entire area into a big mud bath. The soil here is called black cotton soil and has the annoying tendency of turning into glue/soap when wet. It sticks to your shoes and tires like nothing else, and then you slip around like crazy. In fact, only 4x4 can drive up to Ann’s house after a rain, even though the terrain is rather flat. After these few days of rain Ann’s friend Ritva flew in from Nairobi (or rather Sweden) and the day after her arrival Kina, her and I decided to go for a game drive in Solio. We soon learned that when black cotton soil has absorbed enough water it turns into custard like consistency… and that was now what the roads looked like. The first half of the trip was on high ground, but once we headed back we had to go by the “river”, where the road now was more mud than anything else. Bumblebee soon, once again, proved to be the best car in the world as we simply flew through deep mud holes where I thought we’d have to spend the night. Awesome! After one of these mud holes (or mud-stretches) we suddenly saw something that made our day, or even week: Two leopards (a female and a half-grown cub) ran across the road not more than 15 meters in front of us. They then stopped in the bushes besides the road and we got a long, good look of a leopard behind. Anyhow, seeing two leopards together is rather rare, so we were all really happy; so happy that it even was fun to clean off the car after the drive… and that was needed. Even the roof tent was drenched in mud.
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The day after it was time for Ritva to go back to work in Nairobi and for the rest of us to party. Alpanna, the Indian-Kenyan running the store where we get all our groceries turned 50 and we were all invited for a true Kenyan party. So we spent the next 6 hours drinking wine, chatting with all kinds of interesting people and eating all the Indian food we could. Marvelous!
We will now spend another two days at Ann’s before going to Nairobi, Masai Mara and then Tanzania. We will sure miss this place, as it has become a second home for us, for which we are forever grateful to Ann. Thank you Ann!!!
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