30 July, Mombasa – Tiwi Beach (Kenya) by taxi, 30min

 This morning we go for another stroll through Mombasa. Apart from seeing Fort Jesus in the daylight, we also pass underneath Mombasa’s tusks, giant metal replicas of elephant tusks that form a big M across the road. This was erected for Princess Margaret’s visit in 1956. We also check out Mombasa’s train station. This is more to enquire about taking the train back to Nairobi as an alternative to the bus!

The plan is to take a matatu to Tiwi Beach, one of the “white sand, palm fringed beaches” south of Mombasa. However, it is quite a process to reach this beach, having to take a taxi, ferry and more matatus, so instead we take the lazy option and negotiate a price with the taxi driver to take us straight there!

 The island-like part of Mombasa is connected with the mainland by the Likoni ferry. After waiting about 15 minutes to board the ferry, the journey itself takes about two minutes! If ever there was a case for building a bridge, this is it!

 

 After 20 km passing through green, palm tree dotted landscape, we turn off the main road onto a small dirt road. An even smaller road takes us to Twiga Lodge and Campsite where we arranged to meet up with the Dutch couple, Arnoud and Femke. Upon arrival, one of the first things we see is their bright orange Citroen 2CV! The next thing we realize is that the beach is exactly as we imagined it: long white beach, blue water, white surf with the campsite amongst the green palm trees, right on the beach!

 

 We can’t pitch our tent quickly enough! This is necessary though as the campsite comes complete with a bunch of the cutest but most mischievous monkeys. Having set up the tent and locked it, it is finally time for a swim! Our last swim in the sea was about 7000 km ago in Alexandria, Egypt, so the reunion is one of great joy!

 

 Only darkness can finally get us out of the water! Before we go for dinner, it is shower time, and it is here that Heino hears something familiar: Afrikaans! Coming out of the cubicle, he greets two men with “dit is die eerste Afrikaans wat ek in 12 000 km hoor!” explaining that it is the first Afrikaans he’s heard since leaving London. After the introduction he finds out that Neels and Santie, here on holiday, are related to our friends in London, Charles and Renche! They invite us for coffee the next morning, where we promise to tell them everything about our trip.

 Dinner with Arnoud and Femke, in the nice campsite restaurant, is full of story swapping about the road from Nairobi, as well as early parts of our respective trips. Walking back to the tent, we notice to our great shock that the sea has disappeared! Whereas before our tent was about 10 metres from the breaking waves, it is now about two hundred metres away! This of course is because of the massive difference between high and low tide, something that none of us have ever seen on this scale before! Excitedly, as we get into the tent, we decide to definitely investigate this closer when the tide goes out again tomorrow!

29 July, Nairobi – Mombasa (Kenya) – 8h by bus

 “On the Mombasa road, it is between you and your God.” The Daily Nation, 29 July 2007.

According to our calculations, the spare parts from London should arrive on Wednesday. So we decided to leave Orphea at the campsite and spend a few days on the coast!

Just after 8 am we arrive at the bus stop in central Nairobi. After a bit of searching and negotiation, we find a bus going to Mombasa for a price that suits our budget. Waiting for the bus to depart, we decide to invest in a newspaper to keep us busy for the 8 hour journey to the coast. So it is then that on page 5 we come upon the comforting article headed “On the Mombasa road it is between you and your God”! Detailed in the article is the number of people that died on the Kenyan roads in the last month, many of them on the road we are about to go on!

A number of restrictive laws ensured that road safety improved over the last few years, amongst them the compulsory fitting of speed governors. However, it seems that the ever inventive bus and matatu operators found ways of bypassing or bribing their way around these measures. This meant that the amount of deaths is reaching frightening heights again. Quite a welcome for our first taste of African public transport!

We find some consolation in a huge sign on the back of our bus reading “God cares”, but despite this, the first part of the road outside Nairobi is frightening as hell! The road is in terrible condition, but despite this we go at an impressive speed, made worse by the driver overtaking other vehicles with oncoming vehicles flashing lights, hooting and waving furiously! Thankfully some road works force us on a side road, resulting in the driver having to go slowly, bringing some welcome relief. Back on the tar road, the quality of the road itself improves quite a bit and finally we can relax.

The rest of the journey is enjoyable enough. The newspapers provide an interesting insight into the country, its people and politics. It is really a pleasant surprise to see how scathing the press is in its criticism of the politicians who are proposing a bill that will result in huge pay rises for them. In another article one journalist is worried about the decline of previous top performing government schools, giving you hope for a country that values education so highly!

Having passed through flat, savannah landscapes (including cutting between Tsavo East and West National parks), we finally arrive in Mombasa at around 5pm. We track down the nearest B&B as we are now carrying the luggage (getting ever more respect for Orphea!). Settled in, we go straightaway for a walk into town!

The second city of Kenya, Mombasa is a town of a mixed Muslim and Christian population. The old town of Mombasa is predominantly Muslim and is quite rundown and scruffy. This, together with the usual staring from Muslim men, makes for a not so comfortable stroll! Also most of the women are covered to the eyes, making us feel like we are back in North Africa again.

Arriving at the sea, we can see how Mombasa is spread out over a sort of peninsula, flanked by two channels of sea making it necessary to take a ferry over to the south coast. The city has been an important trading post since Portuguese times. This explains the imposing fort, built by the Portuguese to defend their interests, but eventually conquered by the British. However, today it seems to be more important as a football pitch for the locals, watched by a large, enthusiastic crowd of Sunday afternoon strollers!

Over dinner in the more modern part of the city, we discuss our plans for tomorrow. Featuring prominently in these plans is a definite visit to the beach!

27 – 28 July, Nairobi (Kenya)

Friday: Today we are heading into downtown Nairobi. The city has a terrible reputation as a dangerous, crime ridden place!

Close to our campsite we hop on to the no. 46 City Hoppa bus, taking us all the way to Kenyatta Avenue. This is the main street and the first thing that strikes us is the absence of hawkers, beggars or people living on the street. Clearly an effort has been made to clear up the city centre, or perhaps it is just us being used to Addis! Either way, the impression we get is one of a clean, modern city with friendly, cheerful people. Even the people that do approach us to sell safaris or daytrips, quickly back off when they realise they are not going to get any business out of us!

Walking past big bill boards advertising the “Planting of trees and beautification program”, we go to the Tanzania embassy to apply for our visas. We decide to pick up our visas after the weekend, and with this sorted out we track down the tyre man. Finding out that he indeed has a decent tyre for us, we also decide to return after the weekend for this, freeing up the rest of the day to wander through the city.

Late afternoon we escape the city centre to return to our campsite. A relaxing evening lies ahead of us, with nothing more to do than socialising with our fellow travellers.

 Saturday: We’ve set today aside to tend to Orphea. Chris, the owner of the campsite, is also available today to have a look at her and to make sure she is in good shape for the second half of the trip.

With him, we decide to have a small service done as well as tightening the spokes, straightening the handlebars (all the small falls meant that she is looking sideways a bit!), and fixing the broken panel from the Ethiopian fall. Heino spend most of the day observing Chris and his assistant working on Orphea, offering his expert service in handing over various tools and parts!

In the evening we’ve arranged to meet up with Chiara, a high school friend of Alessandra’s who is now working for a humanitarian organisation here in Kenya. She is currently based in a Somali refugee camp on the Kenya side of the Kenya/Somalia border.

We got an interesting insight into how hopeless the situation is in these camps! Children are born or brought into these camps everyday, growing up with little education and even less prospects of advancing in life. They grow up knowing nothing else but to wait for something to happen that might or might not take them out of the camps hopefully to a better place. Some of the adult refugees have also been in this camp for most of the nearly twenty years of its existence. It is then easy to know why these places are such a fertile terrain for recruiting militant fundamentalists for the Islamic Courts!

The only real solution for these people is obviously peace in Somalia, but the unlikeliness of this happening just adds to the hopelessness!

After dinner, Chiara invites us to join her and some of her colleagues for drinks, but we have to decline as we have an early start in the morning. We’ve decided that since we have to wait for the parts to arrive from London, we might as well make a trip somewhere! So, tomorrow morning we get a bus to Mombasa, from where we plan to go to the well known Tiwi beach!

25 – 26 July, Nairobi (Kenya)

 Wednesday: This morning we finally meet Chris of Jungle Junction. He, with his campsite, is quite a famous institution amongst the motorbike travelling community. Well, at least the ones who travelled across Africa.

He is a big, tall German guy with a long blond pony tail, looking very much like a typical biker. In fact, he did for many years travel around Africa before he settled in Nairobi. The fact that he is a qualified motorbike mechanic adds to his campsite being a favourite stopover for travellers.

So, we explain our situation to him and from the start it is clear that it is nothing that he hasn’t seen before! In a nice but sort of German detached way he explains to us how we can sort out our various problems. It is also clear that he is not going to baby-sit us and that we are going to sort everything out ourselves. So we learn that there is a shock absorber guy, a cycle shop where we can buy a new speedometer and a tyre shop where we can buy a new rear tyre!

First on the list then is Shaza, the shock absorber guy. His workshop is not to far from the campsite and upon explaining our situation to him, it doesn’t sound likely that he will be able to find a shock that will fit Orphea. Fixing it without the relevant seals is out of the question as well. So, with a promise that he will look around for a second hand shock, we agree to come back the next day.

 The cycle shop in Yaya Shopping Centre does indeed have a speedometer, although it is specifically for bicycles. There is no reason why it shouldn’t work though, but we still decide to wait for other possible options that might arise.

Yaya Centre is quite a nice shock for us after Ethiopia and Sudan! In fact, the ultra modern surroundings and well stocked shops where you can find everything almost makes you feel like you are in Europe! The restaurants, sport shops, shoe shops, supermarket and various clothes outlets feels like another planet from the one we passed through in the past month!

 Also, Jungle Junction is not your typical campsite. It consists of a previously private house, set in an enormous garden where you can camp or rent one of the rooms. This means that you have a campsite with a lounge, fully equipped kitchen, bbq area as well as all the space you need to really relax and recharge your batteries!

On another positive note, it seems that our money issues are sorted out. Today we passed by a Barclays bank that accepts Maestro Cards, and thankfully, Alessandra’s card was not in the wallet we lost in Addis!

Thursday: Returning to Shaza, our shock guy, our fears are confirmed. He was not able to find a shock that will fit.

The good news is that our friend in London, Charles Mayne, managed to get a seal sent from the manufacturers, Hagon. Free of charge! Not only that, he also got us the part needed to fix the speedometer and agreed to pick up Heino’s bank card when it arrives, and to send all of this with DHL! So he alone sorted out all three of our main problems!

Shaza on our side, confirmed that he will be able to rebuild the shock once he has the seals. This means that the only thing we can do now is to wait for the parts to arrive from London. Once Charles receives all the parts, it should take around three days for DHL to get it in our hands.

 With most things arranged now, it is time for some real relaxation at the campsite. We meet some of the other travellers there, including a Dutch couple, Arnoud and Femke, who travelled down the West side of Africa and up here again, with a Citroen CV2! Interestingly, they are also freelance journalists who made a documentary on local African entrepreneurs. Their aim is to show that there are bright, skilled people in Africa who are building the future of the continent themselves!

 By evening it is time for our first bbq! After a bit of a struggle to get the damp wood going, we throw some boerewors (typical South African sausage) on the grill. Although we are possibly trapped here for another week, it doesn’t seem like it is going to be so bad after all!

24 July, Isiolo – Nairobi (Kenya), 280km

 Today we plan an easy ride, all on glorious asphalt, to Nyeri, a town halfway to Nairobi. Here Alessandra wants to visit the tomb of Lord Baden Powell, the founder of the international Scouts movement. Therefore, we take the morning very easy and we are not too worried about Orphea as we’ve been told that sometimes when the oil is overheated leaks can occur.

By the time we get around to do another inspection on Orphea, it is around 12 noon. Our thoughts and hopes are proved wrong when the shock immediately starts to leak as we take it off the centre stand! It is clear that the seals inside the shock have been blown to pieces by the constant abuse from the roads.

This means that our plans have to change somewhat. Instead of a slow, interrupted journey down to Nairobi, we feel it is better to get there as soon as possible in order to get it fixed or replaced. It is also important that we put as little weight on the bike as possible as it will be easy to snap the spring without the shock absorber to support it. After some discussions we decide that Alessandra will take the big yellow rollbag (Gialla) and take a matatu (minibus taxi) to Nairobi. Heino, with only the tool bag and the light black side bags will make the journey by bike, ever so slowly!

Having packed everything, we go to the main street in order to find a matatu. Immediately one stops right beside us, the guy saying that it is going to Nairobi. It turns out that it first goes to Meru and then from there to Nairobi as there is no direct service. A man in the front (another passenger) tells us that he is also going to Nairobi and offers to show Alessandra the way whenever needed. So, with Alessandra and gialla in the Matatu, we quickly arrange to meet in the Jungle Junction campsite in Nairobi before the matatu sets off. With only a hand drawn set of directions to the campsite and the number plate of the matatu written down, Heino goes back to the hotel to get Orphea ready.

Just after 1pm Heino leaves Isiolo behind him. With the minimal weight the suspension is not feeling too bad, but it is clear that it will not withstand a lot of pressure. Although the road is asphalt, there are numerous potholes on the road that need avoiding at all costs. In some places the road is so bad that it is impossible to avoid riding over a rough patch! It is here that it is made clear that our decision not to load the bike too heavily was a wise one! With another passenger and the heavy bag, the spring almost certainly would not have made the journey!

Just after the town of Nanyuki Heino is again overtaken by Fufi the Landrover. Our Italian friends Pina and Alberto with Hugo and Zoe are very concerned that Alessandra is not with Heino, but after the explanation they agree that it was for the best. They of course have shock absorber problems of their own, and in fact, shortly after we parted again Heino passed them as they pulled off the road to inspect their front wheel yet again. It is clear that all vehicles at some point cannot sustain the constant assault from the harsh African terrain!

Whenever the road is in better condition, Heino tries to maintain a decent speed. This is of course to avoid entering Nairobi in the dark. From the horror stories we’ve heard about this city, it is not the ideal place to get lost in, in the dark! It is with some concern then that Heino reaches the outskirts of Nairobi just as the sun starts to sink. From the directions he knows that he needs to get to Ngong Road, and from there to find Yaya Shopping Centre. It is only from here that the hand drawn map will come into use!

 Furthermore, it is in the middle of evening rush hour! Row upon row of taxis and matatus line the street, completely standing still for minutes at a time. This is slightly helpful though as this gives Heino time to ask the drivers for directions. They however, are more interested in the bike and where we came from then to give him directions! At one junction, when he has absolutely no idea where to go, a white 4×4 with a Kenyan man and lady waves him over in their direction. They overheard him asking one taxi driver where the shopping centre is, and tell him to follow them as they are heading in the same way. Half an hour later, in complete darkness, we finally reach Yaya Centre. Here he meets Gladys from the 4×4 and finds out that she is a General Manager of one of the government departments. After explaining where he wants to go, she offers her driver to show Heino to the campsite, as soon as he dropped her off at home. After he thanked her numerous times, he waits for the driver to return, relieved to have made it safely!

 Alessandra, in the mean time, finds out that travelling in a matatu is quite enjoyable! It is not overcrowded at all, and with each having their own seat, it is quite easy to have a nice chat with your fellow passengers. For sure more comfortable than on the back of a motorbike!

Reaching Meru, on the eastern slopes of Mt Kenya, within 45 minutes, she follows the kind man to change to the matatu heading for Nairobi. This matatu leaves within ten minutes, and this time she sits next to the man who helped her. This turns out to be Father Jacob, a catholic priest of the Isiolo Diocese. The two of them plus a third man have very interesting conversations about Kenya, its 42 tribes and the various problems the country is facing.

As they near Nairobi, Father Jacob starts to worry about Alessandra reaching the campsite safely. He couldn’t go with her as he had to get a connecting matatu and it was quite late already. Various options are discussed, but the good Father is not convinced that a taxi is 100% safe. As it turns out, one of the other passengers is from his church as well, so the Father asks him if he would accompany Alessandra since he is going roughly in the same direction.

The young man, Ibrahim, immediately agrees, and as they get out of the matatu in Nairobi, he immediately takes the big, heavy, yellow bag from Alessandra. Belonging to the Turkana tribe, Ibrahim is a massively devoted religious man. He told Alessandra about his three daughters in Isiolo and as if to prove that he is completely capable of looking after her, he tells Alessandra that she needn’t fear, as he is in the military! They get into another Matatu, and about half an hour later they get out of the matatu in the parking bay of Yaya Centre. As Alessandra turns around, not sure where to go, she notices Heino sitting next to Orphea on the other side of the parking lot!

It was a complete coincidence, but it is with enormous relief that we are reunited! With the help of these amazingly helpful people, we not only safely got into Nairobi, but did it quite easily as well! A short while later, and after thanking Ibrahim profusely (“don’t thank me, thank the Lord” was his reply!) we are finally in the Jungle Junction campsite.

This is a motorbike traveller’s haven as you can get most things fixed from here. So, eating a takeaway pizza accompanied by a beer, we realize that our situation is not so bad at all. Tomorrow we will start the process of finding out what our options are with the shock absorber. For tonight though, we just enjoy the thought that we are well and safe and extremely privileged to be here at all!

23 July, Marsabit – Isiolo (Kenya), 274km

 Half past seven and we are packed and good to go! However, there is no sign of life from La Bougeotte! As they don’t have to do anything apart from getting behind the wheel and go, we wait until 07.45 before Alessandra goes over to knock on their door. Still nothing and it is just before 8 before a bleary eyed Mado appears, immediately apologizing for oversleeping. This doesn’t stop her from asking us if we want tea though! No is the answer to that, and we want to go!

So, unable to wait any longer we arrange to meet at a town halfway to Isiolo. Mado has a final look at our bike and repeat, as last night, that if we have any problems we can give them our luggage. Like it’s going to help after we’ve had the problem!

 We are better prepared mentally for this part of the road, although anything must be better than the last road we’ve been on! After filling up with fuel we exit Marsabit, passing several pyramid shaped volcanic vents looming in the blue-purple morning mist.

 Again, the road has a bit of everything to offer: corrugation, a bit of rocks as well as some sand. Struggling on for around two hours, the monotony of the road is interrupted by the sound of a horn from behind. Immediately we recognize Fufi the Landrover! It is of course our Italian friends Pina and Alberto, still with Hugo and Zoe as travelling companions. It is great to see them again, especially in these deserted and lonely surroundings! At the next tree we stop for coffee and a chat and about 20 minutes later they leave us in a cloud of dust. They go much faster than us, even on this road, and therefore it was no surprise when they told us earlier that their one shock absorber is leaking oil!

We pass the village of Laisamu, the halfway mark where we agreed to meet up with the French. We decide not to wait though. Even though the road is better than the Moyale-Marsabit stretch, it is still slow going and we don’t feel that we should have to risk riding in the dark on these roads, especially since they were not ready at 8 as we arranged. Also, they have the advantage of, tortoise-like, having their house on their backs!

 We push on and in the next village decide to award ourselves a coke stop. It is one of the numerous Samburo villages and the people are colourfully dressed, especially their headdress and necklaces! There are also several of them next to the roads (thankfully not in Ethiopian numbers though!) and most of them are very traditionally dressed, right down to the spears, one even with a bow and arrow!

We are utterly exhausted by the time we arrive at Archers Post. According to our map the road should be a lot better from here on and we have about 50km of it left. It remains wishful thinking though as the road is even worse, if anything. To make matters worse, the sun is starting to sink into the horizon and Heino decides to push the bike a little bit more in order to avoid riding in the darkness.

 We do the last 50 km in just over an hour. For us this is a record! When we finally get onto the asphalt after more than 500km of nightmare, it feels impossibly smooth! Stopping at the petrol station we get directions to the guesthouse of our choice and after a bit of searching, we are shown to the parking area. When we finally switch off the bike, we smell the oil before we even see it!

A quick, panicked glance under the bike confirms it, we have an oil leak! Our first thought is that it is the engine that is finally dying on us. However, after closer inspection we find that the leak is from the shock absorber. Still bad news, but considerably better than an oil leaking engine! So, our brand new purposely made Hagon shock did not survive this bad road, fully loaded with luggage (thanks again to Jean-Paul!)

We are now even gladder that the bad roads are finished! There is now only 270km of smooth tarmac road between us and the safe haven of Nairobi where we can get, hopefully, most things fixed. So, we leave Orphea for now to go for our first typical Kenyan meal. This is a beef chapatti (almost like a crepe) and when that is not enough, it is followed by beef ugali. This is beef with something porridge-like made from maize meal, not dissimilar to the mealie meal found in South Africa.

We’ve made another day safely, this one even without a fall! This doesn’t stop us, as we go to bed, thinking about our poor Orphea bleeding in the parking bay next door!

22 July, Marsabit (Kenya)

 After yesterday’s 9 hours on the bike, we’ve decided to declare today a rest day before we hit the second stage of dirt road to Isiolo. This is also where the tarmac road starts again and, according to our host Henry, this part of the road is slightly better than the one we’ve just finished!

 The morning is spent looking after Orphea. The panel that is bent is, with great difficulty, more or less adjusted to its original position and the chain is cleaned as well as oiled. Apart from a few new scuff marks, she is not in bad shape and most importantly, the machine is sounding fine.

For lunch we buy (actually, we provide the drinks) a large piece of meat with Mado and Jean-Paul, the French couple who carried our luggage the day before. The meat comes from a sheep that was freshly slaughtered by the people working for Henry and, barbequed with some potatoes it makes a very nice lunch! This is followed by a relaxing afternoon reading and chatting, surrounded by the volcanic landscape of Marsabit!

 Jean-Paul has been working on his campervan all day. After repairing the puncture of the previous day, he changed some of his other tyres so that he has 4 similar tyres on. This is of course all in order to prevent another puncture or more serious problems.

When he’s done with all this, he comes over to us to say that having our luggage at the back is a problem, as it adds more weight on the already stretched rear wheels. He suggests strapping the bags on the front of the car in order to distribute the weight more equally. This of course is no problem for us as we would put it anywhere apart from on our bike on these roads!

Jean-Paul repeated quite a few times how he spent years travelling in Africa, and one thing he learned is that weight is a big problem on these roads. However, his Landcruiser campervan is weighing a whopping 4.2 ton of which two ton is additional! After hearing again how big a problem weight is in Africa, we start to get the idea that he is not too keen on helping us with our luggage. Somehow he sees our 35kg bags as the final straw that is going to break his camel’s back!

Towards the evening he again comes over to us, this time to say that he will drain one of his 2 water tanks (80 litres!) to make space for us. This time, as it is now clear that he doesn’t want to take our stuff, we say that it is not a problem for us, and that we will carry the luggage ourselves.

We are slightly offended by this. We find it a bit ridiculous to worry about 35 kg of luggage when you have over 150 litres of water as well as the same amount of fuel. I mean, we are not crossing the Sahara here! There is bottled water for sale everywhere and water for shower is in no short supply, as is fuel! But, at the end of the day he is an old French man, it is his car and it is our luggage!

Early evening we cook with our little stove some pasta and an onion omelette for the four of us. Before we head to bed, we arrange to be ready to leave at 8 am tomorrow morning. Mado apologizes for the luggage situation, and we can see that she is genuinely sorry. If it was up to her she definitely would’ve helped us out. Still, it is not easy to fall asleep with the thought of 274km of hellish road, with luggage!

21 July, Moyale (Ethiopia) – Marsabit (Kenya), 250km

 6.30 am, and we are awake before the alarm goes off. It is like before a very important exam! We are, to say the least, a bit worried about this stretch of road. Tales about terrible roads, bandits and the mere fact that we have to travel in convoy is enough to make us more than just a bit apprehensive! On the Ethiopian side of the border we have our last Ethiopian coffee. Afterwards we cross the border into Kenya and the first thing you see is a roundabout. This poses quite a problem as we are unsure whether to go around it clockwise or anticlockwise. It turns out that Kenya is indeed the first country since the UK where we will ride on the left side of the road. The border crossing is nothing like the previous five we’ve done on this trip. Consisting of three steps, in three different offices, clearly located in sequence, the process is further made easy by extremely friendly, efficient border officials. Literally ten minutes later we are cleared to go without having to pay a cent! This is extremely helpful as we are in a rush to not miss the convoy, despite the border official nonchalantly telling us that a convoy is not needed and that the bandits no longer pose a threat.

Arriving at the convoy meeting point, we pass a long line of trucks (one of the owners immediately offered us to load Orphea on his truck) and at the front we notice a camper van that clearly belongs to a fellow foreign traveller! Alessandra immediately jumps off the bike, rush over to the window of the camper van and ask if it will be possible for them to help us by taking our luggage. It was a bit of a rude, direct approach without even introducing ourselves, but we are desperate to try and make this journey as easy as possible for us! Thankfully they say it is no problem as long as we load immediately. Clearly they are about to leave, convoy or no convoy! Quickly we unstrap all three our luggage bags, leaving us only with the tankbag containing our tools. This is a massive relief for us, and gratefully we quickly arrange to meet up in Marsabit before they leave in a cloud of dust!

We are not ready to leave though, as we still have to change money into Kenyan currency. As it is only 8.45am, we have to wait until 9 for the bank to open, also the time the convoy will leave. This means an agonizing 15min wait, our last hundred dollar bill crumpled in Heino’s sweaty hand! The bank door is unlocked at 9 sharp, just in time to see Heino storming in to the exchange counter. Eagerly the dollar note is stuffed in the clerks’ hand, only to be told that they will not change it as it has a series number that is out of date! Whatever next! After explaining the whole pickpocket story and how this is our last money, Heino is showed into the managers’ office where, of course, the whole story is repeated. Right down to the shrugged shoulders and negative response of the manager! Storming out of the bank, Heino goes back to Alessandra to find out what our options are. We luckily have some other small dollar bills, 50 in total and some euros, but that is really just as a last way out. As we discuss these options, a young boy comes rushing up, obviously having overheard our problem. It turns out he knows some black market money changers who can help us. This means running all the way across town, negotiate a price in an unbelievably dodgy little shop, receive a handful of old, torn Kenyan notes, run back across town, verify the notes with the police, and finally we are ready to go!

The term convoy in Kenya is a very loose term. It is not at all the typical image of a police car back and front, armed to the teeth. In stead it is just a series of trucks leaving around 9, but all at different times. We are instructed to leave between two trucks, but soon we discover that the trucks go a lot faster than us. Ten minutes later there is no sign of the truck in front of us, and half an hour later the truck behind us comes storming past us. We are all alone on this infamous stretch of road! To be honest though, nobody, the police least of all, gave us any reason to be worried. It seems that the bandit problem is something of the past, although it was admitted that it still happens on very rare occasions.

 This is enough to worry us somewhat though! Martin, the Austrian biker we met in Yabello told us that the first 100km was quite easy. Obviously his perception of easy is different from ours as we are quite surprised by how bad it is! Red, corrugated clay and quite rocky, we found it quite hard going, but we would soon find out that Martin was right!

 The landscape is typical bushveld with the odd lonely mountain here and there. After two hours we catch up with the French campervan and are shocked to find out from their speedometer that we have done only 80 kms. In two hours! We also introduce ourselves properly and find out that our luggage carriers are Mado and Jean-Paul, a retired French couple who spend their time and pension travelling around Africa in La Bougeotte (this means something like “Itchy Feet”), their Landcruiser campervan. After thanking them properly again, we arrange to meet up at Henry’s Place, a sort of unofficial campsite in Marsabit. We decide not to stop for lunch as they suggest, but to push on as it is extremely slow going with the bike! Soon after the red clay texture of the road turns into a grey, rock strewn path set in an equally grey, rocky, depressing landscape! It just gets worse as the rocks change from big and seldom to a thick cover making it impossible to avoid! It is without a doubt the worst road we’ve been on in our short biking lives! Even Heino that has some experience of farm roads is shocked by the state of the road, if you can call it that!

 Riding a bike on this rocky road is much more difficult than you would think. It is really quite slippery and it is very easy for a slightly larger rock to completely throw the bike off balance! It takes a 100% concentration all the time, making it extremely tiring. This is made worse by the fact that we have no speedometer. We have no idea how fast we are going (the only certainty is that it is agonizingly slow!) or how far we’ve come, making it impossible to calculate how much is left. This creates a hopeless situation that just seems endless! Of course a day like this will not be complete without a fall! With the high amount of use by the huge trucks, a high centre divide is formed on both sides of the road. At one point, when Heino wanted to change from one side to the other, Orphea’s front wheel just slipped on the stones covering this centre divide. Luckily the speed was so low that, again, there was no injury or damage, apart from another slightly bent panel.

 Due to the security issue, that may or may not still exist, it is not an option to simply pull off the road and camp for the night. Because of this we never stop for more than 5 minutes at a time, either to gulp down a mouthful of water or to take a quick picture. After 5-6 hours Marsabit seems to be an imaginary town, somewhere remote in the distance. Meeting another car next to the road, the natural first question is how far this town still is. Not far, there by the mountains, is the answer! Of course it was still far! Bodies aching from a full day of abuse, our joy was immense when we pass a sign saying Marsabit National Park. This turns into jubilation when we get to police checkpoint where we are welcomed into Marsabit. It is simply unbelievable that in this day and age there still exists a road, the main through road between two countries no less, where it takes you 9 hours to do 250kms!

 After the usual asking for directions, getting lost, asking for more directions, we finally find Henry’s Place. Here we find out that Henry only has a campsite, but because our luggage is still with the French behind us, we can’t really camp. Henry is nice enough to offer us two beds which are carried into a half moon shaped hut, making quite a cosy little room! Next we are informed that they have no restaurant facilities, but again Henry is kind enough to offer us some of the pizza him and his family are having for dinner. This, together with a cold beer, goes some distance to make us feel human again! As we are about to get ready for bed, we hear a car approaching. This is the French couple with our luggage! After swapping stories, we find out that they had a puncture which took some time to repair. Today has been one of the most physically tough days of the trip. However, it is with a feeling of satisfaction and joy of being safe that we go to sleep!

Ethiopia in a nutshell

 For us, Ethiopia was the “most” country! Most beautiful, most surprising, most friendly and most deprived. However, it was also the most difficult and frustrating!

 

The people are more outgoing yet peaceful than in the other countries we’ve been through. Ethiopians are also very proud and quick to remind you that they’ve never been colonized (conveniently forgetting the 5 years that Italy basically ruled the roost there!) and this might contribute to them being so friendly, and in our guide Berhanu’s words “more confident with tourists”. There must be something different about the Ethiopian race though, as there are no tribal infighting that we know about, and seem largely at peace with itself and most of its neighbours. It was also the first country where we came across begging on an enormous scale. This, maybe somewhat unfairly, made them seem utterly without pride as they shamelessly shove their outstretched hands under your nose! Finally, on the whole, Ethiopians are the most physically beautiful people we’ve seen so far on this trip with especially the woman standing out.

 

Ethiopia undoubtedly has an image of a poor country, and again, if Berhanu is to be believed, apparently the government is trying purposely to advertise Ethiopia as a poor country internationally in order to maintain the stream of aid money into the country. If this is really true or not we can’t say, but certainly from the newspapers we’ve read it seems that the government is trying its best to better the country. More teachers are qualified than before and trade deals with India seem to bring quite a bit of money into the country. Also, quite a few other export initiatives through Djibouti are planned. Most importantly though, it seems that Ethiopia is at peace with all its neighbouring countries. Even the war with Eritrea seems to be a thing of the past, although the border remains closed. Where there is peace, there is hope!

 

In terms of religion, Ethiopia is one of those transitional countries where Muslim Africa meets Christian Africa. We’ve been through the mostly Christian north and Western parts and here it seemed that the religion plays as big a part as in the Muslim countries! Most people we’ve seen will not pass a church without making the cross, and in fact the Christian religion is proudly displayed by cross necklaces or religious t-shirts. Again, something that really gives you hope is the fact that Muslims and Christians live together in complete harmony, sometimes with a church and a mosque metres apart!

 

In no other country have we seen such a big presence of aid organizations! Obviously there are a lot of poor people in this country, but from what we know it is not because of a very recent natural disaster. In fact, the country seems to be bursting with agricultural and manufacturing potential (abundant relatively cheap labour is in supply). This makes us wonder, along with many other people, what the structural role of aid really is. Is it perhaps standing in the way of real long term development?

 

In Ethiopia we’ve had really great and tough times. If you are still struggling to figure out how we feel about the country, here is our final say on it: it is so far the first and only country that we’ve vowed to return to!

20 July, Moyale

We are currently on the Ethiopian/Kenyan border. Tomorrow we will take on the potholed, corrugated, bandit-infested roads (some of the worst of our trip) from Moyale to Marsabit! We will update as soon as we can.