26th August 2013

Kenya

First off, we have had several people written to  us  by commenting on the blog.  The problem with this is we cannot reply  to these people. I feel that is a shame having taken the trouble to write  we are unable to reply.  So please do write but use one of the Email addresses

He was not the one fixing our car.

I sit here in the middle of a yard that is full of dismembered cars surrounded by a team of ‘Mechanics’. There are chickens running under the van. Next door is a shack serving something that I am assured is food. It is a long time since I have seen anything so unappetizing. At the back is a man who spends his day stripping all kinds of unorthodox bits of goats  It is not specially attractive to my softy European sensitivities. Anyway, we have developed a growing brake fault which is being fixed, I hope by the end of the day.

The kitchen of the restaurant

The Chef

This is a fairly busy road

We arrived in Kenya a few days ago.  Once over the border we spent the night in a particularly rural location.  We had set up to camp in the bush, when we were approached by a ranger who spoke no English but who clearly did not want to allow us  to camp out. It did seem that he was concerned for our safety as there are animals around, he did mention elephants and lions. Any how he was pretty insistent that we camp in the official camp nearby,  a bit of haggling went on and we paid up and went to the camp. 

Beautiful camp

It was a truly beautiful location. Lovely sunset, deer and giraffes wandering around; in the morning we had a brief but lovely view of Kilimanjaro just over the border.  Superb! The rangers, all Masai turned out to such a nice and caring bunch who were very interested in our travels. It was a brief interlude but so nice.

Our Masai Rangers

Masai at the helm

As we drove toward Nairobi it was a very long but pleasant journey. However, we were soon to discovered that Nairobi is a fairly modern sprawling urban mass with the densest traffic and the craziest drivers and unmarked speed humps that will shake you to the core They are hard to spot except the ones that are so high they have snow on the top. We did find that drivers in Zambia are aggressively incompetent. In Malawi even worse, but no trace of aggression. In Tanzania the story continues. Now we find that in Kenya,  especially in Nairobi, it is almost beyond comprehension.

Water tankers adding to traffic chaos

Imagine endless dense traffic with every driver seizing whatever opportunities arise will be driven through without a thought for anyone else. That is before you enter the legendary Mutata drivers into the equation. These guys are the backbone of the public transport system. They operate decrepit minibuses stuffed full of people, in and out of every gap that presents itself. If no gaps are apparent then they zip down the dirt track along the side of the road, at breathtaking speed. 

By the way you also have to watch out for motorcycle carrying large loads across the rear rack. The sort of examples we have seen were  a 175 cc bike with a coffin across the rack, I have no idea if it was occupied. On another occasion we were passed on the centre reservation, if you can call it that, by a 70cc bike with a large acetylene cylinder about 150m long on the back bumping along the mud path dodging in and out of trees, bushes and other motorcycles on similar missions.

Having spoken about the minibuses, we saw one that was being driven quite well, That is to say it was mostly going in a straight line. I was behind and noticed something quite starling it was full every seat occupied  all the passengers were blond haired girls. I commented to Ping on how unusual a sight it was and as I did so it turned a corner. Then I could see written down the side was ‘SWEDISH GIRLS SCHOOL’

Our main purpose in Nairobi is to sort out a bunch of matters like visas and also get advice from travellers coming toward us having been through Egypt.

A note from Ping:

We were warned that the woman who authorises visas in the Ethiopian Embassy dislikes men, so I was duly dispatched to apply for a visa for Noel. On arrival, I was given the 3^rd degree by a very tall woman. I knew she was tall because I had to look up to her, even though she was sitting down behind her desk. When she was duly satisfied that I had fulfilled the criteria she handed me the application forms. I had assumed that this was the woman in question, and thought it wasn’t so bad after all. However, I was then ushered into Rm 3 where I was given a further grilling by the tattooed lady (the head of the visa section, had a tattoo on her forehead, and lots more on her face and neck). She ordered me to sit down, and wait. Whilst waiting, there was a line of 6-7 men who came in to the office one by one, where they were each given some kind of ‘bollocking’, she was extremely fierce! When the last men left, she turned to me, smiled, and said that she would give me a 90 days visa, and would I like the same for my husband? I grovelling said, ‘yes please’.

I think I mentioned before that a camp called Jungle Junction has a reputation for being the meeting place for overlanders.

Jungle Junction is supposed to be a big camp with a bar, restaurant and most important a well equipped workshop with mechanics available. This place turned out to be nothing of the kind! 

I don’t know how they got the reputation but we were desperately disappointed. They had just moved to a new location. We were not surprised as we knew they would be moving. However we arrived at the old address to find they had actually moved. Some bloke rocked up and gave us a map to show us where the new location was.  The map was so small that it was unreadable. The GPS co-ordinates took us to the location but there was nothing, no sign, nothing to let us know where they were. We went round and round the block not finding the place, asking local people who knew nothing. We had no phone card so we had to ask a stranger to phone the owner, who then gave us directions and he told us that he had not put up a sign because he did not want the locals to know what he was doing. Bloody unbelievable!

Once at the camp we spent a night with no water, no electricity and no manager. The next day he appeared and said that they had only just moved and had not got any hot water, actually the shower heads were lying on the floor. They were not providing food as the staff were too busy doing other things.

The place was in real disarray and was simply not ready to be open for business. The owner usually turned up each day for a short while, but we found him unfriendly, unhelpful and I have to say unlikeable.  No apology for the difficulties and no hint that they would be charging anything other than full price. There were hardly any travellers there, which was an issue for us.

After 5 days nothing much had improved. The showers were said to be fixed but one camper got an electric shock while showering, Chris the owner was nowhere to be seen. At this point we decided that we would be better off finding a place to camp in the bush and we bailed out. They expected to charge us full rate but Chris, (who by the way introduces himself as ‘King of the Jungle’) had obviously not reckoned to deal with my esteemed life partner who told him ‘we will pay half, alright!’  It was not a question. Then off we went.

Wildebeest Camp www.wildebeestecocamp.com 
Mokoyeti Road West, Langata, Nairobi. 
tel +254 (0)20 210 3505  mob (0)734 770 733.

We soon found there were several other camps to choose from and we found one that was superior among them. The Wilderbeest Eco Camp is a well run place catering for a number of levels of tourist including allowing overlanders to set up shop in the car park.  The place is run by  Alan, an Australian who has been here for several years and has developed his business to what it is now. He is the antithesis of Chris at Jungle Junction, as he is personable, friendly, knowledgeable and  very helpful. The place is guarded by security guards who are surprisingly professional. We have been here for a few days and have been joined by other escapees from Jungle Junction. The camp is orderly popular and genuinely beautiful. The food is very good indeed

The repairs on our truck have run into problems. We were charged quite a lot of money for repairs to the brake vacuum pump. However it has made no difference to the problem with the brakes, despite the pressure of time we are concerned about driving through the mountainous region in Ethiopia with dodgy brakes. I know is a bit whimpish but there you are.

Being frustrated as to what we can do about the problem I contacted my friend Rich Clafton who is a bit of a Iveco guru he has come up with a solution and we have to find the parts to resolve it. We can now sort this out but it does mean we will be held up here for a while.

The David Sheldrike Elephant Orphanage

If this doesnt make you go aaahh! then you have no soul

And this!

Honestly they use SMA Gold!

We went to what is described as an Elephant Orphanage and had a very pleasant morning watching baby elephant being fed. The elephants have all been rescued having been orphaned mostly by their mothers being killed by poachers. 

The place is very organised and they seem to be very successful in the difficult process of being raised in conditions that they may be released into the wild.  For us it was rather lovely to see these baby elephants enjoying a safe environment and being looked after appropriately.

While at the Wildebeest Camp we met up with an extraordinary group of scouts.  They had come from all over the South of England having spent more than two years to raise enough money to have a quite large school built in Uganda. They have come to live in the village and to carry out all the finishing work to make the school usable. I have spoken to the scouts and their leaders and they have brought about an interaction and experiences that all the villagers and the scouts will never forget, as well as providing an important tangible resource. All I can do is stand on the sidelines and offer heartfelt respect.

As I mentioned earlier we have met up with a very nice group of guys (please don’t tell them that I said that!) Lewis, Jason, Ed and Spence; they are travelling in the opposite direction, towards Capetown. So we are having a nice time enjoying their company for a few days. They are really a lot of fun to be with and we have also had a very musical evening spent singing and enjoying some real homegrown music, Lewis is a fine guitarist and also a prolific songwriter, having written numerous songs about their travels. It was very enjoyable, thanks guys!

Band of Bruvvers!
Spencer, Jason, Lewis and Ed

Such good companions

               Lewis meets his Nemesis!

Sadly Lewis may be a fine musician but I fear he is not the brightest. I feel his mother should be proud of him as he is doing all his own washing. However having done just that he had a brief conversation  with Ping about the camp fence.  I should explain that these camps tend to take security quite seriously and it not uncommon to find them equipped with an electric fence. This camp is no exception.  He said ’do you reckon the fence is live?’ Ping says ‘I would not be at all surprised if it is’  a few minutes later Lewis is found writhing on the floor  as he had ,it seems, decided that the best way to find the answer to his question was to hang his wet washing on the said electric fence. 9,000,000,000 volts straight through his wet Y fronts ouch!

Reconstruction

So now,  today we were both pretty stressed about getting the brakes fixed once and for all. I had become quite confused about all the information I was getting about having to find a suitable alternative to the de listed original brake servo. We went out determined to get it sorted with the minimum of delay. We had spoken to several people who had promised to ring us back, and didn’t. we called on a couple of garages who seemed to consider it beneath them to even have a look under the bonnet and give advice. 

Then we popped into a 4x4 specialist with no great expectations. The mechanics  were very young but the leader among them said that he knew exactly what the problem was He explained , without taking it apart that when they had been repairing it before they would have forgotten to replace a rubber seal. He opened it up with a rather smug expression on his face  confirmed his suspicions and spent a good five minutes applying some silicone  put it back together. When I said I'll take it for a test his response was, "you can if you want but it will work fine". It did. 

I feel rather sheepish for not knowing and angry for paying out lots of money to an idiot who saw me as some kind of money tree!  

So we are back on track.  Tonight as the sun goes down on the lovely Wildebeest camp and the chorus of hundreds of frogs start their incredible racket the moment the sun goes down we are much more settled. Tomorrow, we will drive to Mount Kenya, stay overnight. Then on to two more overnights until we cross into Ethiopia. This something I am looking forward to as it seems that it will be  a very different experience to the rest of Africa.

After that we hope to be back on track for Sudan.

We would love to hear from you so do write

Noelbow51@gmail.com

Pingbow54@gmail.com

Cheers everyone lots of love

Noel+Ping

15th August 2013

Tanzania

We left lovely Malawi behind and crossed into Tanzania.

We drove up to the Tanzania Border which was a bit chaotic on the Malawi side. It did take a while. Ping did the immigration thing but had to excuse herself halfway through so I continued to deal with the nice man. He stamped my passport but still needed a signature from Ping. I saw her ambling across the car park so I shouted to her that the man was very angry and she should run across the car park in the midday sun. I thought it was funny and the man thought it was funny however my esteemed life partner was rather less than amused and her reaction meant that the joke was on me rather.

I had handed our precious Carnet in to the customs man who took it swiftly into a back office and then returned saying someone would bring it out when it was stamped. It is always a bit of a worry when documents disappear in this way. You cannot know what is happening and there is a real danger that asking any questions may be taken as an insult to some very important person unseen in the office who then decides that it is lunchtime! 

So, I waited patiently and amused myself watching the very dilapidated coach that was being inspected outside. All the passengers, and there were a lot were being checked, all their baggage searched. This was a major operation that had clearly been going on for some time and then all the cargo had to be taken off the coach to be checked. Much of this cargo was in the form of many huge bunches of bananas each of which was minutely examined I don’t know what for. The high spot for me was when a large engine, it was a V6, was manhandled by a group of passengers out of the buses baggage compartment. This was an incredible tussle. It was checked and then heaved back in the bus.  

Anouk and Isobel

Isobel and Anouk our Dutch girls,  ‘mmmm Dutch girls!

Sorry about that I just became a bit whistful then. I am better now. - anyway they were all stamped and ready to  go so off we went to the Tanzanian side. We paid our $25 road tax and heeded the official warnings about money changers. 

Straight to the mountains

And off we went once more.The scenery changed abruptly and it was already possible to understand why people speak of the beauty of Tanzania. We dropped our friends off at the next city as they would get a bus to catch a train to Dar es Salaam, as we travelled north.

As we moved on it started to rain for the first time in many months and it rained. Once again we had a problem finding somewhere to camp and had to continue after dark we eventually found the turning for the unlikely named Bongo Camp! As we set onto this mud track I was taken by surprise. It was dark and wet. The tracks mud surface was very slippery as well as uneven. It was hard to see but there were several points where the track fell away under us and I was genuinely worried that the van may overturn. These were violent lurches and sitting high up as we do in the van it felt all the more severe. After a short but traumatic drive we arrived at The Bongo Camp. 

I want to speak as highly as I can about the Bongo camp, it was crap! But it was dark and raining so any port in a storm. We stayed one night and it did not improve with daylight and dry weather.

Tomatoes for sale on the roadside

We then had to cross a decent sized mountain range. Our drive started dry, and then drizzle, which turned to mist. We had to drive on a high mountain pass. As we got higher we ran into the most dense fog imaginable visibility was down to 2 or 3 meters that is to say for example we could see the edge of the road but not much more than that. The problem being was that we knew there would a sheer drop but of course we had no idea where. Sometimes we would see long stretches of crash barriers that was either mashed beyond recognition, or missing altogether. Not very reassuring! 

We continued through this fog for more than an hour. Then as we made our descent the fog vanished almost instantly and we drove through some lovely mountain scenery until we arrived in a large and frantically busy town, here we decided we would buy fuel, no problem.  Bread, we managed with great difficulty to find something that looked a little like bread but that is where the resemblance finished. 

Then Ping went to see about buying a local SIM card for the phone, nearly everywhere else that we have been, this has been a simple five minute job. Not in Tanzania. After an hour and a half I went looking for her to find her clutching frantically at her hair, wringing her hands and grabbing at her clothing. It seems she was a bit frustrated that the whole process involved several text messages to the phone company, and then wait for a reply. She had to produce a driving licence and passport, and oh yes photocopies of same. After 2 hours she was given her phone back and told in 2 days it will be activated. At this point I had no choice but to give Ping her medication. Then I manhandled her back to the van where she sat foaming at the mouth for the rest of the afternoon. What larks eh?

We drove away from the town of Mbeya.  The weather was now just lovely and we went to stay in ‘The Reeverside sic apparently so called as it is alongside a reever. There was nothing in the way of water toilet shower etc and we were told it was quite ok to bathe in the reever. I declined this kind offer as I am allergic to crocodiles and I am a bit old fashioned about bilharzia. 

sitting by the reever

This place is far from anywhere and we were so surprised when two more vehicles arrived one of which was an Iveco similar to ours. This was a party of 3 people from The Italian part of Switzerland.  We spent an evening with them and were treated to some genuine Italian Risotto. Very nice!

Masaai head of security

After a further days drive we were keen to rest up a little and arrived at a camp run by a young English guy, Archie, a very nice chap who made us very welcome. The camp itself is quite rustic and is genuinely miles from anywhere. The first thing that really took us aback a little was that security was run entirely by Masaai Warriors! I know it sounds like a bit of a cliché but they were the real macoy complete with robes and swords as well as a quite pleasant demeanour I am glad to say. We stayed at The Farmhouse for three days for a much needed rest, also enjoying the company of Archie.

Having had the camp literally to ourselves we were a bit surprised when a group of Landcruisers arrived. These are kind of characteristic of South African travellers.  It is quite usual to see them travel in 2s and 3s but when 13 trucks turned up and filled the site, it was  a bit of a culture shock. They were part of a group that was being organised as a package tour where they use their own vehicles with a guide/organiser and they were on their way to see the Ngoragora crater.

Romantic dinner??? They don't have electricity

We left the next morning, not because of them I hasten to say, indeed despite their all arriving in the evening they were gone by the time we got up the next day!

unusual 2 storey house

So we made our way to Iringa another important market town. Again quite crazy but important for a bit of shopping. We were set for the Ruaha National park, having already decided that we would not be spending the astronomical sums to see the Parks at Ngorgora Crater and  Serengeti. We learned that Ruha is often believed to be the best kept secret of National Parks. It is not expensive and not many people go there. We went to stay in a recommended camp and when we arrived we immediately struck up friendship with a couple from Reading. More of them shortly.

The next day we went to the park and we were not disappointed. We saw plenty of game, you can’t have too many giraffes. There were surprisingly few elephants even though this park is thought to have a vast herd of elephants. Anyway among the basking hipos and the lazy crocodiles we happened across a most extraordinary sight.

Just passing by for a chat

Lion Kill

 A juvenile elephant had been killed by a pride of lions the day before and they were still feasting on it. It was quite a sight as the lions took turns at feeding and dragging their distended bellies back for a postprandial nap. Nearby waited a flock of vultures who only came up close when the lions were away. It seemed to me that they checked out the carcase and came to the view that they could not tackle the thick hide as they quickly flew off. Vultures are quite exciting birds and to see them take off was magnificent and when their flying shadows were all that remained as they left. It rather added to their spooky personna.

I say old man would you pass the salt

An undignified end

We stayed for quite a long while watching this incredible sight. I was absorbed in taking pictures when yet another lion came from the other side of the van and strolled right across in front of us  maybe 5 feet away taking no notice whatever of our presence. We had probably the most fulfilling day of wildlife since we stayed at Kruger and we were so close!   

Oh god I am so full!

Now back to our friends from Reading, Paul Tickner and Hanna Shaw - they are managing a project 

for thewildlifeconnection.org(facebook.com/the wildlife connection). Their work is to foster better relations between local farmers, the staff at Ruha NP and the elephants. None of these relationships are working very well.  The farmers want to kill or scare off the elephant that conservationists want to preserve (there are no fences around the park). The Elephants want to eat all the lovely veg as they have done for years. So Paul and Hannah are organising a elephant kind of census as well as involving local people in finding out more about the work in the park. The conservationist are hostile to the locals as they don’t like their elephants and so on. So they do some teaching in the local schools, they try to get some local people to see inside the park. Unfortunately the park is so expensive for them that most locals have never been inside and has no idea what it is. They have an uphill struggle on their hands and they will only facilitate, they will not run a programme.

making a prototype beehive

I have a great interest in appropriate technology so most interesting for me is one scheme that they are introducing.  Elephants it seems are very much afraid of bees! No I didn’t know that either. So Paul and Hanna have introduced a blueprint where they get local people to build frames from which they hang a long beehive set a short distance apart. It seems this is enough to discourage the elephant from passing between them. If they can encourage farmer to make ‘beehive fences’ they are cheap and there is a good market for the honey. The theory being that everyone is a winner. We sincerely wish them the very best of fortune with what I feel is some inspired work that could help people to change their lives to be much more productive.  We enjoyed the hospitality of Paul and Hannah as found seeing their work first hand was very important to us.

Hannah showing the way

This a good opportunity for me to explain the problems that we have with The RAC and our Carnet de Passage. I say that because we are very anxious to move on but in truth I would have love to have stayed on for a good while to work with Paul and Hannah. Quite surprisingly they didn’t seem to hate the idea.

Anyhow, as I have touched on before here is the longer explanation for our fairly major change of plans. In order for us to pass between various counties with a vehicle as we do we have to have a document that says we have made a significant deposit of funds and an insurance policy that saves us the need for paying duty on the van in every country.  This is called a Carnet, it is a hugely costly document. Ours is due to expire on the 1^st of November. This means that we absolutely have to leave Egypt by that date. However this being Africa we felt it was expedient to set our deadline for the first week in October as things can so easily go wrong and there is no flexibility. The penalty for not taking the van out in time is eight times the value of the vehicle which is a huge sum!

With this is mind we contacted the RAC well in advance to ask about an extension or renewal. They informed us that there were no extensions and that rather than renew they insist on a new Carnet. This would mean that we would have somehow to get new forms, downloading complex stuff is all but impossible as a traveller in Africa. When I told the RAC this I was informed that as they insist on a personally signed document it wouldn’t make much difference anyway.

I asked can they not simply transfer the info to the new document from that which they already have on record.

Reply came, ‘Absolutely not, don’t you know this is a legal document?’

I said, ‘but surely we can use the same security deposit for the new Carnet?’

Reply came ‘no we have to protect the original document in case of a claim’

But there is only one risk and that is our one van, it’s the same van that we have to re-export. 

Reply ‘No’.  

So what does this mean to us? 

We have yet to be precise in formulating our plan B but probably it will be impossible for us to visit Uganda and Rwanda that was high on our list.  We may now have to make the complicated diversion to Israel as we need to get a reliable ferry and it seems that the ferries in Egypt are significantly disrupted  by the political situation in the region. If we cross to Turkey we will also need a carnet so we just don’t have the time.

I am at a loss at the attitude of the RAC. They set themselves up to facilitate the likes of overland travellers but seem to see no merit whatsoever in providing a service at this end of the deal.

I have posted a similar account on the website of horizons.com where I found that others have started having such problems. Personally I would be delighted if the RAC would see their way to explain this bizarre position or better still put it right. I will put any response they make on here.

So that is why we have to press on.  We have to get to Nairobi where there is a particular camp for overlanders. There are a number of reasons for this. We can exchange views with other travellers that may open up our options a bit. I think at this point I should thank Taniya of Catsitchyfeet.com who has already helped us by sharing her encyclopaedic knowledge.

From this camp, ‘Jungle Junction’, we will be enbarking on a vastly different leg of the journey as we will travel to the north of Kenya into Ethiopia. There are some dangers , there will be a stretch about a week long that has no roads before we enter a quite bleak area in Ethiopia. Now it is not a very difficult or dangerous route but we may expect to see no one for many days. For this reason Jungle Junction is a place to meet others in the hope of forming a convoy, A bit of reassurance perhaps maybe company and also some extra safety. This part is not the place to break down on ones’ own I think.

We also have quite a lot of admin and applications for visa and so on to do in Nairobi so I am guessing we may be there for a couple of weeks.

So now, as I write we are parked in the lea of Mount Kilimanjaro which is truly magnificent. We have got here by a long drive through amazingly changing countryside moving from a golden grassy vista into deep lush green wholly tropical country. In addition to this the mountains of Tanzania are stupendous not only because there are so many and they are also so grand but the colour schemes are wonderful and varied, unlike any other mountains we have been through. The temperature has risen steadily every day as we move toward the equator, though surprisingly it can still be quite cold at night.

The roads have been very variable, mostly ok, but some long sections are being rebuilt and there are dusty rock uneven alternative carriageways that run parallel with long distances of roads often as bad as some that we found in West Africa. We have stayed in a variety of camps; one run by a German man called French, another we stayed on a really nice petrol station where the owner said we could camp but stipulated that we buy our fuel there, which was pretty reasonable it was great even had a shower and we were left entirely alone. This display of open generosity really helped us out as we did not know where we would stay otherwise. And then we stayed in a campsite called the Pangani River Camp that had the appearance of something we encountered in Guinea which was it seemed that the owner had shipped out and just left the keys with someone who did nothing much but make a few quid. It was lovely spot but I am guessing it won’t last much longer.

By the way as we drove today we passed another milestone, We have just completed 30,000 Kilometers, we will drive around Mount Kilimanjaro or ‘Killie’ as it is known and then cross into Kenya

Mt Killie