The Final Instalment.

 

Up early again to beat the heat and to get to the Kenyan border by lunch time to meet out next ride. It was another beautiful morning at Ngorongoro Crater.

We were back on the rough road. The road out of the Crater was as rough as the road in. We got to the park gate in about an hour or so and I thought there was no way we were going to get back to the Kenyan border by lunch time to meet out next connection. However… we got through the park gate and suddenly we had a beautiful bitumen road. Unbelievable! A beautiful road leading to the boundary of one of the world’s greatest tourist attractions, and then a goat track from there on – still haven’t worked out the logic of that one – it was suggested the tactic was to save the wildlife from high speed traffic ha ha….

 

While the road immediately improved, it also meant that the wilderness of the national park was over – we were back to civilisation? Stopped and had the front window of the Land Cruiser repaired, an enforced look at a souvenir shop and filled up with petrol. It seemed the Land Cruiser did about 200 kms on Empty.

 

As we headed east we again arrived at the edge of the Rift Valley – another spectacular escarpment.

 

At the foot was another of Tanzania’s National Parks – I will have to check the name when I get home, but it was Lake Maniere National Park or something like that. We did not have time to explore this one, but it looked quite lush in comparison to what we had been driving through.

Sue was fascinated by the Baobab trees that flourished on the side of the Rift.

 

 

 

They were dotted across the landscape, although this ancient specimen was as big as we could see.  As we got to the floor of the valley, a river supported a lush tropical agricultural sector which was very beautiful after the arid few days we had spent. Bananas, rice and all sorts of other fruits were growing there for a small stretch. The town was also looking quite prosperous and many tourist shops looked to be flourishing.

 

However, it only took about 10 minutes to drive through this little oasis and we were back to the dry country and the Masaai huts and cattle.

 

 

We kept looking our for Mt Kilimanjaro but couldn’t spot it yet – although Mt Meru did appear out of the cloud. We assumed we must be close to the mountain, but the countryside had turned into a dust bowel and visibility was down to ?500m. Dreadful erosion and land degradation had set in. I guess this was the image of Africa I had worried about seeing before arriving – eroded gullies and large areas of land with zero vegetation but still with Masaai cattle and goats being herded. We learned later that the herds had been culled heavily as a result of the dry and most were just back to core breeding stock.

 

The ingenuity of the African’s and the death wishes of its drivers never ceased to amaze though. We came across a semi trailer tanker that had overturned on a slight bend. I guess the driver had gone to sleep or a tyre had blown out – it now seems a regular occurrence after driving up the main highway in Kenya. The tanker was one of those round cylinders with convex ends like a grain blower truck, except longer. What do you do when a tanker rolls over in Africa? Well you start by dismantling the chassis. As we passed, I could see that all the undercarriage had been removed. The axles and wheels were all stacked to one side. I guess the next stage of the exercise, was to roll the tank into the right position, jack it up, and put the wheels back under it?

 

Anyway, it was not long after this that Sue had her first “near death” anticipation. We were running a bit late, so our driver was in a bit of a hurry and decided to overtake a semi on the crest of a hill – zero visibility and nowhere to hide. After expressing her shock and horror, the driver explained that the semi driver had flashed him – I doubt he could see either….

We eventually got safely to the Kenyan Border – it was bitumen all the way! Completed the charade that is customs, and returned to the country where we had started. This time, the border officials were sober and we didn’t have to part with any US dollars which was a bit of a surprise.

 

Back in Kenya, back to the horrendous roads with tracks up the side because the road is so bad. We were on our way to Amboseli. It was still very dry and arid, and the goats and cattle had denuded the country, although we did catch site of a Gerenuk which supposed to be uncommon in these parts.

 

 

The gateway to the Amboseli National Park arrived and with it the Masaai trying to flog us carvings and whatever else they could negotiate. At most of the other parks, the landscape improved dramatically once you entered but it seemed to be a slower process in Amboseli. The natives were encroaching with their cattle, and the wildlife had even grazed this park down to the dirt.

 

It was hot and dry and dusty. However, the mountain which was supposed to be nearby supplied some permanent water which provided the lifeline for the wildlife. The zebra and wildebeest treck in for water and then treck back for grazing while others (the hippos, jumbos and buffalo) decided not to bother with trecking and just grazed in the swamps.

 

 

The Amboseli Serena lodge was also a very nice place to live. It was fabulous. A really good hotel in the middle of nowhere, with wonderful pool and facilities, and the friendliest staff you could image. The next day the wind and the dust storms stopped, so we got a good look at the local wildlife under the mountain, and enjoyed a lovely sundown.

 

 

 

This is an Elephant Crossing in case you hadn’t realised.

 

 

 

 

From Amboseli, it was time to head east to Tsavo National Park. Bandits apparently snuck in from Tanzania some 15 years ago and so it is not recommended to carry an escort on board for this trip. He seemed pretty well prepared with a machine gun.

 

Having done the trip now, I reckon it was probably a marketing stunt. If you pay for an escort, no trouble. If you don’t, then the local gangs ensure you have some.

 

Heading into Tsavo, we came across a very recent lava flow. Apparently a major eruption about 200 years ago caused a blanket of lava in this area. It was very light an bubbly rock, and only a few trees had become established on it.

 

 

 

However, the volcanic landscape did result in one very pleasant and special feature. Here in the middle of a desert, beautiful crystal clear water bubbled out of the ground at the rate of 250,000 litres/second. The place is called Msuma Springs (will check it again when I get back to a map).

 

This is the start of the river. There is no upstream

 

 

 

And as always, Sue’s favourites were making the most of it. You could even see the bottom half of the hippos in this stream.

 

 

We arrived at the Wildlife Lodge which had a lot to live up to following Amboseli. It looked a bit tired, but it did brag about the local leopard. We had an interesting construction at the front of the restaurant, and the chairs were lined up for pre dinner drinks gazing in this direction. We had a leg of goat or lamb tied to the scaffold.

 

 

 

 

Just as we were getting a bit peckish, the show started. In came the cat for its feed and to Sue’s delight so did the porcupines.

 

 

The lodge might have been a bit tired, but it was in a great location. It was out in the middle of nowhere, and the only protection around the lodge at night was the lights. There were lots of strange noises that night. We had elephant trumpeting, and it looked like they had nearly walked into reception based on the deposits left behind. I didn’t catch them on the “front lawn”, but there were certainly plenty of other beasties that crossed the lawn that evening.

 

We were up early for another game drive the next morning. We were looking for Rhino’s that were supposed to be in the park. It was difficult though because the scrub was quite high and you did not see far off the road.

 

It was a hot day, and after a big lunch and a disturbed sleep the night before, it was time for a snooze. I wandered out on the balcony of our room, and decided it was hotter outside than in, so closed the door. Sue and I then stripped off to lie on the bed. We were just “dosing off” when “God! Someone is on the balcony”. There was a mad scramble to cover up and suddenly we realised it was a Baboon. He was very interested, and was peering in at us, moving his head from side to side to avoid the reflection on the glass. Sue did not stop laughing for 5 minutes after that little scare.

 

We had just dozed off for the second time, when there was a knock at the door. No, it did not go away. A scramble for my shorts, and a dash for Sue to the bathroom. The little mad at the door said, “Take a look from your balcony”. I thanked him, and headed for the balcony. A Rhino had just come out of the scrub for a drink.

 

 

 

Just when we thought we had seen it all, and it was going to be hard work for the rest of the trip, Tsavo came up with a wonderful wildlife experience, from the balcony of our room and the open air bar – no need for game drives here. It had been well worth the trip.

Our safari was nearly over – only one night left and that was to be spent in Tsavo East. Another completely different park – very flat and more open again so it was much easier to see the game. Not as dry as Amboseli, but dry enough. Beautiful red soil meant the Elephants turned that colour. When I first spotted them, I had labelled them as ant hills. As we were finishing our last game drive, and thinking about a celebratory drink, so did a few of the locals.

 

 

 

We needed that drink. The trip home up the Mombassa Highway was an experience in itself. A beautiful sealed road and behind this truck is one of the local busses.

 

If Sue thought I was a bad driver, she learned a number of new non defensive driver techniques on this trip. The beautiful road covered most of the journey, and the minivan was limited to 80km per hour so it was very secure and unexciting. However, there were a couple of stretches where the road had not been finished, which meant a very rough side track.

 

This is the main highway from the port of Mombasa to Nairobi, so you can image the truck traffic. It was also on a hill, so the trucks were often down to 10km/hour. However, the van only had one speed – That was as close to 80 as possible. A few of the techniques employed to ensure the highest possible average speed included:

 

• Passing an overtaking semi trailer three wide.
• Passing a semi that had pulled out to pass on the left hand side and then squeezing through the gap to pass the next one on the right hand side.
• Turn on the hazard lights and pass a semi in a pall of dust with zero visibility.

 

Just to name a few.

 

When the alternative was walking, you just had to sit tight, look out to the side and hope it was not your last trip. I think Sue would describe that stretch of road as “terrifying”. It was therefore with some relief that we piled out of the van when we were safely landed back at ILRI.

 

It was on this eventful journey that we learned that Obama had won the election! Great celebrations ensued in Kenya. A public holiday was announced. Every 10^th word on the radio as Obama. We had pop songs about Obama. I can only describe it as Geelong after LAST year’s grand final. By the time we got to Narobi, the Obama merchandise was out being sold by the hawkers – Key rings, bumper stickers, fridge magnets – you name it, they had it with Obama on it. The papers were full of it for the rest of the trip.

 

We even listened to parliament coming up the highway! I was very impressed to hear a Kenyan minister saying “If the white people of America can elect a black president, then it is a great lesson for the people of Kenya who must learn to work together if their county is to develop and make progress”. Hopefully these sentiments are spread wide beyond Africa.

 

The next day it was back to Nakuru to see how the KLBO staff had coped with the MISTRO setup I had left them. It seemed they had gone very well. They were comfortable they could do the basic tasks and we only had a short questions and answer section.

 

The new computers had been installed, and I had a few problems getting their new printer to work properly. In the end, I was successful and then tidied up a couple of the reports I had set up for them. We stayed in Nakuru on Thursday night, and so we took Joshua and Nelson out for dinner again. The last time had been to a local Indian Restaurant. It was first time Joshua had tried Indian. This time we forced him to eat Chinese for the first time – his preference was Chinese, but he was probably glad to get back to good African fare (Which is not that different to Aussie fare).

 

After finishing up as much as I could the next morning, it was time to say good bye to our new friends at KLBO. It was a very happy time and a little emotional. Duncan (the local manager) made a very nice speech identifying that without a new system, they were doomed. They had piles of registrations and unprocessed milk records and he could not see a solution. Now he had one, and they were all going to work very hard to get the show back on track. Their thanks were very genuine and heartfelt.

 

 

Each of the staff duly handed over a memento of our time at KLBO, and one set for the chairman of hico, and a few other spares. Robert White now has a KLBO hat to wear with his MISTRO tie! There was much handshaking, back slapping, a few hugs and some wonderful smiles that probably say it all.

 

 

 

Whether the KLBO achieve anything with the version of MISTRO they have is up to them now. The hope is that a seed has been planted and perhaps a herd improvement business can grow from there. Whatever the outcome, that morning reinforced that hico’s contribution of some existing software, and the time and work I put in while in Africa was worth it without a doubt.  If nothing else, we have some wonderful new friends and any member of hico would be made very welcome in these parts.

 

 

After the goodbyes at KLBO, it was time to head back to Nairobi. Nelson proudly showed us his house that he has been building for many years on the way. He, Julie and their family use the completed section as a weekender at present while they are living in Nairobi. It is in a lovely spot looking over Nakuru towards the national park and the mountains of the Rift.

 

 

After a wonderful evening out at a great Italian restaurant in Nairobi with Ida and the other Nelson I met on my first weekend (the best Bruschetta and one of the best steaks I have eaten) we returned to ILRI for our last night.

 

While I was a “loner” at ILRI at the start of my journey, I made many friends with the staff and other residents. Their genuine friendliness and generosity have to be experienced to be believed. It seems to be a feature of the Kenyans, whether at ILRI or the resorts where we stayed on safari.

 

One of my best buddies was Lucas in the laundry who taught me some Swahili that came in very handy on our trip. He came up with a gift for Sue and I which we will treasure very much and if you see me walking round with a Kenya bracelet, you will know where it came from.

 

As you would expect, I also made great friends in the Kitchen.

 

 

Saturday had arrived, and it was time to head back to Mauritius. The security guys were out to say goodbye and Lucas arrived as we were getting into the car. More happy good byes and then it was off to the airport. Our adventure was coming to an end, but we have one more stop over in Mauritius before we again see the delights of Australia.