Back in Nairobi

The drive back from the Mara to Nairobi was a nightmare! Hundreds of taxis bringing in tourist, were coming from Nairobi and the dust was unbelievable. You could not see where to drive, what is coming or what is trying to past you in the powdery dust hanging in the wind still air. At some stage we escaped to the veld to a  2 spoor track away from the chaos, waiting for the maddening crowd to pass.

The pass from the Rift Valley is one that even the local Narobi drivers are afraid off because of all the big trucks driving to or from the Rift Valley. The truck drivers seems to be unaware of any other vehicles on the pass and just passes other trucks no matter if youre coming their way……

We decided to give JJ’s a skip and rather camp at Hartebeest Lodge & Campsite. This place is about 4km from Jungle Junction and 3.5km from the city center  and is much more peaceful and has a nice clean bathroom with HOT water in the lodge that we could use Suzie the manager are helpful and friendly and we had free wi-fi as a bonus. They also do washing at a very generous price and we jumped for the opportunity. We even had our own monkey visiting us every morning without bothering us. He only tried once to climb in the canopy but when I told him what I think about his behavior, he climbed back in his tree looking down at me with a woe full little face.

Our special cat

Hartebeest Lodge and Campsite (camped at 600KS p.p. or R135 per night)

It was a hectic few days in Nairobi, preparing for the Lake Turkana trip, filling our gas bottles, stocking up on meat and buying fresh veggies. I also updated the blog but it could not be published so it will only be published when we meet up with internet again. Friday we took a taxi to Immigration in centre of town to get our Passports stamped for exiting Kenya because there is no official border post where we will be entering Ethiopia. We will be stamped in at Omorate in Ethiopia. This is where the Voetspore guys last year were sent back because of not being stamped out of Kenya while trying to enter Ethiopia. While still at Jungle Junction we met Fanie Rossouw and his wife Ilva. They are from Windhoek in Namibia and arrived from the Mara. Fanie decided to do the Lake Turkana and Ethiopia trip with us while Ilva decided to fly back home. Fanie thought that he does not need a visa for Ethiopia but when at the Ethiopian Consulate after being stamped out at Immigration, he found out that he needs the visa so it became a bit of a chaotic afternoon that ends well when he finally got the visa. We planned to leave on Saterday and were all very glad that it ended well.

We had a lovely surprise when Eretha phoned to tell that Vin must come to Nairobi for work and will be there from Wednesday till Friday. We took advantage of his visit to beg for……yes you are right…..biltong! The hotel where he stayed were only 3.5km away in centre of town but it was a huge organisation to get together. We are advised by the police and locals not to drive with our obvious overland vehicle at night in Nairobi because of kidnapping and poor Vin had to come to our campsite with a taxi. We were so happy when we saw him that I had tears to blink away and both me and Arno nearly hugged him to death. It was only when having one of our children with us, that we realised how much we miss all of them……… I made us a rib of lamb potjie and we had a lovely evening with our future son-in-law. After he left we opened the bag that he brought with and again I had to blink away tears because our daughter not only send biltong but also something sweet and something nice for mom. Thank you sooo much you two. We really appreciate the huge effort you’ve put in supporting us .