Well the 3 month overland through Eastern and Southern Africa has begun. We left Karen Camp 6:30am Saturday 29th Nov, picked a few more people up from a hotel in Nairobi then set off towards Lake Nakuru. Seems to be a great bunch most in their 20s and I am the oldest passenger so far. Great! .
The first part of the trip is a 3 week drive through Kenya to Uganda and Rwanda before heading back to Nairobi to pick up others for the journey south.
The truck (Jozi) is comfy enough. A big yellow vehicle that you can spot a mile away. It is called a truck and if anyone calls it a bus or van (Tom seems to be doing this a lot) they have to buy the crew a drink. The seats all face inwards so everyone can chat on the drives and at the moment plenty of space for luggage. Although I think it's going to be a bit of a sqeeze when the rest of the passengers join and there's 22 of us. I can see a few arguements brewing.
The scenery was great as we were driving along. A quick photo stop looking down over the Great Rift Valley and a few hours before we reached camp. I don't do much camping these days so not sure how I'll be after 3 months of it. Fed up I expect. I'm already missing my bed.
Our first campsite was great. A field on a diary farm with hot showers and nice bar. We're in several cook groups and take it in turns to set up brekkie, lunch and dinner. Was all a bit daunting at first wondering how the hell could we cook for loads of people, but Ian has been helping and fair play the meals so far have been great. I'm the only veggie.
A few beers in the evening and a few stories from a very full-on South African guy who's leading a different truck tour and a bit more up market by the sounds of it. At the end of the night we ended up doing some sort of story/dance thing pretending to be springboks and downing a shot of mint stuff. All a bit bizzare but funny.
Up and out for 6am to go on a game drive in the Lake Nakuru National Park. We were delayed around 30 mins because one of the mini buses taking us round had a flat tyre on the way. African time kicks in a little again.
The park was completely different to the Masai Mara with a definite track which vehicles have to stick to. No off-roading to get a better look at the animals. Much of the same animals but in far lesser numbers. Soo glad I visited the Mara beforehand as it was alot more amazing.
One good spot was White and Black Rhinos. Fab. We didn't get to see any of these previously so was great to see them. One looked like it was thinking whether to charge at us or not but decided against it or couldn't be bothered and plodded off away from us. Our driver said that this particular rhino had charged his vehicle several times in the past so I think we were lucky. I'm all up for a bit of excitement but a rhino charging at me is not one adrenaline rush I'd like to experience.
Hundreds if not thousands of flamingos were good to see. All standing in the shallows of the lake amongst pelicans who just seemed to be flying or waddling from one grassy patch to another and not doing much else.
Another flat tyre during the game drive and we had to get out while the driver changed it. What not to do when game driving...get out of your vehicle! So there we were staying very close to the van looking out for any animals that may take a fancy to us. Luckily this didn't happen and after what seemed like forever, a spare tyre was in place and off we went all safe and sound.
The next night we stayed in a small campsite called Silver Springs, near the Ugandan border. Very basic facilities but friendly and ok for a one nighter. Before dinner a few of us played some sort of knock out cricket type game that the Aussies knew and the truck rugby ball somehow got stuck up a very high tree, never to be brought back down to earth again. At least not while we were there.
On our next drive we crossed the border into Uganda. Here was more of an Africa I'm used to. Dusty, small stores lining the road and more colourful and traditional clothing. I loved the wildlife in Kenya but not somewhere I'd hurry back to really.
We stayed in The Red Chilli Hideaway in Kampala. A good campsite, geared for backpackers and overlanders. Free internet/wifi which was really slow now and then but ok for checking emails and facebook. Hot showers and decent toilets which I've been surprised at along the trip so far. Doesn't seem to be the 'roughing it' type of travel I was expecting. Although they may just be gently easing us into it and soon we'll be using bushes and pits. Bushes have been a neccessity for toilet stops on the drives though. Trying to hide away without any passers by getting a eyefull can be quite difficult.
That evening we went for a few bevvies at a local bar and onto a club. What can I say? Again similar to Ghana, the R&B/hip hop bump and grind dancing in full swing. I think a few of the others were a little taken aback and wondered what the hell was going on. A few others on the other hand got stuck in and had a laugh until whoever they were dancing with got a bit too friendly. A good night in all and not too late as we only stayed in the club about an hour.
The trip crew had arranged a guide to take us out. Seemed a bit handheld and I thought extortionate at $20 each (there's 12 of us), but at least we knew it would be safe and we wouldn't get lost late at night. The bar and club did seem to be in more of an industrial part of town with the driver seemingly driving round in circles. The cynical side of me thinks this may have been to make us believe they were miles away and difficult to get to when in fact they might have been only a 10 min walk.
The next day was chilled for me. A quick stop at a nearby internet cafe and some clothes washing. Stupidly I didn't have the sense to hand in a bag of washing the night before for the campsite to do. Duh!
Very early in the morning, around 5ish if my sleepy brain remembers correctly we headed towards Rwanda.
The scenery slowly changed from dusty flat fields to more forest/jungle type terrain. A quick pit stop at the equator for a few touristy pics and a cuppa at a cafe/store set up to help raise money for children with HIV/AIDS before reaching the border. Some of the craft items for sale there were beautiful, especially the paintings, but unfortunately I can't pick any up and carry them along or hope they'll reach home intact if I get them posted.
Border crossings over here haven't been too bad so far. About an hour roughly to exit one country and enter another. When leaving Uganda there was a huge queue of lorries waiting to leave. Must have been about 5 miles long and apparently it can take weeks for them to pass as the customs guys search through every single one until they are fed up and let a load through before stopping and starting the tedious checks again. Have no idea how the drivers cope with this, experience maybe, because that would just do my head in. City traffic over here and the odd delay on the roads is bad enough but having to wait around for weeks doesn't sound fun at all.
I've been wanting to come to Rwanda for years and I have to say it is one of the most beautiful countries I've ever visited. The mountainous scenery is stunning and the people friendly and curious even after the atrocity that happened in 1994. It has been hard to sit on the truck driving through the country with enough food, drink, clothes etc when many in the country have absolutely nothing and who knows what they experienced during the genocide.
Visiting the Genocide Memorial Centre in Kigali was an emotional experience for all of us. I knew what had happened, but to see videos of survivors' experiences of witnessing their family members being massacred and how they could forgive the genocidaires if only they knew who they were was truely heart-rending.
Anger was another emotion I felt regarding how little the international community did to help or even try and stop what was an absolutely horrendous act of inhumanity even though it seems many knew what might be coming. Earlier in the week I had started reading 'Shake Hands with the Devil' by Romeo Dallaire, the UN Commander who's mission was to help with the peaceful emergence of a new government following the Peace Agreement signed in Arusha. His account of the UN and international beaurocratic crap and red-tape leading up to the genocide shows that the international community was not interested in Rwanda at all as there was no strategic or natural resource to benefit them. Not a surprise really and the same thing seems to happen today. 'Any oil? No? Then we're not bothered'.
After lunch we headed to Ruhengeri for two nights, staying in a Catholic hostel. We were staying in a large dorm, so bunkbeds, hot showers (most of the time) and a little jaunt down to the town for a bite to eat. Luxury!
Not much going on in terms of wildlife. Mozzies and flies as per the norm unfortunately and not much else thankfully. I wonder how the goats, chickens and sheep are doing in Akrofu?
ttfn
Sam xx
No comments:
Post a Comment