Wazungu and Mud

Wazungu and Mud

We are perched on the edge of the Great Rift Valley in Kenya and, at over 2000 metres, feel somewhat euphoric at this incredible site. The Rift Valley extends from Jordan to Mozambique and is what divided Arabia from Africa. Evolution here stretches back 25 million years and with the incredible palaeontological findings, including the bones of early ‘apeman’, we feel privileged to witness this “Cradle of Mankind”. We are camped at Lelin campsite and, like on so much of our travels, are the only guests and have the run of the place. Ilda and the girls are schooling in one of the thatched ‘bandas’ overlooking the valley below and progress seems good. The ill-fated school parcel from New Zealand has surfaced in Lusaka and is being forwarded to Nairobi where hopefully we will find it. Zara’s comprehension of math’s astounds us but reluctance to write, alarms us and Margot progresses calmly and confidently. They are both devouring books and Zara’s desire to recount her latest Peter Pan or Charlie and the Chocolate Factory brings tears to my eyes and Margot has just finished Elephant Whisperer and of course wants us to get some pet elephants! A definite disappointment on the trip has been the total lack of other families travelling. The girls have missed their friends and, other than the occasional massive overland tour truck, we have been largely solo.

After our marvelous recovery and comfort in Kampala we elected to start our journey east and travelled to Jinja and the source (so the Ugandans think) of the Nile. We set up camp at Eden Rock near the Bujugali Falls and with stunning views of the Nile up towards Lake Victoria. Our initial plan had been to drive up towards Murchison Falls National Park but with us all just recovering from our nasty Rwandan flu the prospect of 2 big days driving and big fees to see game, we preferred to relax next to the Nile. We took a boat trip out on to Lake Victoria from Entebbe to an island to visit a chimpanzee sanctuary which was interesting but exorbitant. Like the gorillas, I feel unease for these vulnerable primates whose habitat continues to diminish and, although the efforts at the sanctuary are admirable, I fear for their long term prospects. The Bujugali falls were a series of dramatic rapids on the Nile down which intrepid locals swam attached to a plastic jerry can or paddled in pint sized kayaks. It was spectacular just to sit there and watch this drama and we enjoyed a short boat trip getting a close up of the rapids as well as a view of construction of the new dam wall which will cover all of this up later this year. At the nearby Explorers camp we got a taste of the big overland trucks again and how hard they party! Although I did make enquiries, we never got to raft down the big rapids of the Nile, probably a bit epic for the girls and also not really on our agenda. There, as on many of our stops, a walk through the local community providing, always, a rich cultural experience as to how Africans live, eat, farm and play, which I hope will stay with Margot and Zara forever. The constant cry of “Wazungu” (whiteman!) always music to our ears!

The Sipi Falls appear on the Ugandan 10 000 shilling note and we camped at Lacam lodge at the top of these falls. The setting was sublime, similar to the lower reaches of the Drakensberg in RSA, and we reveled in the peacefulness of the place and the sound of the water cascading down to the rocks 100 metres below. Camping here included full board so that we ate like pigs and only a hard early morning run and a good community walk eased the conscience. I visited the local health clinic and was impressed by the service they offered. They even had a lab technician who was able to do malaria smears and basic micro. Our host at the lodge assured us the road to the Kenyan border was tarred and so we set off after school and lunch for Kenya.

The tar ended suddenly about 25km from the lodge and with that came the afternoon deluge. The dusty orange track was transformed dramatically into a muddy, slippery quagmire and we had some anxious moments deliberating what route to take and enjoyed a fair bit of drifting around the road. The BF Goodrich tyres though, despite being clogged with mud, handled admirably. This, however, was only a taste of what was to come! We skirted around Mt Elgon, a massive extinct volcanic crater, passing through many colourful villages rich with crops and activity. The border town of Suam was something out of a movie with mud and chaos! We exited Uganda without any fuss and crossed a muddy bridge into Kenya finding ourselves in a queue behind a bakkie laden with a coffin and mourners. The Kenyan immigration official was a smiling rotund woman wearing a safari hat and sipping tea, reminding me of the Lady detective from Alexander McCall Smith fame. Expecting the usual fleecing for visas I nearly hugged her when she agreed to waive the fee for the girls and then told me that there was no charge for South Africans! So we only bought one visa for “NZ” Ilda! Then to top this, the customs man filled in our carnet for the car, and for the first time ever, didn’t demand a fee of some sort.

And so it was with some enthusiasm that we slid off into Kenya giving a local a lift and very soon stopping to dig out our tow rope to help some other locals in distress. That distress was soon to be ours as dusk drew in and the mud got thicker! We were headed for the Delta Forest camp and smiling locals assured us that the road was fine and ‘got better’. Well it didn’t and the vision of that deep black mud with rutted craters will stay with me forever! My admiration for the Nissan Pathfinder though has grown enormously after it seemed to steer itself through this impossible quagmire and slipping and sliding, frequently at right angles to our intended direction, we squelched out the other end. The camp was a welcome relief and the eccentric, grandiose Kenyan pilot cum lodge owner insisted that we stay in one of his bandas and not camp. We enjoyed a hot shower and a fire and reminisced about our day in Africa! The next morning we were on horseback walking around the ‘game sanctuary’ enjoying our first smattering of Kenyan game including the habituated John the Eland and Mike and Salena, the South African white rhino, which we were able to pet!

And so it is! On we go but now our compass points east and even a bit south. We will make our way slowly to Nairobi and then on into the Masai Mara and down into the Serengeti of Tanzania.