The Gorilla Express

After the calm of Lamu, back to the hustle of Nairobi, and time to rejoin the truck for a two week jaunt into Uganda. This time we were joined by 15 Aussies and a South African couple, along with Doris' crew of Jacques and Celia. The first night was spent at a very nice campsite in Elderat, near the Kenyan-Ugandan border. From there it was meant to be a simple job of picking some stuff up in town, before hitting the border. Alas nothing in Africa is that simple.

Trucks have very large blind-spots behind them, so quit why a lady decided to park bumper-to-bumper behind the truck is a mystery. Anyway, when Jacques reversed into her, her bonnet folded up like paper. It is amazing how quickly an angry mob can form, especially when the woman is saying that we deliberately reversed into her, 'cos she is black. After a lengthy stand-off, the police arrived, and decided that we were responsible, so it was off to the garage to thrash out the bill. After further lengthy negotiations, we escaped $250 down – it would have been cheaper to have bribed the copper.
















The leg to the border is rough – the heavy trucks on the Nairobi-Kampala run have done their bit to destroy a poorly maintained road. These same trucks form a mile long queue at the border, and can take a few days to cross it. Fortunately for us, we do not count as a truck for the purposes of border formalities, so we were through in an hour, and on to the 32nd, and final, country of our trip.













The town of Jinja lies where the White Nile pours out of Lake Victoria, to start its 4000 mile journey to the Mediterranean. The flow is dam controlled, and below the dam is reputed to be some of the best grade 5 rapids in the world. We had three nights in Jinja, so plenty of time to get wet.

Twelve of us fancied rafting, so we were split into two boats. Unfortunately a scout troop form Gloucestershire and Norwegian gymnastic squad also fancied it, so there were 13 boats on the rather crowded river. Grade 5 rapids are not to be messed with, so the first half-hour is spend practising safety procedures such as holding on to the safety rope if the raft flips, and what to do if you end up underneath it. Fully prepared, we paddled off to face the Nile.















The first few rapids were exhilarating, but no more so that those on the Zambezi – then we hit Silverback. The waves that hit you are huge, and at one point I was out of the boat clinging on the rope, waiting for the inevitable capsize. Somehow we stayed upright, minus Rhiannon, who was being swept down the fast moving rapid, and not looking too happy about it . She was picked up by the safety kayak, and returned to the raft, somewhat shaken.













Silverback is the sit of a new hydroelectric dam under construction – when completed it will wash out Silverback and all the rapids upstream of it. There are a total of 8 rapids before lunch, which are done in quick succession. However, after lunch the rapids are spaced apart by flat pools, each several km long, forcing you to do some rather tiring paddling. Unfortunately (for me at least) we failed to flip on any of the 12 rapids, but did pick up a lot of the carnage from the other rafts.














The next day I decided that the best thing for me to do was go rafting again. Kirsten meanwhile decided to be worthy and went to paint a school and meet some local kids with Soft Power, a community project. She followed this up with an afternoon horse ride along the banks of the Nile and through remote villages with no road access. The second day's rafting was better in the sense that we flipped three times. On the first I ended up under the raft, and in my effort to free myself, let go of the rope and was swept into the rapids. After what seemed like a very long time trying to catch breaths between being hit by huge waves, I was glad to be picked up by the kayak. On the next two flips I was far more Zen. Kirsten returned from her day covered in paint but very happy to have managed to trot successfully for the first time.

Lamu

After a night in Nairobi doing nothing more than enjoy the hot and powerful shower at the Hotel Boulevard we set out for Wilson Airport and the short flight to the Lamu Archipelago, just off the northern most part of the Kenyan coast. The airport, which is more just a airstrip with a few benches next to it, is on Manda island and is a short boat ride across the channel to Lamu town. We were met but the friendly representative from Stone House Hotel who bundled us onto the small motor boat as we fended off the advances of the many guys trying to carry our bags.

The world heritage site of Lamu town is maze of narrow lands, stone houses, wandering donkeys, mosques, veil covered ladies and intricately carved wooden doors. If you can find yourself a street without any tourists on you can start to feel that nothing has changed since the arabs settled here and Swahili cultured dominated the area. We followed our host through the narrow streets, past the donkey sanctuary to Stone House, which itself is a converted 18th century Swahili house. It centuries around a lush courtyard, and whilst the accommodation is basic, it is very atmospheric.

Traditional Swahili houses do not have any glass in the window so sitting in our room we were able to soak up the sounds around us. Most notable is the baying donkeys, which pass for cars here as the streets are far too narrow, and of course the call for prayer which wakes you up like clockwork every morning at 4:30.


There are not a huge amount of activities available in Lamu, but the real pleasure is just wandering around soaking in the atmosphere. Whilst you do get approach frequently by guys trying to sell you dhow trips, they leave you alone after a polite but firm 'no thank you', and it is considerable more relaxed than Zanzibar. There are plenty of places to stop and escape from the heat with a cold fresh juice and we even found one of the fastest internet connections we have had in ages.














In the evenings, there is a reasonable choice of places to eat, mostly specialising in seafood including the delicious mangrove crab, although only a couple of them serve alcohol. We splashed out the second night, eating at Lamu House, a very stylish hotel on the waterfront which is the epitome of modern Swahili design – straight out of a coffee table book of hip hotels.

After two nights of relaxing in Lamu, we decided we were ready for something even more chilled out, so hoped in a boat for the 15 minute ride along the coast to Shela. Shela is another old Swahili fishing village, although many of the houses have been extensively renovated thanks to large and affluent expat community. Some of the new properties along the beach opposite Shela on Manda are obscenely large. Despite this, the village is very relaxed and welcoming, with more people stopping to say jambo (hello) to you and welcoming you to the village than trying to sell you something. We were met off our boat, by the very friendly owner of Island Hotel. This place, set slightly up the hill through the winding streets, whilst more modern than Stone House was still very charming.














We spend our time soaking up the atmosphere, relaxing on the large stretch of sandy beach, enjoying the sunset from a dhow, and sipping G&Ts in the one place that served alcohol, the Peponi Hotel. This was another very stylish place, that also served an excellent dinner.














It was with some sadness we left Lamu, accompanied by a couple of cheery locals who serenaded us on the boat trip back the airport with plastic bottle drums and classics such as 'Karma Chameleon' and 'No money I die' (aka 'No women I cry').

Lake Nakuru

Further up the Rift Valley is the saline lake Nakuru. It is supposedly Kenya's second most visited park (the Masai Mara is of course the first), although this may be due the the fact that all the overland trucks come here. We set up camp in an unfenced area within the park, careful not to leave anything out, apart from the tents, since the thieving baboons would soon make off with whatever they could get theirs hands on.














The 18,000 hectare park (by comparison the Serengeti is 1.47 million hectares) is centred around the soda lake, which in turn is home to so many flamingos that from a distance it appears pink. The lake shore is the only place were you can alight from your vehicle, giving you a close up view of the flamingos, storks and pelicans, while standing on a spongy surface formed entirely from decaying feathers.

The park is home to white and black rhino (we only had a distant view of the latter), giraffe, zebra, an assortment of antelope, and the tree climbing lion – we saw a lion, but alas not up a tree. But the park is perhaps best for the view you get from Baboon cliff: there you see the whole lake spread out beneath you, with pink patches along the shore line. As we watched, a hyena waded out into the water, collected a dead flamingo, and proceeded back to shore.














After our final night in a tent (for the next week at least), we had another early game drive - fortunately, as we are almost on the equator, there was no need to huddle inside the sleeping bags. After a couple of hours, we got the chance to see how the other half lives; with coffee at Lion Hill Lodge. Sitting overlooking the pool, which in turn overlooks the lake, I wondered what the upgrade price is – we're coming back here in a week's time, and Kirsten will be back for a third time while I'm wheezing my way up Kilimanjaro.














So back to Nairobi: we're going to fly out to Lamu for five days of doing nothing; Ed is flying off to see the gorillas; Doris is off to the garage to have her innards looked at; and everyone else is flying home.

Lake Naivasha

From the Serengeti, the quickest way back to Arusha, is via the Norongoro Crater, a bumpy, dusty road – to prove the point, an hour into the four hour journey, we blew a tyre. After another night in Arusha, we travelled north to the Kenyan border. While not a great distance, the grade of the road is so bad, we had to proceed slowly, lest Doris (and her occupants) be shaken to pieces (I'll have to do this road twice more, to and from Kilimanjaro).














Crossing into Kenya was pleasantly painless – the border official actually smiled, and even let us into the office to use the toilet. Another few hours of bone shaking, and we passed through the outskirts of Nairobi, which was perhaps the first time in the last three weeks where I was glad not to be driving.














From lunch in a Nairobi suburb (Karen), we pushed on to Lake Naivasha. This is now the centre of a vast flower growing region, with water from the lake feeding huge greenhouses of roses destined for air fright to Europe. The lake is doted with a number of wildlife sanctuaries – Kirsten, Ed and myself decided to take in Crater Lake Game Sanctuary. This allows walking safaris, so you can get up close to the resident giraffes and zebras, but sadly not the leopard. The lake itself is saline, with a small population of lesser flamingos, and a rather nice lodge on the far shore.
















Lake Naivasha was home to George and Joy Adamson – Joy hand raised three orphaned lion cubs, and eventually released the female, Elsa, back into the wild. Her story became the book and film Born Free. Their wonderfully colonial pad, Elsamere, offers afternoon tea on the lawn slopping down to the water. You also get to watch the dated “Joy Adamson Story”. Joy, of course is a mad as a lord, but watching her with those lion cubs doesn't half leave a lump in your throat – born free, as free as the wind blows.....

The Serengeti

The drive from the crater to the Serengeti is particularly rough – after an hour we came to a stretching halt, the driver looked under the car, dived back in for his tool kit, and emerged with the drive shaft in his hand. Fortunately, this was a Land Cruiser, and we continued on front wheel drive. It also gave us a brief opportunity to interact with some of the local Masai, who seem to emerge from nowhere as soon as you stop. They are allowed to live in the national park, and apparently you don't want to mess with them (for this reason they are often hired as security in places like Zanzibar). The area between the Ngorongoro and Serengeti parks is also home to many giraffe and sure enough we saw quite a few, although they were too far off for decent photographs.














Even before entering the Serengeti park gates, we drove past a herd of elephants with a couple of very small calves. After a quick stop at the gate, to take in the view from the lookout, we started our afternoon game drive. Our luck was definitely in as within half an our we found the notoriously shy cheetah. It ran off pretty quickly, but still was very thrilling to see.














Ten minutes later, we continued with the theme from the morning drive in Ngorongoro, but finding a pride of lions. This time they were photogenically draped on the top of a large rock. We couldn't help singing tunes from the Lion King. Not long after this we found a lioness with three cubs who were feasting on an impala who had clearly had better days. Ah, the circle of life...














Now, after numerous game drives Rich and I had yet to complete our big five full house thanks to the no show of the leopard. So, as our drive sped towards a reported sighting, I kept all my fingers crossed. Just as the light was starting to fade we arrived to find one relaxing in the grass not far from the road. There wasn't really enough light for good photos, but I was so pleased to finally see one that I'm not complaining.














Following a spectacular sunset, that conformed to all you expectations of what a sunset over the African savannah should look like, we set up camp inside the park. Whilst this was a true bush camp (i.e. no fences to protect you from the animals), the atmosphere was more piccadilly Circus thanks to the hundred or so other tourists. This, however, didn't deter the hyena which spread the contents of the camp bin around during the middle of the night.














Another day, another game drive and a reverse performance of the previous evenings stunning sunset. After some close up giraffe, who looked great in the early morning sun, we found what was perhaps the highlight of out Serengeti safari – two cheetahs. We thought they might be play fighting, but, a cheetah researcher, who next to arrive on the scene, and informed us that we were actually watching cheetah foreplay. Unfortunately they didn't engage in the act itself, which is not surprising as this is seldom witnessed.














The feline festivities continued with another lioness and two cubs followed a young male on a rock and a couple of lionesses unsuccessfully stalking a buffalo – frankly the buffalo seemed indifferent to their presence.














In a break from the all the lions, we got a hint of what it might be like watching the wildebeest ford the river during the great migration by watching a herd of zebra supposedly practising the same crossing in a waterhole – although they could just have been drinking then getting spooked and retreating at great speed.














On the way out of the park, I spotted a male lion resting in the shade of a tree only a meter or so from the road. By this stage the driver was so bored of lions that he would have driven straight past had I not shouted out. Given the vastness of the Serengeti (nearly fifteen thousand square-kilometres) and the fact it is contiguous with the Masai Mara with large areas completely inaccessible by road, it is really quite staggering how many animals we saw.

Ngorongoro Crater

After another early morning start, an uneventful ferry crossing back from Zanzibar and a very long drive, we arrived at Snake Park near Arusha. Luckily the snakes live in a sanctuary next door rather than the actual campsite, although we were still extra careful to zip up our tent doors.














Arusha was our departure point for a two night safari into the Ngorongoro Crater and the Serengeti National Park. As the road into the crater would be very challenging for old Doris (the truck), we bundled into a smaller safari vehicle for the journey. After stocking up on supplies in town, we headed west towards Ngorongoro, stopping briefly for a spectacular view over Lake Manyara. This gave a small hint of what was yet to come, with glimpses of giraffe and wildebeest in the distance. We spent the night at Karatu camp where we had luxury of having some else prepare our dinner.














Next morning at dawn we packed up camp and left for Ngorongoro. From the park gates you start the climb through the tropical forest covered sides of the crater. From the top you get stunning views of the lush crater below. We were also just about able to make out vast herds of wildebeest which became increasingly impressive as we descended down steep inner walls.

The crater, which is approximately 20km wide, is the result of a volcanic eruption around 2.5 million. It has a staggeringly high concentration of animals with pretty much everything you would hope to see, with the exception of giraffe which apparently are unable to climb up the very step outside walls of the crater on their spindly legs.














True to the reputation, after gawking at the herds of wildebeest, buffalo, and zebra we found our first mammal, a sickly looking hyena. Luckily, ten minutes later a much healthier specimen walked right past our van. This was swiftly followed by our first lion sighting of the day – a beautiful lioness, who nonchalantly wandered between the several safari vehicles which swept in on her. Within the hour we had found another lion, this time an elderly male, lounging lazily in the sun.














Our luck was clearly in, as twenty minutes later, we found a pride of lions (at least two females and two males). One of the lionesses was stalking two warthog. After, an intense eight minutes or so of stalking, she made her attack, only to be outrun by the nifty warthog. Quite impressive to see such a powerful cat outmanoeuvred by a mere warthog, but potentially she was only practising, and according to our guide lions only have a 10% success rate in their attempted kills.














After a quick stretch of the legs at the hippo pool, we continued on our drive. In addition to the lions, we also saw a couple of elephants, got a distant glimpse of a black rhino, had a close encounter with a jackal and successfully defended our lunch against a troupe of very pesky monkeys. Not bad for a morning's work.

Zanaibar

Border officials can be a fickle lot – the Malawian guy wouldn't accept a manifest and a stack of passports, and insisted on marching us all into the office; meanwhile his Tanzanian counterpart threw us out of his office, and insisted on one person with a stack of passports. Eventually we made it into Tanzania, and on to Old Farm House camp site near Iringa.

The third day of malaria is reputed to be the worse, so I did not envy Jacques as we set off at 6am for the long drive to Dar es Salaam. The first two hours were spent covering half a mile through road works, and when we got up to speed on the bumpy road, one of the brake lines went (a different one this time). This was plugged up fairly quickly, and we proceeded for another hour on three brakes, until a brake booster expired.
















Fortunately this happened in a small town. The local mechanic found a spare, and after two hours work beneath the truck, we were back on all four brakes. The unplanned stop did give us a chance to interact with the local kids, who were much shyer than their Malawian cousins; they sheepishly approached the truck, but quickly scattered if you approached or produced a camera. After two pit stops, roadworks and traffic jams, we reached Dar es Salaam at 9pm – 15 hours after we set off.














To get the ferry to Zanzibar, we first had to get the crowded, noisy car-ferry across the bay. We survived the mad dash off, and even found our taxi (which was handy, as our bags were still in the boot). The 90 minute boat trip to Zanzibar is unspectacular if you're sat in cattle class – apart from the initial choppiness, you might as well have been sat in a (cramped) cinema. Once on Zanzibar, we had a quick lunch in Stone Town, before bidding farewell to our companions (for a day) and heading north to the beach. The beach in question was Kendwa – a pretty stretch of corral sand, which is not too developed, and with the added advantage of a steep drop off, meaning that you don't have a 2-mile walk to the water at low tide.














First on the agenda was to book the diving with Scuba Do (see what they've done there?), before taking a relaxing late afternoon dip. The dive trip was to the reef off Mnemba island – the island itself houses an exclusive $1000 a night resort, although all your water sports are included in that price. The folks on Mnemba might well be cursing their bill, as the rain was pelting down when we arrived - still it never rains under water. Owing to some rather strong currents, we had a blink and you missed it, trip over the reef, although quite a few turtles did try and swim into me. The second dive, along a reef wall, was prettier, and again with inquisitive turtles.

You'd expect frequent power cuts on Zanzibar, and we certainly got them. As an added bonus the lack of power meant no water (the tanks were filled by a pump). All this would have been tolerable if the staff at Sun Set were not so incompetent and surly. Ultimately you get what you pay for – if we'd walked 150m down the beach, there was a 4-star resort for $150 a night, however their guest, a few of which were on our dive boat, were hardly singing its praises.

Another morning dive, on a nearby reef, kicked up a nice array of scorpion fish, stone fish, croc fish and a whole lot more I need to learn if I'm to look like a serious diver. While the diving is good, it's not world-class, so we chose to spend the afternoon on the beach.





















Zanzibar has a rich history, with its role in the spice and later the slave trades, giving it a mix of african, Arabic, Persian and Indian cultures. While we flirted with the idea of spending our last night in one of Stone Town's exclusive hotels, meanness got the better of me, and we opted for the well located, though basic, Karibu Inn. After lunch in the vegetarian Indian restaurant next door, we plunged into the maze of alleyways.














Stone Town is basically a triangle, with sea on two sides and a major road on the third – if you can keep your bearing and walk for 10 minutes you will hit either sea or road, so getting truly lost is hard, and we managed to hit most of our targets straight off. First on the list was the Anglican cathedral, built on the sight of the old slave market (the missionaries were instrumental in abolishing the trade). There is little trace of its former use, save for a couple of cellars used to store the “merchandise” in horrendous conditions, and a sculpture of several slaves in chains.














Next up was the Darajani market, which is split between fish, meat and fruit and spices. Being mid-afternoon, most of the meat and fish had gone, just leaving the nauseous smell and the flies. The market is fairly free of hassle, but the alleys selling the tourist tat are not. The key is to show no interest whatsoever (unless you actually want some mass produces, generic painting of a group of Masai), lease they follow you relentlessly down alleys – I mistakenly gave a thumbs-up to a Obama tea-towel. Saying that, compared to Cairo or Istanbul, it's a breeze.

We couldn't afford to stay at the Serena Inn, but we could stretch to sunset cocktails, watching the dhows return home for the evening. This was follow with a traditional(ish) dinner at Monsoon – basically, sit bare foot on rugs as a local band played traditional music – a fine way the finish Zanzibar, and only slightly spoilt by the 6am start to catch the ferry back.