(Sorry, this was posted two days late…)
When we got up the sun was still shining: Sweet!!
Since the food is so reasonably priced we had a great breakfast and was all packed to go around 10h00. What a view over the White Nile!
As we said goodbye to the friendly security guard who showed us in the day before, a Kiwi guy from Adrift came to say hi. He told us there is another group of three vehicles from South Africa at their other camp. They said they are shooting a TV series and were about to go rafting. We figured it could only be the Voetspore (“Footprints”) guys on their Cape to Cairo trip, so we rushed off to see if we could catch them before the set off on the river. They left Cape Town three days before us and featured in the same article in Die Burger the day we left. We got to the launch point for the river rafting and met the Voetspore group in time before the left. It was great hearing their story and sharing some of our experiences. They are using three VW Amarok bakkies this time and are again shooting a TV series for Kyknet. We might feature on the program, as they stuck the video camera in our faces a couple of times. It was great meeting them and we are glad we made the detour. They might catch up with us again later, as they are also heading for Kenya tomorrow.
At the border the Uganda side went without problems. We bought the COMESA insurance that covers us for all the remaining countries (US$24 each), so now we don’t have to worry about third party insurance anymore. We also heard from Charlie (a friendly guy at the insurer’s office) that we didn’t have to pay the US$20 road tax entering Uganda four days ago, as the first week is free! He offered to take us to the Kenyan side and show us the way, so we followed him on his bicycle. The Kenyan side is a bit more disorganised and Charlie quickly took over and filled in the forms for us. He even explained to the customs official what he should do with the Carnets. We expected a hefty quote afterwards, but Charlie just said goodbye. I offered him US$8 (all I had left) to which he was very grateful. So I felt bad and gave him another 200 KSH. I feel we did him in, but he didn’t ask for anything more and we really appreciated the help.
We were warned that the Kenyans’ driving is worse than Uganda and Rwanda, but we both felt it to be a bit better. There is still the odd nut that drives on the wrong side of the road, but they don’t go as fast as in the past few days. At the first filling station we stopped just in time to put on our rain coats. We hid under the garage’s roof from the worst rain storm we’ve seen so far on the trip. It passed within minutes, but had we made it to the station a minute later we would have been drenched.
We were heading Naiberi Camp close to Eldoret tonight, but with one hour of sunlight (and 90km) left I had my first flat tyre for the trip. I tried tyreweld without success (the nail went straight through the tube) so had to remove the wheel and replace the inner tube. Luckily it happened right in front of the Metropolitan Hotel Webuya, where the friendly owner offered us a room if we needed it. We first declined, to which he said we are free to stay of go, whatever we decide, but in the end we had no choice. He showed us the only made up room, but he apologised as they didn’t have water or busy electricity at the moment. They are busy redoing the whole hotel and campsite so are not really open for business at the moment.
With daylight fading fast I replaced the tube while Tania made coffee and noodles for supper. Mr Machasio frequently asked whether we needed anything and was very helpful.
With the new tube in place I discovered my small hand-pump was full of mud and water from being cable tied to my crash bars. I couldn’t inflate the tyre enough so used the CO2 cartridges. After emptying three of them, I realised there must be a hole in the spare tube.
By this time it was completely dark, so we retired for the night. Mr. Machasio offered to take us to the nearest garage in his car in the morning to have it fixed and inflated. He asked his wife to make us some tea and the three of us (Tania, Mr. Machasio ad I) had tea in the garden in complete darkness. It was great hearing about his 37 years working for the East African Railways and the proud stories of his 15 children. He has been retired for 20 years now.
He brought us a jerry can of hot water and a basin to wash ourselves and said he’ll bring us breakfast in the morning (after they’ve been to church). We haven’t had time to sort out our internet, so will post this sometime tomorrow after sorting ou
Wat kan ‘n mens sê!! Amazing hoe julle altyd geseënd is om te midde van teenspoed op die regte plek is waar iemand help Dis engele in vlees en bloed!! Daar is beslis’n Hand oor julle. So dankbaar vir almal wat julle help mag hulle ook geseën word. Sal uitkyk vir daai KykNet blootstelling. Dankie vir al die moeite wat julle doen om ons tuis ophoogte te hou!
Dit is soos om ‘n fliek te kyk! Die goe wat julle ervaar het sovêr klink amper te goed om waar te wees!! Ek kan nie glo dat julle die voedspore ouens ontmoed het nie (en dit nie eers in die Breakfast lyk by die Holiday Inn nie …hehe)
Vrek, al wie julle nou nog moet raakloop is Kingsley Holgate en sy Landy dan glo ek nie daar is veel meer mense om te ontmoed nie…! Hopelik het hy ‘n bietjie rum.. 🙂 Awesome julle Awesome!!