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To Barnley’s Guesthouse via the Kito and Marich Passes

February 23rd – 26th, 2022

Today would be a bit of what we refer to as “adventure road,” the term we use when the drive is not quite certain. We had been in contact with Richard Barnley of Barnely’s guesthouse who had confirmed the route was practical. The plan was to at least reach Marich Pass and perhaps camp at the Marich Pass Field Studies Center, but perhaps make it all the way to Barnley’s. 

As we started out from the Bushbaby Campsite in Baringo it was easy going, with a fairly new tar road heading north, the B4. It was not long ago that the B4 was no more than a rugged dirt track, but a lot of effort is being put into upgrading it. Arid country passed by us out the windows. Kids herded goats, men sat in the shade, women carried water and firewood. This is typical rural African countryside. We saw some ostrich with cute little ostrichlings wandering across the road, comically all trying to head in a different direction but also being unwilling to leave their group. 

After the road veers northwest away from the lake it’s not too long before we climbed the Kito Pass. This pass was at one point very steep and rough, but now on the new tarmac we rapidly made it to the top, totally alone on this remote road. 

A dozen or so kilometers after that the road finally does turn to dirt, but still a huge swath has been bulldozed, with preparations for the tarmac to be extended. We bounced around the roadworks and pushed deeper into this remote part of Baringo county. 

There are scenic mountains, but they were somewhat obscured by haze. Improbably tall termite mounds started appearing, some 20’ tall, it was incredible. These reminded me of what my old project in West Pokot was focused on, the complex treatment of visceral leishmaniasis, also known as kala azar. The disease vector is the sand fly, which nests in termite mounds in this same arid climate. Typically it is contracted by the herders that sleep in the bush within 50 meters of these termite mounds. A village, that will naturally have cleared away these mounds, is not in danger. 

Kala Azar is rare, only endemic in a few areas, including northern Kenya, South Sudan and eastern Uganda. A different leishmaniasis is present in Iraq and India. It presents initially with malaria like symptoms and is thus frequently misdiagnosed. Left untreated it leads to death. The treatment is a long series of painful injections for 30 days. The research being done by Doctors Without Borders (usually noted by their French initials, MSF), the Drugs for Neglected Disease Initiative (DNDI) and the Kenyan Ministry of Health has lead to new treatment protocols, reducing the treatment to 12 days, quite a success.

Free of sand fly bites, we continued on. The bulldozed swath had ceased and we were on a proper bush track. In the village of Kolowa we took a wrong turn. The GPS sneakily rerouted us and at first we didn’t notice, being focused on the village and people outside and not on the GPS. After almost ten k’s or so we noticed our error and backtracked to the B4. The Kolowa road would have eventually got us there, but the B4 goes right up to the western wall of the valley and we wanted to see the scenery there.

NGOs were at work in Kolowa and surrounds, and signs for Woldvision and other projects were here and there. A few signs noted boreholes put in by this charity or that. Another sign instructed on the negatives of FGM (female genital mutilation), in both English and Swahili.

On the way towards the western escarpment we crossed a small Bailey bridge that had seen better days, and not long after some camel herders armed with automatic rifles. Indeed we were getting a bit deeper into the bundu, but two of three of the menacing herders gave us a wave and a smile. The third scowled, holding out his hand for something, but in a moment we were around the corner and away. 

The village of Tot is tucked up against steep mountains. The land is a more fertile than the arid central valley and there is a mango growing scheme here. Mango trees abounded and the villages and huts became a bit thicker. We bumped down the track receiving friendly waves from locals. 

After a stop for lunch, miraculously alone, we continued on and soon ran into the other end of the roadworks of the B4, working its way towards the middle I suppose. We saw more survey markers and bulldozed trees, heavy equipment pushing earth here and there, and as is common in the road projects in Africa, a Chinese supervisor wearing a wide brimmed straw hat, inspecting the work.

The villages of Lomut and Sigor passed by. These were also villages that our mobile health teams and public outreach educators had been dispatched to identify kala azar patients years ago. They would go on market days, to reach the widest audience, and collect potential patients to bring back to our specialized clinic for testing and, if necessary, treatment. 

After Sigor the B4 finally ties into the A1, just after crossing the Turkwel River. Here at the river we saw people at the back breaking work of panning for alluvial gold. We asked Richard Barnley about it later. He said gold dust is collected by the laborers, panning all day every day in the gravel and sand of the river. Once a week a buyer comes and weighs out the gold; most panners can expect to earn 200 to 300 Kenyan shillings a day for this work. The exchange rate at the moment is about 110 Kenyan shillings to the USD. 

Just north of the junction here is a campsite, but due to the tar road over the Kito pass we had made very good time so we decided to push on to Barnley’s, which we knew from our last visit in 2018. 

I was half temped to turn right instead. The A1 to the north heads to all kinds of mysteries. The Turkwel Gorge, the Lake Turkana Nature Reserve, Eliyie Springs on the western shores of Lake Turkana. Eventually the A1 goes to Lokichogio, or “Loki” in the aid worker parlance. Loki is the last outpost before South Sudan, and many a convoy of humanitarian goods heads this way. 

These are explorations we’ll leave for another day. Instead we turned left, up the Marich pass. The A1 here is a narrow tar road that has been resurfaced again and again over old broken tar. This gives it an initially smooth appearance, but it is something of a roller coaster to actually drive. For a while the road follows the river, it is all very scenic. 

Somewhere after Ortum it opens up a bit. The mountains to the east are impressive, though again conditions are hazy and we were robbed a bit of what would be truly spectacular scenery. 

After Ortum the traffic picked up a bit, matatus and boda bodas, trucks and tractors all sharing the road. The road brings us to Makutano, a town I’ve been to many times from my work in 2008/09. This was the closest real town to our clinic, and I was stunned to see how much it has grown up. There are fuel stations, of which there were none before, and even a supermarket. A supermarket! Unbelievable. Later Richard Barnley told us the new governorof West Pokot was doing a really good job of putting resources to work, compared with the old governor of Trans Nzoia, the next province south that includes Kitale, the biggest city in the area. Richard was disgusted with the Trans Nzoia governor, but had high praise for West Pokot’s. 

Finally we rolled into Barnley’s Guesthouse, which also has camping on a wonderful green lawn. Barnley’s feels like a tiny slice of England, a brick farmhouse with smoke curling up from an ivy coveredchimney and a well kept garden outside, surrounded by a green lawn and wonderful tall trees. But England it is not, for black and white colobus monkeys are jumping from tree to tree and the colorful Ross’s turacos, along with many other birds, reside here too.

Richard came out and we re-introduced ourselves from our last visit. Richard is an old white Kenyan from one of the families that stayed. His family’s farmland has long since been sold off and now he is the proprietor of this small campsite and guesthouse with a few bungalows. We had a wonderful welcoming chat with him as we settled in.

He was keen to hear our plans. We hoped to drive some of the “famed” (in quotes because hardly anyone knows about it) Cherangani “Highway,” (quotes again, as highway is an exaggeration in the extreme). Also we intended to visit the Saiwa Swamp National Park just south of here, which is a convenient day trip. 

Barnley’s is in the highlands and it is cool. A light rain pattered down and after wonderful hot showers we had a fire in the evening. Firewood is provided, on a bed of dried maize cobs. These burn surprisingly well and the fire was perfect to keep us warm and dry. Even better there is a high tin roof over the fire pit, so we weren’t even getting rained on.

A Day Visit to the Cherangani Highway

Richard invited us up to his house to review our route for the Cherangani Highway. His living room is another slice of England. Wingback chairs, flower print upholstery, drawings and prints on the wall and a huge brick fireplace. Teapots, a comfy sofa and china plates all made the scene. 

Soon we were armed with invaluable information on what route to take for a scenic drive in the Cherangani Hills, along with some local political commentary, old war stories of adventures working for the Red Cross in Somalia and DRC as well as all manner of other interesting tidbits.

Apparently the president has some dairy farms up in the Cherangani Hills, and this means that some of the roads up there are now being tarred, remarkable for this rural out of the way area. As we headed up the A1 we turned off as instructed and found ourselves on perfect new tarmac. This robbed from the romance a bit, but I have to say it was pretty nice. 

It’s a steep grade to climb up into the Cheranganis and I was appreciating the tar as we went up and up. Up we went, past the villages with wonderful names like Chepkono, Kaibichbich and Kapsait. Tiny farms cultivated on impossibly steep hillsides are everywhere, a patchwork quilt of fertile land draped every hill. Maize, beans, potatoes (?), with sheep and goats and pied dairy cows. The hills are lush and every tone of green is represented. 

At Kapsait we turned northeast, and not far past Kapsangar we turned off the tar. Many of these villages have no signs indicating their names and it was hard to figure out where we were. Richard’s notes were more detailed than any of the many maps we have, but did hinge on knowing the names of villages. Fortunately many of the villages have a boda shed, which is a covered parking area for the boda boda motorcycles to wait out of the weather for their next job, whether it to be deliver people or goods. All of these boda sheds are labeled the same way, “Kapsangar [or whatever village you are in] Boda Shed – built by such and such local government.” This was the only sure way to know where we were. 

Of course we could ask someone, but miscommunication is far easier than you’d think. 

On this narrow dirt track we started our trip back down the hills. This is very steep countryside, just off the road the hill drops away dramatically. If there was any problem with our brakes or transmission we’d be over the edge before we knew it. Naturally the Land Cruiser was up to the challenge and we engine braked our way down down down the winding narrow roads, bouncing over rocks and occasionally slipping on clay wet from the rain.

The vistas and views were around every corner and we stopped often to take it all in. Clear streams ran down the mountains and I remembered reading about trout fishing in the Cheranganis. It would be wonderful to camp up here. Maybe next time we’ll ask if Richard can organize it for us. 

On this stretch we also encountered for the first time children that were scared of us. They seemed to be walking home from school and would get a panicked look in their eyes when seeing us. One girl had nowhere to go, as the road was so narrow, and simply froze, turning away from us and staring at the ground until we passed.

This is so completely opposite of everywhere else we’ve been, where usually kids wave and smile and sometimes shout, “MuzunguHowAreYou!?!” as loud as they can, even running after the car. Here it was the opposite, though to our relief when the kids were in a group they seemed to be more comfortable. In a group, when one broke the ice with a smile or wave they’d all get in on it and start chattering on in Swahili and waving at us, saying who knows what. 

At the very end the road dropped us back onto the A1 and from there we were in another world, busy roads and back to Barnley’s. Again Richard stopped by to chat and we shared the fire with him. Sadly both his mother and sister passed way the year before and he seemed a bit lonely. We were certainly happy for his company.

Saiwa Swamp National Park

Saiwa Swamp was the next order of business. Saiwa Swamp is the smallest national park in Kenya, only 3 square kilometers. However it hosts the rare sitatunga antelope, numerous bird species and is a unique wetland.

Against the desires of one of our party we got up very early. The birding is good at Saiwa, but really it’s best early, so we figured if we’re going to do it we may as well do it all the way. After 30 minutes on the road we arrived, the coffee and tea had barely cooled enough to drink. 

After paying our park fees (credit card and Mpesa accepted) we parked and got right to it. We weren’t entirely sure how this was going to go, so in typical fashion we did it all wrong. First, we didn’t eat anything, didn’t finish our morning hot beverages, and didn’t wear enough clothes. Even though we were close to the equator it was quite cool out, it being near 2000m in elevation here in the highlands.

The swamp is tall and narrow and a trail goes around most of the perimeter, with boardwalks in places over the swamp. Along the trail are various viewing platforms to look out into the swamp. Pretty much right away a local asked us if we’d seen the sitatunga. We hadn’t, and he said he just saw them at one of the platforms and he gave us directions. So off we went, and sure enough we got a glimpse of the sitatunga. 

This rare and sought after sighting wasn’t quite so special for us, as we’d had better sightings in Zambia a few months ago. Also, frankly, it’s not terribly different than the much more common bushbuck. Hopefully the devout will forgive me for saying so. They are cool, and they have very interesting feet, adapted for their semi-aquatic habits, but these are hard to get a look at in the swamp. 

The sitatunga disappeared into the reeds in short order, so after that we were left with birding and monkey viewing. I saw the relatively rare De Brazza’s monkey, but sadly Jenny missed it. I confidently declared we’d get a better view later in the park, but we didn’t.

The rest of the trail around the swamp is seven kilometers, more strenuous than we had imagined, but it felt good to get walking and the blood flowing. We did not do all that well on the bird viewing, which I’m going to blame on the cold, not because we were too cheap to hire a dedicated birding guide.

Back at the vehicle I stupidly backed the Cruiser into the park’s HF antenna arial. Catastrophe was, just, avoided. After that debacle we went to the Saiwa campsite for breakfast. The campsite is huge and lovely, with a great view over the swamp. Really if Barnley’s hadn’t been so good we’d camp here. Barnely’s was quite a bit cheaper too. 

We’d ticked the two big goals here, Saiwa and Cherangani. We dedicated the next day to logistics. Uganda was next on the docket and we needed a PCR test. Our provisions were also running low, so we headed into Kitale to take care of everything. 

Kitale is less than an hour’s drive, with everything you could need in a surprisingly hectic city center. Roadworks in the middle of town made everything a bit of a mess, but we managed.

The regional hospital sorted us out for a PCR test for only $10 USD.

There are a couple supermarkets here and we went to Richard’s preferred market. He asked us to pick up a few things for him since we were headed to town, so we had his shopping list as well. 

By the time we left Kitale we had our noses swabbed, the Cruiser fueled and food was all topped up. Back at Barnley’s, in return for shopping for him, Richard kindly gave us some of his honey, just harvested from his bee hives a couple days ago.

Mount Elgon National Park

Our last Kenyan stop was Mount Elgon National Park. Mount Elgon sits southwest of Kitale, and straddles the border of Kenya and Uganda. The national park is not often visited by foreign visitors, it’s just too far out of the way for what is not a headliner park like Amboseli or the Masai Mara. 

It has high mountain forests, peaks over 4000m, some wildlife and caves. The caves are interesting. In the early colonial days the colonial officers thought they were man made, as the walls of the caves bore tool marks of the being dug out. They ignored the actual explanation from the locals,that the elephants use their tusks to dig out the soft walls of the salt rich clay, using it as a salt lick.

After saying our good byes to Richard, and promising to send him updates on the status of the roads, for he keeps his finger on the pulse of all these details, we went on our way. We took the wrong road out of Kitale, but it was still scenic, across the lush farmland that lies at the foot of the mountain. 

The air was thick with some sort of medium sized flying insect. For many kilometers they were swarming about, and we weren’t quite sure but it seemed like the kids on the side of the road were trapping them, building little stick enclosures on the ground. We couldn’t quite figure out how it worked. 

At the park gate we asked and the ranger explained they were a kind of ground termite that comes out after the rain. The kids trap them by building a little stick “net” over the holes they’re coming out of and then bring the catch back to mom. These are then eaten, usually by mixing into the staple food, ugali (maize porridge). She laughed and said they taste like peanut butter, and offered to get us some. We politely declined and she laughed some more. 

With the termite mystery solved we paid to enter the park. We were only going to spend one night so we decided to camp inside the park, and the next day it’d be off to Uganda. The ranger consulted on road conditions, giving us the worrying assurance, “You will be okay in this vehicle,” patting the Land Cruiser. Meaning, you will not be okay in some vehicles, so conditions clearly weren’t perfect. The roads up Mt. Elgon are known to be slippery and muddy and we didn’t want to get stuck on the edge of some steep hillside half way up the mountain. 

We had lunch at the Rongai Campsite, which was recommended by the ranger at the gate for where we should camp tonight. It is a huge campsite, a grass lawn clearing in the trees on a fairly steep slope. There is a fire ring, cooking tukul, ablutions and water tap. But no flat ground, and it’s bit more developed than we prefer. Some sykes monkeys kept an eye on us during lunch, and we thought we’d use this as our fallback campsite if the other one didn’t work out. 

Mount Elgon National Park is known for its caves, the Kitgum cave being the most well known. After a drive through thick forest and some impressive trees we parked on the road side and made the short hike. It’s maybe 10 minutes walking to the cave. The trail is sign posted and well worn.

Kitgum cave keeps things interesting with its history of deadly disease. Uh, what? In the 80’s, on two separate occasions, people contracted Marburg virus, likely in Kitgum cave. This is a similar situation to the tourists who contracted Marburg from a cave in Uganda that used to be pitched as a side trip for people going gorilla trekking. The Kitgum cave Marburg case was written about in Richard Preston’s The Hot Zone. The Ugandan cave Marburg incident was written about in David Quamman’s Spillover, and Quamman derides Preston’s accounts as being wildly over dramatized and alarmist. So if you need some reading on hemorrhagic fevers I’d recommend Quamman’s Spillover or Ebola instead of The Hot Zone.

With this on our minds we resolved to not spend too much time in the cave, and not to touch anything. 

The entrance is very dramatic looking, a nice mysterious looking place. To get into the cave we had to run through a tiny waterfall, dripping from last nights rain. Inside we found the soft dirt floor of the cave had satisfying elephant and buffalo prints and droppings. It seems they are still making visits to lick the salt of the cave. 

On the cave walls you can easily see score marks from the tusks. Jenny was starting to explore these with her hands, but I reminder her, “Don’t touch!”. It seemed sort of silly, that maybe Marburg was right here, but on the other hand, most things seem innocuous right up to the moment that they are not. 

We brought headlamps and a flashlight, and as we went deeper into the back of the cave we could hear the twittering of bats roosted back somewhere in the darkness. That was good enough for me, I took a few snaps and we decided to take our leave.

Not well signposted is the trail for a second cave, Making’eny Cave, which has a spectacular waterfall cascading over its mouth. Or it did in the photos we’d seen anyway, so we went to check it out. 

There are elephants and buffalos in this park, potentially very dangerous animals to those on foot, but it tells you something that the park does not require a guide to walk the trails. They are clearly pretty confident that you won’t see the big wildlife. Still, walking through the forest and seeing their spoor you can’t help but think about it, adding a nice undercurrent to our walk through the forest.

After splashing through a stream and ducking under some foliage Making’eny Cave hove into view. The waterfall wasn’t roaring, but it was falling over a roughly twenty foot wide section of the enormous half moon opening of the cave. To get up to the cave you approach from lower ground and it is an impressive sight climbing up towards the opening, which is maybe 80 meters wide.

We found more signs of elephant and buffalo here, and more tusks marks. Bats too. I totally forgot about Marburg and started bracing myself against a rock, no doubt covered in bat droppings, to take some photos. Jenny was off in some other part of the cave, and wandered back to give me a raised eyebrow and a, “what about the Marburg?” admonishment. Shit! I’m sure the risk was infinitesimal/non-existant, but nobody actually knows do they? 

I washed thoroughly in the nearby stream and then used a healthy dose of hand sanitizer, being careful not to touch my face in the mean time. I suppose we’d know in a few weeks. (Spoiler alert, I survived). 

After the caves we decided to drive up the road to the highest drivable point, which is the trial head for those hiking to the summit. Or at least we’d give it a try. 

The road climbs and climbs through the forest. The trees are particularly impressive, massive straight hardwood trees, trunks that were rippled columns, reminding me of the pillars in a French cathedral. I have no idea what kinds of trees they were, but they certainly impressed. 

Further up the road you get above the montane forest and into the bamboo zone. This transition area is about where our other camping option was, Mutamaiyo camp. This was not recommended at all by the ranger at the gate, but she said it was allowed to camp there. This of course increased its attractiveness to us.

It’s down a short rough track that is clearly not driven often, two faint ruts in high wet grass. Just a couple hundred meters brought us to a nice clearing in the forest and a campsite under a huge tree. It looked pretty great to us. There were some derelict long drops and even a half way decent shower enclosure, bring your own water. There was a fire ring under the tree.

The road to the summit trailhead ascends through the bamboo zone into heath and moorland, not unlike Aberdare. Mt. Elgon is after all at roughly the same latitude and altitude as Aberdare, so it makes sense that conditions are similar. There is no gate or sign indicating it, but the road  actually goes out of the park for a while, before going back into the park at the trailhead. We could see one hut in the distance and a few cows grazing, but otherwise the land still looks unspoiled. We kept thinking how great it’d be to ask those herders if we could wild camp up here on the moors just outside the park.

The Honey Badger complained a lot about this road, and we finally reached the end of the road, achieving a personal record in the Cruiser at 3457m elevation. Up here the fuel mix is too rich and if you put your foot down the exhaust smokes and the engine sounds rattly. 

We drove back down to the Mutamaiyo campsite, at about 2900m elevation. After much struggle starting a fire with wet wood we had a wonderful evening in camp. Dressed in puffy jackets and wool hats we stayed close to the fire, cooking chicken over the coals and Jenny made french fries on the stove. At night it rained a bit, but by then we were tucked in and warm in the tent. 

The next day would be a long one, we planned to enter Uganda and drive all the way to The Haven in Jinja. Here we would regroup for a bit and then set out on a loop through northern Uganda. 

With that plan in order we rose predawn. It was quite cold and we drove down the mountain  more or less in the dark, with the heat cranking, wanting to be at a particular lookout for sunrise. Sunrise was great, and after checking out of the park we drove the short distance to the border.

On the way we reflected a bit on Kenya. We had a fantastic time here, and I particular enjoyed getting to know the country better. When I was working in Kenya in 2008/9 There was no time for traveling this amazing country, now I felt I had a much better feel for things. 

Jenny and I both appreciated how easy it is to talk to Kenyans, much more so than Tanzanians. It is hard to put a finger on why this is. Part of it is practical, that more Kenyans learn English in school. In Tanzania it seemed like many Tanzanians entered into any interaction with a pre-established notion that they were somehow subservient, some legacy of colonialism perhaps? I am generalizing, it is certainly more complicated than that.

In Kenya it felt like it was much more common for people to speak to you as equals and on their own terms. They asked questions, genuine with curiosity and warmth. We enjoyed all of our interactions and discussions with Kenyans of all strata of society.

If Kenya has a downside it’s that the driving can get monotonous at times, while still being intense due to the amount of traffic. This just makes for tiring days of driving. The monotony on lonely roads in Namibia or Botswana is much easier going.

I was also impressed with the incredible diversity of sights in Kenya. Amboseli is nothing like Tsavo, which is nothing like Aberdare, which is nothing like Samburu, and so on. And there is so much more to see! 

If you are reading this and thinking, “But they didn’t see [favorite spot]!” Not to worry, we will be back.When you find yourself at a fine restaurant you can’t try all the dishes in one sitting, no matter how good they are.

The Nitty Gritty

Baringo – Barnley’s: 263 km, 8h 55m, (with much stopping and one instance of taking the wrong track) 

The B4 pretty much will take you all the way to the A1. They are working on tarring the B4, but some of it retains its previous bush track status. Sometimes these projects stall, so it could be completely tar by the end of the year, or stuck in its current status for who knows how long. 

We found it a scenic and worthwhile route. There were armed herders present, though I think this is less and less so. Richard did not think they presented a threat, though if any was insistent I would certainly offer some food or water.

Richard insisted that many maps, including T4A, are incorrect in labeling the town on the A1 as Kapenguria. Kapenguria is the administrative center of West Pokot and lies about 1km off the A1. The town on the A1 is correctly called Makutano, but due to their growth they have blended together. If you’re in the area you’ll hear both names used. Makutano is a very common name, many villages throughout Kenya and Tanzania are named this (“meeting place” in Swahili, I think?).

There is a well stocked supermarket in Makutano (we added it to iOverlander) as well as several fuel stations.

Barnley’s Guesthouse is excellent. Camping is 800 KSH pppn, firewood included, hot showers and ablutions all are near the tent. The best part is Richard himself, who is initially a bit gruff in a likable sort of way, and he’s full of local knowledge and great stories. 

There is some road noise here, though not too bad. Richard said back in the day the main road to the north was actually west of where the current A1 is. He said they are in the process of rebuilding and taring that old road, and when it’s done much of the traffic, especially the big trucks, will take that road. This will make the already very pleasant Barnley’s quieter. 

Down the escarpment from Makutano is where my old project, in Kacheliba, is. The area is reasonably safe for exploration, though ask around before going there for updated information. There are some beautiful kopjes down there, along with the Suam river. Richard said that he used to wild camp down there on the banks of the river, but now there are too many people down there and the Chinese have put in a tar road all the way to Amudat, the northern most open border post between Kenya and Uganda. 

Richard went on to say that you can have totally unmolested wild camping north of there, on a track labeled E364 on T4A, at approximately N2° 29.228′ E34° 58.509’. We didn’t go there, but he said it’s a beautiful spot and nobody will bother you there for days. Why might that be you ask? Because it is in tribal disputed territory between the Pokot, Karamojong and Turkana, so all the tribes stay out of this area. I’m not sure of the wisdom of camping in such disputed territory, but in any case tourists would not be a target in any disagreements and it has the Barnley endorsement.

Barnley’s to Barnley’s via the scenic Cherangani Highway – 139km, 6h 2m

The Cherangani Highway is stunningly beautiful. If/when we do this again we’ll figure out where to camp up there. There are more roads than what we drove, you could spend a lot of time getting lost in a wonderful way in those hills. People were friendly and welcoming, even if the kids were a bit alarmed.

Kitale is the regional capital. You can get anything you need here. Ricard prefers the Quickmart Supermarket, but I think I would favor Khetia’s or Transmatt myself.

Mt. Elgon NP to Suam border post – 37km, 1h 0m

We really enjoyed Mt. Elgon National Park. We were in the park for less than 24 hours and had a fantastic time. Another day would not go amiss, but after that unless you were going to do some serious hiking I think you’d run out of stuff to do. None of the camping outside the park seemed that great, we were happy to camp inside the park even if it was a bit expensive.

Fees at Mt. Elgon are $26 pppd, camping is $20 pppn. The bandas here are $40 per banda, meaning you can sleep in a banda for the same price as camping. They looked pretty nice, but we opted for the wilderness experience. A detail of all fees can be found here.

There are four (five including Amudat) choices of border post to cross to Uganda. Busia, Malaba, Lwakhakha and Suam. Busia and Malaba are very busy. In 2009 I crossed there and the line of trucks was seven kilometers long (private vehicles can cut to the front), and reportedly covid had made this much worse. Lwakhakha is the quietest of all these and Richard highly recommended it. We crossed at Suam. Suam is also quiet, but we did have a few issues crossing there that I’ll detail in the next blog post. 

The C45, from Kitale to the Suam border post, is new tar all the way. They are in the process of building a one stop border post at Suam.