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. 

When we started to lose track of how many days we’d been camping at Kembu Cottages that seemed like it was a good indicator that we should get going. The next stop was the Masai Mara. In 2018 we visited the Mara and we were looking forward to returning. Andrew Nightengale, the owner of Kembu, consulted on our route and we settled on taking the C37 through Narok. 

With laundry done, the vehicle serviced and cleaned, provisions loaded and relaxing done we could think of no more reasons to delay. At the turn of the key the Cruiser’s straight six diesel rumbled to life, eager to get going.

The road was in great shape and my coffee was tasting especially delicious. As we drove towards the wilderness through the cool climes of the Mau highlands we were happy. 

The road between the towns of Mau Narok and Narok is brand new tar and was very easy going. It’s not quite finished in a few places but importantly they have not yet had time to put in all the speed bumps. What luxury. There was also no traffic and I couldn’t wrap my head around why there was this new beautiful road and nobody driving on it.

As we sailed along the crisp highlands we looked out at vistas of farms blanketing the hillsides. We also put on an appropriate podcast, Radiolab’s episode on the Mau Mau rebellion. Some archives have been recently declassified in England and lead to new information about the Mau Mau and this made for good listening as we trundled our way to the Mara.

In the busy hub of Narok we topped up on fuel, but we were otherwise ready for the bush so we kept going. The road from here isn’t quite the empty pristine tarmac we were on before, but it’s still pretty dang good and we continued our fast passage. 

This brought us to the Sekakani gate of the Maasai Mara National Reserve. Here we explained that we were staying in the Triangle and they gave us a two hour transit pass for free. We would pay our fees at the Mara Bridge, the entrance to the Conservancy side of the Masai Mara. These little details, knowing that such a pass exists (thanks Andrew Nightengale), are the tidbits that make it practical to travel here without a guide. 

The Mara greeted us warmly, zebras and impala were grazing not far into the reserve and the grass was fresh and bright. Puffy cumulous clouds were forming, that looked nice now but brought with them a concern of thundershowers. It had clearly been raining recently, the hills were a carpet of green grass.

It was about an hour and a half drive to the Triangle side of the reserve, so we did stop for a little game viewing, but there was no time to take any divergent tracks. Still we saw good birdlife, elephant and many antelope and warthogs, all looking fat, sleek and happy with the good grazing on offer.

At the Mara Bridge we crossed into the Triangle. There is a small parking area, picnic site and ablutions here. Since it was midday we saw no need to rush and we had our lunch first, to delay our ticketing time as long as possible. This would allow us extra hours on the last day we had to head out of the park, as permits here follow the common East Africa rule of permits being valid for 24hrs from the time of entry.

Often we are advised to hire a guide when entering game parks. It is easy to pickup a ranger or freelance guide for the day, for $10 or $20 dollars, and many have excellent success with this. On this day at the Mara Bridge there was a guide who couldn’t pay his client’s entry fees, because he’d only brought cash. In the Masai Mara they only accept Mpesa or credit card, and he had neither, and he and his clients were at something of an impasse. We ended up paying his fees for him on our credit card and he gave us a useful top up of USD, so all was well in the end. I share this just to say that hiring a guide does not necessarily save you from all travel snafus.

In our 2018 visit to the Maasai Mara we had stayed at the Eluai camp, more or less centered in the Triangle side of the park. At the time this was a bush camp with no facilities and it suited us just fine, so when we checked in we paid for three nights at the same campsite. 

The game sightings had been very good on our last visit and we had the general lay of the land. There is something about visiting a place when it doesn’t feel like a “once in a lifetime” chance that takes the pressure off, and less pressure makes it easier to enjoy.

The campsite was nicer than our last visit, with the grass trimmed back a bit. There also two long drop toilets and a shower enclosure (bring your own water) tucked back into the bushes behind the camp. They are very inconspicuous and the site still has a bush feel to it, it’s still unfenced wild camping and a great view of the plains below.

We spent the afternoon exploring the riverfront and we had a diversity of sightings, including two lionesses, hyena, black backed jackal, topi, warthogs, buffalo, elephant, impala, hippos and giraffe. The birds were also happy with all the rain, flitting and flying about all over the place. In particular the pin tailed wydahs were in abundance, the males hauling around their ridiculously long tail feathers. Long crested eagles also abounded.

Right at the end of the day we had the good luck to see a serval and cub in the grass, not far from camp. Rain came in the evening and we had a relatively subdued night, cooking on our stove and retiring early to prepare for an early start the next day. 

Over the next days we continued with our usual park routine, making morning and afternoon game drives with a little chill time in the midday. Rain came every day, and one day in particular it was very heavy. It was interesting to see the herds of elephants disappearing in the rain squalls.

Lions made an appearance everyday for us. Once we saw two big males on a buffalo kill, but they had long since had their fill and were sleeping off their fest. 

On another lion sighting we took advantage of the Masai Mara’s unique allowance to drive off-road for big cat sightings. Here we found four young males feeding on a buffalo calf. The dominant male munched away for 45 minutes or so while the other three lions dozed in the grass. When the dominant male finally had his fill the other three sprang with lighting speed from their formerly relaxed state to pounce on the remains, having waited for their turn to feed. One was too slow and got nothing. While all this was happening a few hyenas and black backed jackals patrolled a radius of the kill, hoping for some scraps, but this kill wasn’t big enough to leave them leftovers.

A rhino was sighted in the north of the park and we made our way to the scene. It was at the top of a rise and the track to get up there was thick deep mud. We would have never had attempted it if we didn’t see some lodge vehicles up there already. The Honey Badger acquitted itself well, bouncing and churning up the muddy track to the top of the rise, but by the time we arrived the rhino had disappeared into the bush. Unfortunately we didn’t get any more opportunities for rhino, but as a small consolation the guided lodge vehicles weren’t having any luck on that front either so at least we weren’t being left out.

One evening in camp as it was getting on towards dusk a Land Cruiser showed up and started unpacking. It looked like we’d have neighbors. After a little while the Land Cruiser drove away, leaving three young women with some lightweight mountaineering style tents and nothing else.

We invited them to share our fire and they explained their story. They work for the UN and were on a one night marathon trip to the Mara from Nairobi. It turned out that their guide hadn’t realized that they planned on camping and so he had no camping kit for himself. He dropped his guests off and went to stay at the guide quarters of a nearby lodge.

They had only a few snacks they’d bought at the supermarket, but no cooking kit, no chairs, hardly any water, and no flashlights or headlamps. They were just using their phones for light. We were incredulous, but had a great time chatting with two of them around the fire and sharing some of our dinner with them. The third was too scared to get out of her tent. 

When they finally went off to sleep Jenny noticed they accidentally left some of their food in the camp chair we loaned them, which included a pack of salami. Jenny returned it to them, but it wasn’t until the next morning that we pondered the wisdom of giving them meat to keep in their ground tent with all the wild animals about. They survived and we had a good laugh about  it. 

That night we had lots of wildlife around the camp. We could hear the grunting of buffalos, lions in the distance and the hippos were particularly vocal too. Our neighbors certainly got a good bush experience for only having a single night to spend.

All in all our Masai Mara stay was lovely, but a little damp with all the rain. Even the animals seemed a bit subdued. The scenery was glorious, it was something to see big thunderheads moving across the sky and dense squalls bring dark grey sheets of rain across the park. 

Heading north from the Masai Mara there aren’t any headliner destinations within a reasonable days drive, so at the advice of a veteran we headed to Kericho. This would make a good stop to points beyond. It’s about a five hour drive from the gate, not including the hour or so we took the wrong road and had to back track. This brought us through lush green countryside full of small villages and farms. In the small town of Kilgoris we bought a big stack of fresh chipatis, still hot. We feasted on these treats, delicious with perfect stretch and flaky layers to them.

Kericho is tea growing country and as we got closer we began driving through picture perfect hills of tea estates. The tea is grown in hedges that are packed close together, giving the appearance of huge blocks of technicolor green foliage. The thin rows between the bushes that the pickers walk are obscured by the fresh green growth. It’s very attractive country. 

Our camp for the night was at a place called “Ray’s Place,” a tea farm that has some rooms, a restaurant and a small campsite on trimmed green grass. Arriving we saw there was a ‘big rig’ camper in the campsite already, and funny enough we’d seen this one in Zambia months earlier. 

As we got settled in was clear rain was imminent, we grabbed our books and retired to a covered area that looked like it was sometimes used by the restaurant. 

The rain began and  it came down very hard. The drops slamming into the tin roof of our shelter were incredibly loud. It seemed to settle in for a while, a proper tropical downpour. It even hailed for a few minutes and little rocky ice pellets collected on the lawn.

It was impossible for us cook in these conditions so we settled on a dinner of cheese, crackers and veggies. It was raining so hard that even collecting this without getting everything soaked was going to be a challenge. We waited for a break in the weather, with the plan to eat in the tent.

The rain slacked off for a moment and we jumped into action. Jenny, the food, the boxed wine and my laptop all made it into the tent. I decided to pump my bilges before getting trapped in the tent for a while. This was a mistake, as while I was in the ablution block the rain came back with a vengeance and I got stuck there instead. The Cruiser was maybe 10 meters away and I could see it out the window, but there was no way to get into the tent without letting in gallons of rain at the same time. I will grant that this is a flaw with this type of roof top tent. Any ads for AluCab saying it’s an ‘all weather tent’ are not quite honest about the whole picture.

Lighting came too, violently. It reminded me of the big storm we’d gone through in Busanga Plains in November. The lighting was coming down fast, the thunder was tremendously loud and the rain was hammering on the tin roof of the ablution block so hard that I put my fingers in the ears, wishing for my ear plugs. 

Amusingly Jenny and I were able to WhatsApp each other, and she was holding up okay in the tent as it was buffeted about in the wind. The lighting was viciously close, and the thunder rippled and rolled loudly. Thankfully the campsite was on a slope, but even with the good drainage there was inches of water running under the cruiser. Finally there was a brief respite and I tumbled into the tent. We enjoyed an unconventional dinner, listened to the rain and watched the first movie we’d seen in months on my laptop.

The next morning we chatted with our big rig neighbors and we told them that we were envious of their spacious quarters during the rain. Interestingly they said we shouldn’t be, it leaked like a sieve last night! It turns out the vehicle wasn’t theirs, they had rented it from their neighbors in Denmark for just a few weeks and they hadn’t been in such heavy rain before. 

Unfortunately the forecast was for more of the same. Our original plan had been to drive up to Kakamega Forest, but after now four days of getting pretty wet and the thundershowers slated to continue we aborted that plan. We chatted with a guide at Ray’s and he confirmed that a scenic route to Lake Baringo was feasible in one day. That became the new plan.

The scenic route is almost twice as long as a direct drive there, but now the entire stretch is tarred and reportedly the going is easy. The route, if you want to follow on a map, was Karicho – Eldoret – Iten – Kabernet – Marigat – Baringo. 

The drive from Ray’s Place to Iten was uneventful. This was on the fringe of my old stomping grounds when I worked in Kenya back in 2009, we used to come to Eldoret on occasion. At the time the NGO I worked for also had a satellite project in Marigat. Though I had dispatched supplies, Land Cruisers and staff there I had never been myself.

Iten greeted us with a banner over the road, “The Home of Champions”. This is because Iten is the center of the Kalenjin tribe, who hold more records in running than anyone else. Ever. Anywhere. How this came to be is something of a not totally solved mystery. When we left Kericho this morning we listened to an old Radiolab podcast, Cut and Run, which details the ins and outs of the Kenyan runners excellence, it’s really worth a listen. 

It’s just nuts how good at running they are. For example, by 2013 there were 17 American men in history who have run under 2:10 in the marathon, but there were 32 Kalenjin who did it in October of 2011 alone.

From Iten we turned and stopped at the viewpoint above the Kerio valley. Here there are a few shops selling drinks and snacks and nice tables with fantastic views. Slightly disappointing was the persistent haze obscuring the view, but we could still see the outline of the opposite ridge, and looking along the escarpment the cliffs fading blue into the distance. The tidy square and rectangular outlines of shambas, small subsistence farms, painted an attractive quilt on the hillsides and ridges that dropped precipitously away from us into the valley. 

After a simple lunch at the viewpoint we hopped back on the road, which also dropped precipitouslydown the escarpment. We were in low gear, engine braking most of the way. We stopped at another viewpoint and still we could smell the brakes, having dropped almost a thousand meters of elevation in not so many kilometers. 

Here a half dozen women surrounded us, offering mangos for sale of various shapes and sizes. We were a little low on freshies and decided to buy some fruit. Herein lies a daily conundrum of traveling here. Who to buy from? How much to pay? I suspect the prices were elevated on our behalf, but not so much. A large bowl of multiple fat mangos was 200 KSH, just under $2USD. Jenny selected a bowl from a woman wearing a t-shirt saying “beast squad.” 

At another viewpoint further down I pulled over again. This one had a couple enjoying the view and a solitary old man in a suit jacket, but thankfully no vendors. We got out and I snapped a few photos of the hazy hills below. In the meantime Mr. Suit Jacket approached Jenny and began to offer some weak introductions to the viewpoint, a lead up to asking for money. While I took a few more photos he pointed out that he was suffering greatly from both elephantiasis, as evidenced by his enlarged feet, and leprosy, as evidenced by the shedding from the same disfigured feet. It wasn’t a pretty sight and both Jenny and I felt sympathy for the man. 

At the same time, we didn’t give him money and we cut short our stop at the viewpoint, getting back in the vehicle while saying apologies and getting on our way. I regretted not giving the man something, clearly the need was real, but we had defaulted to our normal practice “don’t give money to beggars.” We reflected on this for quite a while. Maybe it’s something of a cop out to say, “we donate money to various charities, therefore this relieves us of giving money directly to those in need.” I think going forward in some instances I will soften my stance in the future.

From here we continued our scenic drive, across the floor of the valley, through than many twisting turns of Kabernet and then into the village of Marigat. 

Marigat is the largest town on Lake Baringo, but the access to the lake is a bit further north. When we arrived at the lakeshore we confirmed what we had read online, that the old standby and well loved campsite of Robert’s Camp had closed. The lodge and campsite is completely flooded and derelict now.

Many East African lakes, and Kenya’s in particular, have flooded significantly in the last decade. This has been a slow motion disaster, displacing whole villages, flooding schools and farms and everything else. Lake Baringo has risen something like 15 meters, and then receded two. This has caused the lake shore to come up to three kilometers inland in some areas, and about  800m inland at Roberts Camp, thus its loss. It has been devastating for the local community. 

Explanations for this relatively rapid rise in lake level are varied. Climate change. Geologic shifting causing new underground springs to feed the lakes. And more. Here are two great articles on the topic if you are interested from the Guardian and Quartz Africa.

Across the road we found the Bush Baby campsite, run by one of Robert’s Camp former employees. Here they are recreating Roberts Camp in a way, and we were welcomed.

We settled into the Bush Baby campsite enjoyed a cold beer after our day on the road. For dinner we reheated leftover chicken Thai curry we’d made a couple days before. A couple cats came over to beg for food. I am not a fan of cats, though Jenny likes to point out my inconsistent feelings, that I like the big cats, lions and leopards, but domestic cats I distain. 

It’s hot in Baringo and we enjoyed cool showers before retiring to the tent. The next day we booked a boat trip on the lake, famous for its birding. The world record for the number of birds seen in 24 hours (three hundred something) was made here. 

We can’t claim to be quite so dedicated at birding, but I was looking forward to a morning out on the lake. Luka, the owner of Bush Baby, introduced us to our boatman and we just walked across the road to the boat launch. The remnants of Robert’s Camp is now being used as a place to store and launch a few boats, tucked between thick stands of dead flooded trees and a few dilapidated half flooded buildings.

With flat morning light and haze on the lake, combined with all the dead trees it was a bit dystopian in feel. 

It was warm and calm and the boat sliced through the water easily, it was wonderful to be on the water. Our boatman knew his birds and we ticked off many, though most species we had seen before. For whatever devastation the flooding had on the community it didn’t seem to affect the birds, if anything they were happier. Herons, egrets, weavers, kingfishers and bee eaters all abounded. 

The boatman wove us between the dead trees, indicating when we floated over the old reception office of Robert’s Camp and pointed out bird species as we went. He also took us by the enormous Soi Safari Lodge, now completely derelict due to flooding. He said he had used to work there before it was forced to close, and that unemployment in the community was much higher because of the flooding. 

He brought us out the one of the islands in the middle of the lake and we saw huge numbers of pied kingfishers. Once a dozen in one tree. Here he brought the boat close into shore to pick up some driftwood, which turned out to be the highly buoyant balsa wood. He also bought a few small fish from fisherman out on the lake.

With these ingredients he cut a small piece of balsa wood and inserted it into the belly of the fish. Then he whistled loudly several times, and a fish eagle appeared on a tree on shore. He gave another loud whistle and threw the fish out in the water. 

The balsa kept the dead fish floating, and the fish eagle swooped down impressively close so we could take pictures. This practice seems somewhat questionable, interfering with wildlife and so forth, but it is longstanding practice here and was certainly impressive. 

Crocodiles also inhabit the lake, but they are small and he said present no danger to swimmers. We were not confident enough to test this theory, and anyway, swimming among the dead snags of the lakeshore held no appeal.

After the boat trip we lazily whiled away the afternoon. Serious birders also take a walking excursion along the cliffs behind the village, to see the cliff and land dwelling species, but we were satisfied. Amazingly it rained here too. In parched Baringo this is very unusual this time of year, but it was short lived and served to cool things down a bit. 

Sadly Island Camp, the lodge out on Ol Kokwe Island, had closed during Covid and had just reopened, but not to day visitors. We had hoped to enjoy their well reviewed restaurant and pool, but not this time around. 

We enjoyed our stop at Lake Baringo, a sort of understated attraction. At the same time one can’t help but see the flooding as a massive hit to the tourism here and it made us wonder if those remaining can hold out. The dead trees and lack of lakeshore do detract from the atmosphere. 

Tomorrow we would head out on another scenic drive, over the Kito and Marich passes. I had been in contact with Richard Barnley, of Barnley’s Guesthouse, and he confirmed that the road and security conditions should be okay. I was looking forward to seeing some remote parts of the Kerio Valley and driving the scenic Marich Pass.

The Nitty Gritty

Kembu Cottages to Sekakani Gate – 195km, 3h 35m

Sekakani Gate to Mara Bridge – 41 km, 1h 22m

The Masai Mara Background

The Maasai Mara is roughly 1500 sq km in size, but is confusingly divided into to two parts, roughly 2/3rds and 1/3rd, with the dividing line being the Mara River. The Maasai Mara National Reserve is the eastern portion, the Mara Conservancy is the western portion. To confuse things further, the Conservancy side is often simply referred to as, “the Triangle” due to its triangular shape. The eastern boundary of the Triangle is formed by the Mara river, the southern boundary by the Tanzanian border, the western boundary by the Siria escarpment.

The entirety of the Maasai Mara protected areas (the Reserve, the Triangle and a number of adjacent protected areas that are the next tier lower in the level of protection provided to animals) abuts the northern boundary of Tanzania’s Serengeti, making one very large contiguous ecosystem for animals to move about freely within. In this ecosystem there are numerous geographic barriers that only motivated animals will cross, such as the Siria escarpment or the forbidding landscape of Natron, and other boundaries are formed by settlements and farms. This means that even though the area is almost entirely unfenced that the bulk of the wildlife, mostly, stays within the protected areas. 

Travel between the Serengeti and the Maasai Mara used to be allowed many years ago, via the Sand River border post, but this is long closed. Anyone wanting to travel from one park to the other must go the long way around, the least bad way is exiting the Mara at the Oloololo gate, crossing the Isibania border, and then driving to one of the western Serengeti gates, or visa versa. This is a two day drive for all but the most motivated, but it does at least give you an opportunity to provision and fuel while you are out of the park.

Back to the Mara. The Reserve and the Triangle are managed by different entities, but the park is contiguous and fees paid on one side allow you use on the other side. Entry fees are the same on both sides. We’ve been to the Maasai Mara before and visited both sides, but predominately spent our time in the Triangle. We found the Triangle to have excellent game viewing, well maintained roads, and importantly you can camp within the park. On the Reserve side the only public campsite, Sand River, was closed some five-ish years ago and now you have to camp outside the gate. Rumors of the reopening of the Sand River campsite persist, but for the time being they are just rumors. 

On top of all that we found the Reserve side to be less organized and professional, and last time we witnessed animals swarmed by vehicles at sightings. On the Triangle side they allow a maximum of five vehicles at a sighting and if there are more than five they limit sightings to 10 minutes, so everyone gets a turn. The final cherry on top in the Triangle is that they allow off road driving for cat sightings if you are not in the high use area. This well policed privilege allows really great sightings of animals that would otherwise be out of view. 

Campsites in the Triangle

There are three campsites in the Triangle, the Oloololo Campsite, near the Oloololo Gate, Eluai near the middle of the park and Iseiya, noted as Serena on T4A. 

Oloololo has the most facilities and a very nice view, but is near the gate and staff quarters, so there is more traffic. 

Eluai until recently was a special campsite with no facilities, and is still marked, incorrectly, on the Mara Triangles own map. It is now a public campsite, but until just the last couple months had no ablutions of any kind. Now it has a basic toilet and shower enclosure, you must supply the water.  Somewhat humorously, but also inconveniently, the builders of these new ablutions used the wrong kind of toilet. It’s a squat toilet, but normally when you build a latrine as a squat toilet with no water it is just a keyhole shape in the floor to the long drop hole below. In this case they used the a porcelain squat toilet that is intended to flush, but as there is no water, any thing that doesn’t manage to go down the hole just sits there. So, uh, not super practical.

Eluai is on a rise and has a good view in the distance, but there is no shade. 

Iseiya/Serena is nearby Eluai and has no view and is tucked into the forest. It has a long drop but no other facilities. It’s fairly tight in there, with not much flat spaceif you on using a roof top tent. There is no view at all, but good shade. So to each their own for campsites. They are all good in their own way, all unfenced, and all wild. 

The Mara Conservancies website is a wealth of information: https://www.maratriangle.org/home In particular their monthly reports provide detailed insight on anti poaching and other trials of conservation.

Special Campsites require a booking fee, I think of 1000 Kenyan Shillings for individuals, roughly 100 USD. This is regardless of how many in the party or how long you stay (or perhaps it’s per week?), so this amortizes well if you have more in your group or stay longer. 

Entry fees are $70 USD pppd (24 hr rule), camping is $30 pppn, vehicle fee is…400 shillings? Payment is by credit card or Mpesa only, no cash. 

Firewood can be purchased from the park staff at Oloololo gate or Mara Bridge, but they have a monopoly on the market and it’s expensive. We paid an exorbitant 1500 shillings for an admittedly huge pile of wood. So did another set of campers we met. I suspect you could bargain down to 1000, but we didn’t.

Fuel is usually available at the Serena lodge in the park. There is also fuel outside the Sekakani gate, in a modest fuel station of unknown quality, and the same for outside the Oloolo gate. So you’re unlikely to run out of fuel, but those are not large fuel stations so the quality is suspect. 

If you are headed to the Triangle from the east, as we did, ask for a transit pass at the gate. They’ll give you a free two hour pass to get to the Mara Bridge, where you can pay your entry fees by credit card. 

Andrew Nightengale strongly advised us not to use the C13 to drive to the Oloololo gate, he said it’s in terrible condition and is a miserable drive.

There is a Naivas supermarket, as well as many other shops, in Narok, if you need to provision. On the Oloololo side there isn’t much for stocking up, your best bet might be Lolgorien, but it will be more modest pickings.

When leaving from the Oloololo gate there are two roads marked C17 on T4A. The eastern one was not passable and we had to double back. The “correct” one the western one, shown in the screen shot below.

To Kericho: 175km, 5h13m including a stop for a car wash.

Lake Baringo

The drive from Ray’s to Baringo via Eldoret – Iten – Kabernet – Marigat is not the efficient way to go. It would be better to break this up, either by camping at Kakamega or maybe at the Naiberi Overland Campsite outside Eldoret (if it’s still open). The drive from Iten down the escarpment is beautiful and I think well worth the diversion. It would be double excellent if you were motorcycling, I imagine.

Bush Baby campsite was 800 KSH pppn, well worth it. The ablutions were clean and new, the shower is cold, but in the hot weather of Baringo this is no issue. The campsite has rubbish bins, a device charging station and a couple picnic tables. There is a basic restaurant and cottages under construction. Shade is pretty good, and they have planted many new trees that will add to that. There is a water tap with water from a borehole. The only negative is the campsite is fairly close to the road, so there is some road noise, though not at night. Also we had some kids staring at us from the road, but that was no great hardship, they were friendly. As the foliage grows in it will become more private. 

Just this morning we saw the “big 5”, (black) rhino, leopard, lion, buffalo and elephant; not to mention giraffe, zebra, topi, Thompson’s gazelle, hippo, warthog, impala, waterbuck, giraffe, and no doubt some stuff I forgot on top of that.  This combined with the truly stunning vistas of the Masai Mara and we are really almost speechless.

But before I get too far into the wild I’ll catch you up with getting here.

We left Kacheliba on Monday morning and headed back up to the highlands towards Eldoret.  Our next big destination was the Masai Mara Conservancy, and now here we are.  We considered taking the route Richard had recommended through the Cherengani Hills to Lake Baringo and Lake Bogoria.  Reportedly you can make it through to Baringo in a day, but we tend to travel slow, and as we needed to provision and fuel we came to our senses, for once, and decided not to bite off too much.

It is with regret that we didn’t have time for more of Kenya, it’s an embarrassment that we can’t spend more time here.  Next time.  For now we went up the escarpment and took a right on the A1, heading south to Kitale.  Provisioning at Kitale was easy, there are two large supermarkets across from each other down town, Transmatt and Khetia’s, both well stocked, with the odd exception of eggs.  Eggs are obtainable in flats of 36, too much for us, or in a paper sack of 5.  I probably don’t have to tell you that a paper sack is not the ideal way to transport eggs, even if you aren’t off roading.  We found this elsewhere too, sort of hilarious.  We searched around and found a sort of plastic egg carton thing which hopefully will work.

Kitale had really grown up since I worked in the area in 2008.  Then we used to run to Kitale to go to the bank and hardware store and so forth so I felt I sort of knew town a bit, but visiting now it’s clear that things, whether just in the region or maybe Kenya in general, are booming.  Where there was before only two filling stations that would often run out of fuel, there are now what seems a dozen.  Traffic is thick and before it was calm, the open market has expanded exponentially and hotels are restaurants are many instead of few.  North of town on the A1 there was a garish brand new multi story hotel complete with bell hops, a pool and all kinds of bling, but strangely no sign.  It seemed open and operational and I wonder who their market is?

After provisioning we turned onto the B2 and made our way towards Eldoret.  Eldoret is larger than Kitale and also has been booming.  It seems there is an oil pipeline distribution hub here, petroleum trucks line the road on the way into town for kilometers.  After my second failed attempt at getting a sim card for my phone we headed about 20 kilometers out of town to Naiberi River Overland Camp.

Naiberi is geared towards the overland truck business, large trucks plying multi week trips throughout various regions of Africa, with low budget backpacker style travel.  Overland trucks have a bad rap in the self drive overland world as they often crowd camps and can be a bit too loud partying.  There was an overland truck with 12 passengers here today, but they were completely pleasant, no complaints.

The camp is on a hill, with four large covered open “kitchens” (a generous term) with a sink, power outlet, lighting and braii/fire area and an almost flat parking space.  There is a lower campsite on a large lawn with no facilities that they said they don’t open up unless the upper sights are full.  It looked nice down there, but with the recent heavy rain the ground was saturated, and they also said it’s quite cold down by the river.  It was already pretty cold at our site, with the elevation being something like 2300 meters.

Ablutions are clean and pretty nice, with hot showers, flush toilets and decent lighting.  Between the upper camp and the lower camp there is a huge restaurant/bar/hangout zone with great atmosphere, if anything maybe a bit overdone, but someone has clearly put a lot of thought and effort into it.  Also in the bar area is a large fire pit and they stoked up a big fire in the evening, great for warming up.  Outside they had a pool and deck along with small covered areas around for hanging out in the afternoon.

After a lot of days on the road we decided to stay a couple days and regroup a bit, get laundry done and relax.  The first night we had dinner at the restaurant and I had a really great Indian dish, chicken meri-methti (spelling?) with chapati.  Jenny had mutton nyama choma, a Kenyan national dish, and we were happy.

The staff here were really great, checking in with us often to see if we needed anything.  Organizing firewood, dinner, where to go in town to pick up a few things, laundry and even my much sought after sim card were all sorted out in short order.

Like Barnley’s Guest House, they mentioned that business was really slow.  I’d certainly recommend Naberi for a stop if you’re in the area.  Hopefully things pick up for them, it’s good to see someone putting in such effort and building a nice facility.

A couple nights at Naberi was great, but it was cold at night and we felt the call of the bush, so we pressed on to the Masai Mara.  Right out the door we took a wrong turn and went 20 kilometers or so the wrong direction.  We had to double back, much to the amusement of the police that had stopped us at a checkpoint earlier.  On our brief diversion we saw dozens and dozens of runners along the road.

Many residents of here do not have the time or need for such things as exercise, the daily lives of many rural Kenyans being very busy just getting by, and hauling all of your water or food or charcoal or whatever is plenty exercise enough.  However Kenya and Eldoret in particular are unique in that this is the home of most of the elite Kenyan runners.  Runners from Eldoret are famous the world over for long distance running, winning marathons and holding records in large numbers.  It was nice seeing these runners training along the road to make a connection to what I had read about.  I’d recommend the Radiolab podcast on Kenyan runners if you are interested.

Back on track we got onto the main highway towards Nairobi.  At this point I must take back all that I said about the Kenyan roads being hectic and stressful.  We found the A104 to be in perfect condition, with ample lanes, passing lanes on the climbs to get around slow trucks and also wide shoulders.  Pedestrians, boda bodas and matatus thinned out and we raced along with ease.

We passed the equator at 9100’ of elevation.  Kind of amazing to think how far we have driven.  We have about 9000 kilometers on the clock for this trip.  The equivalent from our home in California is a quick drive to Equador.  And now we need to drive back!  It doesn’t seem so far to us, each day has been an exploration, and when you’re not sure what each day will bring it’s easy to not consider, too much, how far you have to go.

A Logistical digression:

We turned off the A104 to the road marked B1 and C23 on T4A, not sure why the two names.  To further muddy the waters the very new looking road sign says the turnoff is for the A1.  I think this is because it eventually links up with the A1.  The sign is marked for Kericho.

From the A104 turnoff to Kericho the road is beautiful and passes through many kilometers of fervent green tea plantations.  After Kericho the road narrows but is in perfectly fine shape.

T4A would prefer we turned off onto the B23, just before Sotik.  However we did not, we took Stan’s advice (of Slow Donkey fame, who’s meticulous blog has helped many an overland traveler to follow in his footsteps.  We considered calling our vehicle “Slower Donkey” but decided against it) and pressed on the next logical turn toward Kilgoris.  This turn is simply marked “road” on T4A, but links up with the C17.

After Kilgoris the road turns to gravel (is marram the correct term?), a little bumpy at first but improving quite a bit after about half way to the Oloololo gate.

Digression over.

Getting closer to the Masai Mara we were beginning to see more traditional dress, though mostly combined with western clothing.  A baseball cap, jeans and a t-shirt, but a Masai blanket and hearding stick being the most common outfit.

Masai Mara

We arrived at the Oloololo gate around 3:30 pm, and logically we should have saved our money and camped outside the gate.  But the call of the wild was too strong and we plunked down our credit card so we could camp inside the park that night.  Park fees cover 24 hrs from the time of purchase, so it wasn’t totally ridiculous.

At the gate we bought firewood, at the exorbitant price of 1000 ksh a wheelbarrow full, and after a lot of waiting around they brought us what was almost a tree.  With the help of the rangers we wrestled it onto the roof rack, fearing a bit too much weight up top we agreed to have a big fire that night.

Wanting to get in a bit of an evening drive before heading to Eulai camp we charged into the park, foolishly not asking about road conditions, or directions to our camp.  In retrospect all of this would have been useful.

As is our usual tendency, we headed for the river road.  Normally water draws the wildlife, but since it has been such a huge rainy season this is not the case right now.  Fortunately the Mara Triangle is teeming with wildlife, so that part proved not to be a problem.  As a side note, the western part of the Masai Mara is operated by the Masai Mara Conservancy and is all the territory West of the Mara River.  This area is referred to “the conservancy” or “the triangle”.  Universally everyone will tell you that the Conservancy is better run, but what exactly that meant we were not sure.  We will find out.

Later we learned that this year the Mara has seen the most rain for 60 years.  This meant that the roads are very wet and muddy in some places.  Our river road turned into a two spoor track and from that it turned into the barest hint of a path, just two parallel lines of bent grass where vehicles had been before, but vague to say the least.  Slowly we progressed, seeing elephants and topi and having a grand time, back in a park, alone on a wild track and just us and the animals.

As we went along we started watching the clock with concern.  With the vague track and muddy conditions we were making slow progress, and it looked like we were going to be late to camp.  Sunset is 6:30 pm, and you are supposed to be in camp no later than seven o’clock.

We were getting close to where the track connected to the main road and we would be free and clear, but we came to a muddy ravine across the road, clearly impassable.  We had to turn back, and with that there went our hope of being in camp on time.

We made somewhat faster progress back tracking, but even then we were following the maze of tracks trying to find the shortest route to the main road without having to be turned back again.  A couple times we rolled the dice when given the choice between right and left and luckily picked correctly.  As we approached the main road we were treated to a pride of female lions with cubs, but we were so late and had so far to go we only stopped for a minute.

Back on the main road we made good time towards camp, and that is when we realized we hadn’t asked for any details about the camp site.  When we had said we’d like to camp at Eluai public campsite they simply said “okay” and that was it.

So here we were, late and racing towards our camp while losing the meager light that was left, having no idea of really where we were going.  The map that they gave us was very general, just a dot in between two roads.  Tracks 4 Africa had it marked clearly, so we put our faith in the GPS, but when we made it to the supposed turn there was no road at all.  Hmm.

It was dark by now, so we doubled back, the GPS showing an alternative approach.  Sure enough there was a muddy small track off the main road with no sign.  We took it, and crept into the tall grass.  A Rutted muddy track, and more and more it seemed we might be in the wrong spot.  No sign, a little used road.  We figured regardless where we found ourselves we would just camp and sort it out in the morning, but with grass a meter high all around camping would not be that great without at least a small clearing.

I zoomed way in on the gps and we followed the merest suggestion of a track in the grass and watched the screen for guidance, creeping along.  Finally we found a tiny clearing around an old termite mound and we called it good and made camp.  This is fully wild, no other people, no lights, no fences, just us in the bush of the Mara.  If it wasn’t for our late arrival we would have been thrilled.  Even so, after we got a fire going and after a much needed beer settled down a bit it was really nice to be out there all alone under the stars.  We couldn’t wait to wake up and see where we were in the morning.

From Mwanza we made our way along the A1 road towards Kenya.  Mwanza was a interesting town, much bigger than we had imagined, but since it was only a stopover spot for us I hadn’t taken the time to do any research on it.  It has a beautiful bay with wonderful outcroppings of smooth rocks all over, and with the city perched along the hills around the lake it’s much more scenic than some of the other towns we’ve been passing through.  We wonder what drives the economy here, it seems busy, organized, relatively clean and pleasant.  I will investigate further.

The A1 is a good tar road, and stretches from Mwanza all the way through Kenya to South Sudan on a somewhat circuitous route.  Traffic was light and the road mostly in good shape, but still we don’t expect to be able to exceed 50 kph average.  Between getting stuck behind large trucks going slow with no chance of passing sometimes for ages, or slowing down though villages and for the numerous suspension smashing speed bumps we rarely seem to see 5th gear, but still we cruise along and watch Africa go by.

I managed to get my first speeding ticket ever, for doing 56 in a 50 zone.  Oops.  The officer was very polite and 30,000 shillings (less than $15 USD) later we were on our way again.

The A1 passes the Western gate to the Serengeti National Park, which we will use in a couple weeks on our way back.  It was exciting to pass the park, and from the road we even saw a couple hundred wildebeest to whet our appetite for our future Serengeti adventures.

And where are we headed you ask?  Our eventual destination and northern most point of the trip was Kacheliba, Kenya.  A village I assume has never seen a foreign tourist.  In 2008 I worked as a logistics manager for an NGO running a clinic in the village.  It would take us a couple days travel to get there, but this detour was something of a minor pilgrimage to show Jenny where I had spent some time in Kenya and revisit the area.  It’s a bit out of the way, but since I might never be closer it seemed worth the effort to stop by and say hello.

As we continued the road north of the Ndabaka gate gets even better, becoming wider and smoother with less villages and we picked up speed a bit.  The terrain changed from flat late savannah to beautiful greenery with those huge granite (I think) rocks piled high all over the place.  The road winds between and around these and the change and good views were great.

We crossed into Kenya at the Isabania border crossing in the southwest of Kenya.  Border formalities were pretty straightforward.  On the Tanzania side of things the officer explained that in the future, whenever that may be, this will be a “one stop” border post, with both Kenyan and Tanzanian officials in the same building.  However he said “there are some logistics to work out.” So it seemed it might be a while.  We were through Tanzania in 20 minutes with no waiting.

On the Kenya side things are a little less efficient, but not too bad and we inadvertently slowed things down by going out of order.  Normally you go through immigration first and customs second.  However customs is who issues the temporary import permit (TIP) for the car to be able to enter the country, and we had read and been told that to enter Kenya you need a Carnet de Passages en Douane, or CPD.  A carnet is sort of passport for your car, to prevent you illegally selling the vehicle without paying large duties.  Different countries have different rules about this, and many countries if you are arriving by land you can request a TIP at the border and they’ll issue one for temporary permission to enter the country, no carnet required.

This is the route we preferred, as a carnet is an expensive document to obtain.  In our case it would have been $500 US, but it could be much more depending on vehicle value, issuing authority, and countries you intend to use it in.

Since it seemed there was a chance we would be turned away, as we had no carnet, we went to customs first.  We had to wait around for a while, apparently the officer that has the computer password to issue the TIP wasn’t here and “would be back”.

He did eventually come, and after a few questions said they could issue the TIP, no problem and no fee.  Great!

He sent us to immigration, and said that when we were back from immigration he’d have the TIP ready for us and we could be on our way.  Immigration issued us a visa on arrival, $50 USD each for double entry.  Back to customs.  Only…no customs officer.  He was gone again, so we  waited.  Hilariously Jenny had been watching the wall clock, and then realized that the second hand wasn’t moving and it must be broken.  “No no, it’s working.” I assured her, and I showed her my phone with the same time on it.  It seemed like it was taking ages and the wall clock hadn’t even moved, and we realized that it was broken, but as we all know, even a broken clock is right twice a day!

Eventually he came back and gave us our TIP, valid for 2 weeks, and we were off.  I read online that they would only issued a TIP for 2 weeks, which was long enough for our trip, and I did ask if it was possible to get one for longer and I didn’t get a clear answer.  It seems in any case that you could get an extension at a customs office, but again the answer wasn’t totally clear.

With the border taking a while we had to decide how far to push into Kenya.  Stop at the relatively close Migori Mission, which reportedly welcomes campers, or further north to Sondu to a the Maraboi campsite.  As usual we decided to go big, so we set our sights on Maraboi.

About missions.  As I understand it, it’s not uncommon for people to stop at missions, which are dotted all across Africa in the most remote of places, and ask to camp.  I’ve never heard of anyone being turned away, and usually a small donation to the mission is all that is expected.  In one of my favorite overland travel accounts of all time, Frederik and Josephine’s absolutely incredible account of diving across the Congo, I believe they stayed in missions almost the whole way.  (http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hubb/ride-tales/democratic-republic-congo-lubumbashi-kinshasa-53285 -don’t miss this one, their story is captivating!)  That said, Jenny and I are somewhat uncomfortable around organized religion and the mission stay, particularly for Jenny, wasn’t exciting.

I’m curious, and I thought it’d be an interesting experience and good to know if that was something we would have as an option in the future, but Jenny was imagining that after we were inside the gates the indoctrination would begin!

About driving.  Africa has continued to toss us one more ball to juggle on the road.  The further north we go, the more there is to keep you busy.  Thicker clouds of dust, narrower roads, the heavily cambered roads of Tanzania.  This time we’ve just come from the Tanzanian side of the A1, and this particular stretch of road was immaculate tarmac, with wide shoulders, ample lanes and painted lines on the road, an under appreciated road safety feature, you don’t realize how great they are until you don’t have them.

The road on the Kenya side immediately narrowed, traffic was much denser, there is no shoulder and there are motorcycles, locally known as boda bodas, and minibuses, known as matatus everywhere.  Traffic moves at a decent clip, buses and large trucks barreled towards us and you have to drive with the tires nearly on the edge of the road to clear the large vehicles heading your way.  This is complicated when there is a boda boda right there and thus no room for all three of you.  In addition, now in Kenya the rainy season is in full effect.  The heavy rains have washed away the shoulder in many sections.  In some sections it’s a mere six inch drop to the shoulder, but in many areas for kilometers it was a half a meter, a meter or more, a drop that would result in, at best, you ending up in the ditch with a difficult recovery, and more likely a rollover accident.

Also there are people everywhere.  The road is also theirs to use, and pedestrians and bicycles are in the road headed to and from neighboring villages conducting their business.  All this means driving isn’t exactly relaxed.  No more wide open stretches of bush as in Botswana, or like the remote dirt roads of Western Tanzania.  Just white knuckle driving, squeezing your way between all the traffic and hoping to stay out of an accident.

Mind you things did actually improve as we made our way north, and after a while we got into the flow of things, but that initial few hours after the border was a shock.  Driving here has a more organic flow.  If someone overtakes without enough room the oncoming car will flash their lights and keep coming, but slow down if need be at the last minute.  If a huge pothole is ahead and a truck is headed towards you it surprises no one if you swerve into oncoming traffic around the pothole, as long as you’re back on your side before meeting.  Boda bodas weave through traffic with heavy loads and passengers and pass on the left or the right, but they are very aware and know when to back off if need be.  So it takes some getting used to, but for the most part drivers are in fact quite courteous and paying attention, but they’re also just more comfortable cutting closer than we are back home.

When we arrive in a congested city we look down the main road and see nothing but congestion and a mass of bicycles, boda bodas and people and yet somehow we creep through and it all sort of works.

After getting the hang of the Kenyan roads it started raining.  We could see the clouds building and darkening and looking very ominous and finally it began.  In just a few minutes it got dark and the rain was coming down so hard we could barely see.  Thankfully everyone else slowed down and put on their hazard lights so you can see the edges of their vehicles.  Pedestrians and boda bodas quickly sought shelter and those left on the road feel their way along, as if by braille, hoping to avoid the precipice on either shoulder of the narrow road.

We saw the writing on the wall and sought to get off the road as quickly as we could.  In pouring rain we luckily saw the “Treat House Resort” just south of Rongo.  Resort might be stretching it, but for 3500 ksh ($35 USD) we got an executive room with a hot shower in a cleanish hotel.  We retreated to the lobby for a beer and listened to the rain come down, relieved to be off the road.

The following night we made it north of Kitale and stayed at Barnley’s Guest House and Campsite (a.k.a Sirikwa Safaris), hosted by Richard Barnley, a white Kenyan who was born in Kitale.  He said we were the first campers in “a long time” (though he didn’t specify how long) and that things had been slow.  The month before he hadn’t had a single visitor.  It was great to sit by the fire and listen to his stories of Kenya and his time in surrounding countries.

He is also an invaluable source of local knowledge and had great advice about other places to camp in the area, road conditions and interesting routes to take to Turkana or Baringo.

Also during our stay there we had a chance to talk to a Kenyan family that was there for the day to see the colobus monkeys that reside at Barnley’s.  They were very interested in the land cruiser and our trip in general, and asked us how we were finding Kenya.  After some chat they got down to the real business, namely, what kind of phones did we have, how fast was the internet at home and what TV shows did we like.  Pretty funny, so much for cultural differences!  This echos what a veteran relief worker had told me years ago, “It doesn’t matter what country you’re in or what religion you follow, most everyone just wants same thing, to be able to feed their family and have a big screen TV to watch the game on.”

The following day we headed to Kacheliba.  I was curious what would we find.  I had no idea if anyone I knew would still be there.  I knew the project had been officially turned over to the Kenyan Ministry of Health, but that a few years ago there was still some involvement from the Drugs for Neglected Disease Initiative, or DNDI.

Richard had warned us that the road down the escarpment to Kacheliba was bad.  Between the recent heavy rain and also now heavy trucks were bringing up sand from the Suam river and damaging the road.  It drops about 800 meters in a few kilometers, nothing too steep though, but it was rocky with wash outs and ruts.  I put it in low range for engine braking and let the cruiser do the work on the decent.  I would say the road is in bad shape, but expertly piloted two wheel drive matatus make the run regularly, so I guess we’re the wimps.  I have no idea how they negotiate a few of the sections without tearing our their suspension, but they seem to manage.

Down the escarpment



Camping in the old MSF compound



View from a kopje



Jenny and I used to do logistics and science support in the Antarctic. Here we are so near the equator, some heavy equipment from the Chinese Antarctic program.



View from the old water tank, we used to drink beers and watch the sunset up here when I was here ten years ago



Prices for medical services.



The gang is back together aging!



Jenny shopping



Downtown Kacheliba



Kids hamming it up for the camera

Kacheliba has grown up a bit since 2008.  The neighboring village on one side of the river, Kongelai, has expanded, and larger Kacheliba is bigger too.  Electricity has come to town, a filling station and more shops.  Cell phone coverage is more reliable.  And the Chinese have arrived.  If you read anything about Africa you will here that the Chinese are paving the continent, and it’s true.  Even here in remote Kacheliba they are in the first stages of a five year project to pave the road from the A1, down the escarpment to Kacheliba and beyond.  So heavy equipment is plying the road on either side of town, getting down to business, and the Chinese have built a large compound for their workers and equipment just north of the village.

We drove up to the old staff compound to investigate if anyone was around, and at two in the afternoon we were also thinking we should figure out where we should camp for the night.  When I pulled up a man came out to investigate our arrival, and much to both our surprise it was Simon, one of the watchmen that I worked with 10 years ago.  Sure enough a few of the old staff were still there.

The project runs on a reduced staff now, but is still treating patients for kala-zar, or visceral leishmaniasis (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visceral_leishmaniasis).  The DNDI is currently working onsite conducting a clinical trial for a shorter treatment, even though treatment is now down to 17 days from the 30 days it was when I worked there.

It was nice to see things still ticking along, if maybe a little rougher than before, and really amazing that some of the same staff were still there.  We got a tour of the clinic and they generously let us camp in the compound, very close to my old room where I used to live there.  Us setting up the roof top tent and our camp generated great interest and everyone thought our set up was really slick.

We spent some time chatting with the staff, new and old, and the coconut wireless was working well down there because after a few hours a couple other of the old gang cropped up to say hello.

Mzungus (a white person) are not a common sight around here and we got a lot of curious looks, but unlike some places where we’ve been mobbed by children or accosted by those offering services or asking for money, here everyone had a more bemused interest, like maybe we were lost.  Lots of surprised looks, lots of smiles and waves and “Habari yako” to say hello and “How are you” which must be the first thing kids are taught in English.  We respond with our “mzuri sana” (I’m very good, or maybe I’m very fine)  and everyone is happy.

I reminisced with the old team and also  Jenny and I managed a great hike up one of the local kopjies (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inselberg) and had a great view of the escarpment and the village.  We also stocked up on fresh produce in the market, paying 20 cents US for mangos and avocados, and 10 cents for fresh made chapatis, the same price I paid ten years ago.  Delicious.  We made curried lentils with chapatis for dinner and sat in the old compound as forgotten stories came to mind from my time there before.  It was great.

Sorry for the rambling post, it was a long road to get here.