Karibuni Kenya

This blog is a look back at how the travelbuzz scheme effected my trip and a few thoughts about my travels.  With regard to health posts, music of the week etc I’ll steadily update them over the coming weeks.

Firstly, I thought the scheme was a really good idea when I first got the email about it and read some other blogs sta travellers had written and that has remained my feelings through my travels.  It was good to have a blog just for friends and family to follow as well, but also made better by the STA scheme as then it reaches a wider audience and could help people planning a similar trip to mine.

That said, if I were to do it again I would take a laptop with me, since sometimes with the slow pace of the internet and it constantly deleting my posts, sometimes writing  the blog became more of a chore than a pleasure.  With the time limits I had to use the internet as well, I missed out on writing in more detail about some of the things I did, where as had I have had the laptop I could have taken more time and care over the posts and enjoyed the process far more – I still loved doing the blog, but could have got more out of it with better preparation and more time.

Writing the blog did also make me look at things in a slightly different way, and made me more keen to try different things out even if I wasn’t 100% sure I would enjoy doing them.  It didn’t make a massive difference to how I approach my trip, but definitely the impact it did have was all positive.  I tend to like to explore places anyway and think one of the best ways to get to know a pace is just to get lost and find your way back again, but it was enjoyable to be able to write about places I found while lost as well as sharing with fellow travellers I met on my trip.

I didn’t meet any other STA travellers on my trip, but all those I met I told about my blog and recommended both STA and Travelbuzz to them, and in many cases received very positive responses.  The more people that get involved the better for us all and the more, interesting and varied information would-be travellers will be able to find out.  Certainly they can be a lot more help than I found the lonely planet!

As for life now that i’ve come back, it’s been more different coming back this time than on previous occasions.  Whether that is just because I am noticing it more or some other reason I am unsure.  I am now back into uni life and back with OTC, so my trip feels like it was longer and longer ago.  Every time I see a photo of somewhere I’ve been or hear a song I heard out there, though, it takes me back and reinstills my yearning to be back there for longer – when Africa gets in your blood it never leaves you.  I am now broke from my last trip so it may be a couple of years before I go again, although I’m trying to find more work to save up enough for next summer.  I’m  not sure exactly what i’d do, but at the moment am thinking of flying into Niarobi, doing a couple of weeks in Kenya then going through Tanzania to Malawi and then back again to TZ and flying out of Dar.  But we shall see. I’ll keep updating the blog with different info or pictures etc and hopefully will end up writing it again back out in Africa next summer – fingers crossed!

I have finally put some photos of my trip up.  There is a link to them on the left of this page.  The slightly grainy ones are mine, and the really good ones are Johns, who was kind enough to allow me to put them up.  Some of them are very good, so worth a look if you’ve enjoyed the blog but would like to see what I have written about as well as reading about it.  Hope you enjoy.

I got back to Naivasha and relaxed for a couple of days and met up with some friends, did a bit of admin and tried to get presents for coming back home before Isaac returned for a planned couple of days in the aberdares.  We set off but again the car needed a couple of things fixing, so we stopped in naivasha town briefly.  WHile stopped Isaac got a call from some friends in nairobi who also wanted o come, so we aited a couple of hors for them. By that time it was too late for the aberdares, so we decided to do Nakuru instead.  We eventually got there – me driving like a matatu driver to try and get past the slow trucks, driving along the grass verges on the side of the road until one of the lorry drivers got angry with me and wouldn’t let me past, at which point we had to wait for a climbing lane to pass him. 

We got there just i time for an evening game drive and then booked into a place I had been three years previously and where I could still remember the guy that worked there, and he me, which was nice.  They cooked our food for us and we all sat down to eat it and chat about different things, which was quite nice and familyish.  We also sat on top of one of the buildings and looked out across nakuru while having a tusker, which was again wonderful.  The next day we spent on game drives, seeing innumerable white rhino, three black rhino, hyena chasing flamingoes and standing off against a buffalo, beautiful white butterflies whose wings took on the appearance of green leaves when they landed on the ground and folded.

After that we headed back to naivasha and then I had one last relaxing day before setting off to nairobi the next day and getting on my flight via Doha home

Isaac’s safari was running longer than expected and he had been delayed, so after some time for washing and admin in Namanga, I decided to return to Arusha for a day or two for a little explore and to go to the national park.  This time I had the vehicle for the safari as it was cheaper than renting, obviously, since I only had to pay for fuel.  I started out along the road and was going well until about 30kms outside arusha the car started to slow suddenly and I pulled over.  One of the wheels was as flat as a pancake, having got a 5inch nail through it.  I got out the jack to try and change it, at which point I found I didn’t know how to use them – I had seem them being used and it had seemed easy so I hadn’t really thought about it. A quick call to Isaac and I realised what I was doing wrong and then started to lift the car. There were some chaps that had seen me stop and came to offer their help as well, which was good.  So after a little while we managed to get the car high enough to remove the tyre and put on the spare.

All was hunky doory until I set off a few metres and realised the spare tyre we had put on was also flat, so I stopped again to look at the other spare.  This too was flat, so I was a in a little bit of bother.  I was told there was a market nearby where they could fix it, so one of them took a the wheel and got on a bike to fix it.  Bearing in mind these wheels are worth at least fifty quid each, I wasn’t overly sure about doing it, but had no choice so just had to trust him.  Two hours later, when he still hadn’t returned I was a bit concerned and thought he must just have gone off with it.  But we kept getting reports from passing matatus and cyclists that he was coming, so I just lay down by the road getting burnt in the sun (my suncream had run out so I needed to get a new bottle in arusha. This was midday, too, so the sun was right above me and blooming hot).  AFter three hours and at when I was on my last breath of hope and faith in this chap, he returned with a fully inflated wheel.  A quick change and a small payment to all those that had helped me and I was off to Arusha.

ALong the way some army guys, dressed in their camouflaged kit were wanting a lift so I pulled over for them.  I got talking to them, telling them I was in british army and asked them about their training and everything, and had quite a nice chat, which was good.  Having dropped them off I went to the shoprite supermarket and nearby group of shops to park the car and then got some food since I was starving.

It was too late to go to the park then, too, and I had no spares so too risky so I looked for somewhere to stay for the night.  I ended looking around for a while and not finding anywhere before I saw the backpackers hotel, which looked quite posh from the street.  I remebered Kelly had talked about it, so decided to take a look and ended up checking in, which was 10 dollars for a single room and breakfast.  The room is literally a bed with a tiny table, but is more than adequate and the shared toilets are very clean and everything, so again my recommended place to stay in Arusha, and the cheapest I could find.  The breakfast is just jam on bread and a cup of tea, but there’s plenty of other places to get something more substantial nearby.

That evening I went to Kahn’s chicken, a place that again had come recommended from Kelly.  It’s quite well know and easy to find, but again a wonderful place.  During the day its an autospares shop, but at night it becomes a bbq. They do a range of meets on these bbqs and then have bowls of different indian salady bits, naans and chips.  Its not too expensive either –  a few quid for some chicken and all the salad with chips or a naan or about 5 quid for a mixed grill and all the saldy bits with chips or a naan.  Definitely worth a visit for dinner if you’re in Arusha.

The next day i got the car fixed, which took longer than expected because the engine decided it ddn’t want to start, so again I missed out on the park.  Instead I had a waddle around Arusha, and went ot eh declaration museum.  This was quite like the musuem in dar and only small, but was still enjoyable to walk around and only cost a quid to get in as a student.  There was also a really nice art gallery as part of the museum, where there were two artists actually painting while I was there.  Some of the paintings they’d done were really really good as well, and of a whole range of different things, although Kilimanjaro was probably the most common theme.  Most enjoyable though, and agin highly recommended if you’ve got some time in Arusha.

Once the car was fixed I headed back to Namanga and then drove back to Naivasha the next day, after fixing yet another puncture which I’d got overnight.