We headed off, slightly delayed by general lingering, and got in a good eight hours driving, before deciding to come to a rest in Sodo, where we sought out a cheap hotel. Following a policeman on a bike to several overpriced establishments, we eventually arrived at what was little more than a brothel, and managed to agree a price of little less than $4/night. It wasn’t ideal, but it was dark and we were tired, so we shut off our ears to the none-stop music downstairs, ignored the damp smell coming from the bathrooms, and tried to get our staple six hours sleep. We woke up, slightly refreshed, and after a desperate hunt for black market petrol we headed off to Arba Minch.
The road wasn’t great, and it was a bit of an effort getting there. When we did, we found a lovely, shady hide away to eat, and stayed for far too long. By the time we left Arba Minch, we were a good couple of hours behind schedule, and another late night arrival seemed inevitable. We waved goodbye to Ephram, who had been a pleasure throughout, and headed onwards to Moyale. At first the road was very average, but we were making reasonable ground. It wasn’t until we reached a diversion sign on the road that things got incredibly interesting. The diversion appeared to take us directly up and over a mountain, and down the other side. We drove through riverbeds, and across shanty bridges. At times we needed a good run up to get our vehicle up steep inclines, and occasionally on the way down the smell of our brakes was becoming more and more apparent. It was tricky, and at one point we sat at the base of a valley with steep hills both in front and behind us, unsure as to whether we could make it either way. Eventually, after several hours, we spotted a road up ahead, and after what had been an extremely enjoyable and challenging section of our route, we had three hours along a bumpy, stony road, before eventually arriving at Moyale.
Once we did, our mission was once more to seek out a cheap hotel. The first couple of hotels were either closed or full, but eventually we came across a lovely little place, with several UN vehicles parked up outside. Although the ‘nice’ rooms were out of our price range, we did eventually manage to persuade them to put all three of us in a cheaper room, and again paid around $4 each for the night. The next morning the plan would be to fill up on petrol, head to the border early, and then set off along the notoriously bad road into Kenya. We were pretty sure, however, that our experiences that day had put us in good stead, and the fact that both of our cars had stood up well to the conditions gave us confidence going forwards.
The next day started slow. First job was trying to arrange some money to be transferred via Western Union. A serious lack of ATMs had left us a little short, and we didn’t want to suddenly run out of money somewhere in the middle of nowhere. Western Union has always worked incredibly efficiently, however, the bank was having connectivity issues, and after a few hours of waiting we gave up. We headed off to haggle of petrol prices at the last garage in Ethiopia, and then crossed over to the Kenyan side. The border was pretty straight forward, and our only issue came with our $100 bill being refused on the basis that it was slightly damaged. Andres leant us the $60 we needed, and soon we were on Kenyan soil, and for me back in the Swahili speaking land that I had fallen in love with in Tanzania six years previous. I again headed off to the Western Union office, and here things were straightforward. Frustratingly we also found there to be a functioning ATM machine there, and the day had been pretty much wasted. We found a nice campsite, however, and it was nice to have a relaxed evening at a Kenyan bar, with chip shop chips, and ice cold beer.
The next morning we got up early, and were advised to head off before the convoy of buses and trucks, as it meant that if we were to encounter nay trouble, they would be right behind. Very quickly we arrived at the first police checkpoint of the day, and were given an armed guard, and an off duty policeman to join us for the journey. Both were heading back to Marsabit, and were more than happy to hitch a ride, at the same time as giving us some protection from the bandits who were rumoured to be very active in the region. The road lived up to its reputation, and although we kept reasonable pace, the nature of it was quite relentless. We adopted the method of ploughing through, and only stopped occasionally to allow Andres and his little Citroen Ami to catch up. Eventually we decided we had to push on, and with a guard on board, we were happy Andres would be safe.
After about six hours driving, we eventually stopped for food, and were happy for the temporary respite. Our ‘guards’ had been a pleasure throughout, and we enjoyed jovial chats over food. However, time was ticking on, and too soon it was once again time to hit the ‘road’, and try our damndest to arrive at Marsabit at a reasonable hour. The road got worse rather than better, and at times we could only crawl along a little over five miles/hour. We did, however, eventually reach Marsabit, and after dropping our guards off at the local police station, we continued onwards to Henry the Swiss’s campsite. We were kindly fed by a safari company staying for the night, and before the clocks had even hit 9pm, we both headed off to bed. As we did, we received the phone call that we were waiting for, from Andres. We had heard along the grapevine that he had at least one puncture, but when we spoke to him, we found out it had been four, and a fuel pump issue. He ended up driving all night, and eventually we saw him again in the morning, tired, but relieved to have made it to Marsabit.
On waking the next morning we also were amazed to see that a convoy of Trucks, ambulances, and vans, all heading from South Africa to Gaza on an aid mission had parked up right next to us. We must have been tired, as neither of us had heard anything. They were taking masses of stuff to Gaza, including some incredibly large generators, which could power entire hospitals. Phil, in particular, who has close ties to Palestine was incredibly interested and enthused to see the troop, and after chatting to the team for an hour or so, we had to head onwards. We agreed to take their armed guards back to Isiolo with us, and they all kindly invited us to stay with them once we arrived in South Africa. You can follow their progress at www.sarelief.net , and we wish them all the luck in the world for a successful mission.
Our first port of call once more was a mechanic. The previous day had been punishing on the vehicle, and we felt it was necessary to have a quick check up. First it seemed fine, however on closer inspection we had a small puncture in one tyre, which was fixed easily, but more troublesome was that the casing for one of our front shocks had worn through, and needed replacing. The road to Isiolo was for the first 150km no better than what we had just experienced, and we weren’t prepared to take it on without having everything up to scratch. It took a couple of hours, at an expense of less than $100, but it had delayed our progress again, and when we hit the road at around 2pm, it was obvious that we would once more be arriving late.
We again headed off with Andres, and after another exhausting drive on both us and the vehicle, we waved goodbye to him at a Safari Lodge just short of Isiolo. He hadn’t had any sleep for over 24 hours, and was keen for a couple of days rest. We headed onto Isiolo, and after eating quickly we eventually found Gidasa Hotel and Camping. It was late, and pitch black, however Vera, our host, was incredibly sympathetic, and allowed us to have a lovely and clean room at a reduced rate, of approximately $10/person. It was lovely to have nice clean beds in peaceful surroundings, along with mosquito nets, and we must have slept well, as neither of us stirred until 9.30am. When we did, Vera offered to prepare us a breakfast of cereal and toast, which was just too good to refuse. In fact, we could have stayed there for weeks, and recommend it to anyone passing through. Once more, which has been the curse of such a tight time schedule, we had to leave long before we wanted, and we had another days drive to get to Kosele and our partner charity ‘Hope and Kindness’.
The roads were good, and we made reasonable progress. Another diversion slowed us down slightly, and then we spotted that we had a slow puncture still in our back left tyre. On closer inspection we found a nail. We enlisted the help of a local man with an air compressor, and a friend with a pair of pliers, and armed with our puncture repair kit, had everything ship shape in half an hour. We continued onwards to Kosele, and eventually, with the time approaching midnight, we arrived. Mary the manager of the school and hostel, kindly had waited up, and brought us bread and jam, before preparing our rooms, where we retired enthusiastically to get some rest. We had to be up by 7.30 for assembly at 8am, and so it wouldn’t be as long a sleep as required, but any sleep had become appreciated, and no sooner had my head hit the pillow, I was sound asleep.
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