Monthly Archives: February 2014

For the last 400km we fail to realise you drive on the left because there are no roads and no traffic.

A bus just drives on sand tracks next to the actual road

Tarmac!!! Just.. Which explains why the traffic prefers going off piste

Usual 1pm break in the shade to wait for the hottest part of the day to pass. The solar panel I carry manages to charge everything in this sun!

Desert. Although there’s a huge lake, it’s salt water so can’t be used for irrigation. Even the ground water is salty. There’s no soil, only sand. All in all there is not much that can be done with this land

Very unpleasant surface for cycling. The road network in this part is like bad acne of the face of Kenya. This is what links a provincial capital to the rest of the country?!?!

Soon some altitude lowers the heat and mountains generate some rainfall. We have left the desert behind. No more nights trying to sleep dripping in sweat –  it’s just really itchy

There’s gold in the water..

In a moment of traffic chaos Aurelien must fight for his space on the road

What look like main roads on the map turn out to be not so main

The most common breakfast is chapati.

Vervet monkeys. They stole one of my mangos.

Aureliens fan club. It’s made up from the entire contents of a school that spotted him and poured out to greet him, very vocally. It’s the teachers I feel sorry for!!

Alleluia says my derriere.. A real Road at last after 800km of sand / gravel / potholes / rocks / clay..

Intex, the Indian construction company responsible for the road. The project manager on my right, Jagdish, flags us down and invites us to the construction compound for the night. On arrival we are given quarters and share curry and conversation with the other Indian engineers. A memorable evening.

Lake Baringo

Wild Ostrich, shutting around like it owned the place.. The are really big!

Road rescue.. In the wrong place at the right time.. (what you don’t see is the BBQ we built just outside this picture)

First crossing of the famous line..

This is what it looks like on GPS

What it is and why they grow it.. We never found out. Answers on a postcard..

What Kenya is also famous for… Tea. The sudden green comes with a gain in  altitude and proximity to Mt Kenya. We cycle past the mountain but can’t see anything due to the rain and cloud

It’s the Tina Turner bird!! Also known as the ‘East African Crowned Crane’

How do I know this???  They have trained the same specimen to stand very still in the Nairobi museum..

Clay roads are a pleasure to cycle on… Until that is, it starts to rain. Then it’s a pain in the arse.

Countryside on the outskirts of Nairobi

Weavers tending their nests

While there is significant investment on the Ethiopian side with new roads, schools, hospitals and electricity projects the same can’t be said about Turkarna on the Kenyan side. It is completely cut off. It was explained to me as a byproduct of people voting along tribal lines. The majority Kikuyu tribe dominated government pouring money into an area inhabited by the Pokot tribe isn’t going to win it any votes from either side, so they don’t bother. All services are provided by the Catholic Church. They run the hospitals, schools, dispensaries, clinics. Nobody looks after the roads or electricity network. Ethiopia are currently building a highway to the border but there is little sign of anything on the Kenyan side. Ethiopia encourage people to visit this remote area, explore the villages and support locals who setup cooperatives while visits to Turkarna are positively discouraged.

As termite nests go, this one is pretty big

Thorstan nearly runs over a chameleon cycling the half finished highway on the Ethiopian side

Then it tries to climb into my bag..

Goat curry and flat bread. Yummy.

Immigration office in Omorate, the last town in Ethiopia where we pick up our Ethiopian departure stamp. Its a long hot desert ride

A cultural exchange, in this case it means being asked for money.

Cross the river.. Being a tourist means the river crossing price is inflated by a factor of 100 and that’s with some hard bargaining. Bikes, travelling Africa for months, no money, not in 4×4 tour group, sob, sob..

The stretch after crossing the river is very dusty. It looks like sand but it’s more like flour. You feet sink into it and when the wind blows it turns you brown.

This is the road to the Ethiopia / Kenya border post. It’s nice and wide without any traffic!

Thorston pushes through the dust to the last Ethiopian military checkpoint . Our GPS indicated it’s in South Sudan, so we are a bit apprehensive approaching. In the end it transpires that there’s a dispute between Kenya and South Sudan over this chunk of desert and it’s firmly controlled by Kenyan troops. Just who they expect to collect taxes from is anybody guess.. A jeep filled with men and machine guns drove out the base to meet us and soon put our minds to rest.  It’s the last military checkpoint on the Ethiopia side. They ask if we need help, maybe we do..
A bunch of blokes in the middle of nowhere with not much to do, our arrival makes the highlight of their day (or month!) We chat, they feed us and make sure we have enough water or the next leg of the journey. Very kind.
We push on..

Todonyang on the Kenyan side. After the special forces checkpoint is this army checkpoint. They point us towards the police station.

Dusk arrival at Kenyan the police station.

Police station where we camp for the night. They even share their food with us. A warm welcome to Kenya. It has a Siberian outpost feel to the place, except much hotter. 
Next day they inspect visas but no entry stamp because there is no immigration.

Sheep and Kalashnikov. Cattle rustling is a way of life in some parts and people get shot quite often.

The road turned into a 20KM sandpit and my bike sunk. Pushing it in the searing heat started to bring on heat stroke, so I flagged down a passing 4×4.

It took me to the Catholic mission in Lowarengak, a huge compound covering a few square Kms with their own airstrip, biplane, living quarters, guest buildings, power generator, lakes and of course, a cathedral like church. On the 4×4 were volunteer doctors from Malaysia providing medical care and drugs to this remote forgotten corner of Kenya.
Later that evening Thorston and Aurelien caught up and joined me for supper with the volunteers.

First signs of life and the first recognisable village. We attract attention on the way in..

And on the way out..

Rest at another Catholic mission. 3 hours after sunset, everything is hot to the touch, meaning it’s over 38degrees. The afternoon I’m sure it’s pushed beyond 45

Simple dwellings. Constructed not to trap the heat.

Next to church run school is the church.. One of the most beautiful I have seen in Africa.

On the road to Lodwar where sand reigns supreme.

And another short stretch in a 4×4 to Lodwar town, the provincial capital of Turkarna

Overnight at John’s, who we met through another cyclist passing in the opposite direction. Had a much deserved day off