Back home to Kenya

Trip Start May 31, 2006

Trip End Oct 14, 2006

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Flag of Kenya Moyale, Kenya
Thursday, August 10, 2006

10th August was a big drive day with the scenery starting to change around us as we headed down towards Kenya. It was becoming much flatter, and less green and wet, the further south we got, we had to slow the truck to allow some rutting cattle to pass infront (and it was about this time that Greg and I devised a system for ranking the stupidity of Ethiopian Animals...to paraphrase Greg's blog, this is what we decided: Clara & I devised a ranking system of creatures loitering on the road & their reactions to a big green truck bearing down on them. Baboons were the smartest, followed by camels & - surprisingly - goats & then donkeys, sheep & cattle. Dogs were the stupidest, with humans a close second.) We managed to arrive in Moyale on the Ethiopian side with no truck fatalities at 3.30pm. After a successful border post on the Ethiopian side, Ange and I made a mad dash for a last juice - Avocado and Pineapple works really quite well and was well worth the consternation of the others of disappearing - before being told to walk over the border whilst Ronnie and Peter got some money changed

Happy Families

. The walk across the border kind of epitomised our Ethiopian experience with people as I walked across the border with kids at my side begging for money and hassling us with 'you'...so much so that I was that close to hitting one of them...but as soon as we hit Kenyan soil it ended (that's not to say they don't beg but it is so much less in your face and offensive as it is in Ethiopia...I'm sorry but it's true, much as I love the country). It was nicely summed up by Tracey in no mosques (there is quite a lot of muslims in Ethiopia and the call to prayer in the early morning is quite loud), no rain (based on the fact of the floods in Ethiopia I think that needs no further explanation), no 'you's' (the fact that is their favourite word for us) and no ripping off (as they saw us as $$ it wasn't just a slight increase for tourists it was blatent!). Now we were in Moyale, Kenya so with the Sun overhead we got in some drinks, set up our tents in the police barracks and set about making dinner. We got a visit from the wives of a couple of the officers who are from Peter's tribe...and Greg and Tracey made friends with their babies and had 'family photos' taken. Then it was bed for our drive down to Marsabit...hopefully much less eventful than last time!