MARSABIT
Trip Start
Jul 14, 2007
1
6
12
Trip End
Ongoing
Marsabit National Reserve,
Turkana,
Kenya
Sunday, September 2, 2007
I didn't intend to stay here for three days.It was only the difficulty of understanding how you could possibly leave that made me.But in the end I was glad I did.
This was definitely as good a place as any to slow down and experience small town life in a remote and relatively safe part of Africa.
For once,it was the guide who made it.Initially,I shrugged him away when he came calling at my hotel,word having got around that a backpacker was in town.I expected the usual story of people taking you where you could go alone,and wasting your money for their unnecessary services.
But eventually I came to realise that he was a good guy,and he showed me things to do that made my stay very enjoyable,while charging me very little.
He negotiated me a reasonable price to drive around Marsabit game reserve,even though I was the only punter.We went together to the Singing Wells,where men maintain the tradition of drawing water from deep wells using makeshift wooden ladders and scaffolds,passing buckets up in a human chain,singing as they work.Sadly they wanted $20 for one picture so I declined.(You will have to take my word for it,now I have no photographic evidence).
He also found me an out of the way place serving a fine chicken and potatoe dinner.Best of all,he took me cycling for the first time in 20 years,visiting volcanic craters and traditional villages.Unfortunately,some of the tracks were bad and punctures were inevitable,but we still had a pleasant time When he couldn't come one day,his son took me out instead.
My enforced stopover also allowed me to view Liverpool beating Derby 6-0 on DSTV in a local cinema.We sat on wooden benches watching large screens,for a matter of a few pence,collected moments before kick off.Everybody was full of enthusiasm,and I liked the fact that there was no pressure to buy food or drinks,like you do in a pub to watch football.
Eventually,on the third morning of trying,I managed to get up at 6am and get on a truck to central Kenya.The day before,the only truck going had contained animals and people were sitting precariously high on the bars.I had climbed up manfully with heavy bags,only to be told that they would not take foreigners in these circumstances,and be told to get down.
Today the truck contained only people,so I was permitted,but it still turned into a 14 hour ride of discomfort in a truck often filled with thick dust.Early on,I sat on the bars,but as the truck got full at later villages,people below began to sit on my bags,so I had to get down to protect them.
It was a shame there was no bus.They operate infrequently,maybe once or twice a week,and supposedly reach their destination up to 4 hours quicker.I was not to be favoured on this trip and did not choose to wait any more days on the off chance of a more comfortable ride.
