An Incredible Journey with No Incidences or Accidents Thus Far

Update covering the period Mar 17 to Mar 20 from a range, land camp, Kenya to Nairobi, Kenya.

The dirt road has ended finally. Initially we all anticipated that in Kenya the ride would somehow be easier. Wrong, the road from Moyale to Isiolo was hard as hell! Unpaved with large boulders, hot as hell and no trees to find shade under. The highlight was Marsabit National Park where we camped three days ago at the Abdul Gate entrance.

This spot was ideal, large trees everywhere with baboons rushing through the canopy. For some the best part was the park service parking a water truck in the middle of the campsite. Fred Promoli came into camp and lay under the truck while the main outlet blasted tons of fresh spring water over his body. The following day about five elephants came within 30 metres of camp. Nobody noticed them other than one of the support truck drivers named Ed who was taking a piss in the bush and rushed back to tell. Amazing how silent these huge mammals can move through the bush.

Two days have passed and we have passed the equator and are back on tar roads. The scenery is spectacular. Mount Kenya with its snowy peak is visible for the entire day. The ride ends at the most luxurious camp we have had since this tour has started. The place is called Savage White Water Rafting. I rode down the unpaved entrance and got a flat but after some cursing I decided to ride on with the puncture to get to camp quickly. What a surprise! There was a beautiful lawn along a river with a beautiful clean swimming pool. Needless to say I dove into the pool and stayed put for the next few hours. Some of the other riders like Steve and Greg joined in this unexpected delight. The rest of the afternoon our conversation centred jokingly around our inability to deal with all this luxury. Meanwhile I am thinking about the tour the riders and the incredible journey we have had with no incidences or accidents. I feel very lucky.

The next day we all ride in formation to Nairobi. Personally I feel let down since I know that we will all be tired and entering into a large city with all the traffic is no fun.

We all met at night at a Nairobi institution called Carnivore, which serves wild game such as zebra, and impala, which is lost on me since I am a veggie. However, great to see all the riders together happy and ready to ride the next 5000km to Cape Town.