Saturday was always going to be a challenging day given the drive from Nairobi to Tarime was estimated to be ten hours.
Saturday was always going to be a challenging day given the drive from Nairobi to Tarime was estimated to be ten hours. Having met with the bus owner a month prior and mapped out the route the eight hour rute with some stops would get to Tarime in 10 hours allowing for some breaks along the way.
While no photos were taken of the guesthouse the following photo tells all you need to know about health education in Africa. Eat more sugar everyone!
Having driven this route in 2014 from Tanzania after visiting Masaii Mara I knew the road was all sealed. The shorter route provided the advantage of seeing the Great Rift Valley which was about an hour out of Nairobi. Our departure was an hour late as we loaded the top of the bus. No tarps for the rainy season!
The drive through Nairobi was an eye opener for many as we saw slums and shanty towns and multi story buildings built where shanties once existed. Being early Saturday morning we avoided the terrible traffic I remember of my previous visits to Nairobi.
The viewpoint of the Great Rift Valley was spectacular and littered with tourist “shops.”
The drive gave views of agricultural life as we saw farms that had tractors growing large areas of maize, millet and other crops. Kenya is relatively well developed compared to rural Tanzania and even the towns we passed looked more propserous.
First stop after the viewpoint was Narok for petrol which is obviously a tourist stop that allowed some shopping. The owner and driver located a large tarp for the bus just in case.
Lunch was to be at Kisii but as the clouds increased the bus stopped at a largish town which could have been Bomet or Keroka. The driver and owner set to cover the luggage with a large tarp. We took lunch here and had a break. Given what lay ahead this was a lucky decision. Kisii as it turns out was still an hour away and we would have been eating at 3pm. People were not afraid to order and some even ate traditional African food! The chicken and chips photo is the KFC alternative outside Nairobi.
And then it rained soon after leaving for the drive to Kisii. The rain was incredible in its intensity and the volume of water on the roads. Photos were impossible. We saw motorcycle taxis with umbrellas attached to the front, providing scant protection from the downpour. Driving through Kisii was an adventure as the main road was blocked and we drove along dirt roads on the side through a very long sliver of a city that seemed to go forever.
Back on to rural areas but at a reduced speed to allow for the conditions.The driver was excellent. It was intended to be at the Isibania border by 4pm. The best laid plans …. saw us driving to the border after dark and entering a one stop shop. In the entry door, Kenyan desk to exit the country then onto the Tanzanian desk to present visas and enter our destination country. Some hiccups as the Kenyans asked for the tour leader and I was summonsed to be told tour operators need to provide a manifest before arrival so they can plan.
“We are just nineteen individuals on a private tour. I did have a list which I provided to be aked why is this not on the company letterhead? Our administrative probles and those who had no printed visas were hotspotted to getthe visas off phones and we were away in 75 minutes. Pretty good by African standards. A quick stop at an ATM so people could buy Tanzanian shillings and then thirty minutes in driving rain which became 45 minutes to Tarime. Liaison with the bishop and the decision was get off the bus and straight to dinner. He did make mention of getting us gumboots!
We would have appreciated gumboots on arrival as we left the bus. A huge number of church members who worked at Mogabiri greeted us. We were ushered to the dining room as others unloaded our luggage. After dinner our luggae was carried across the wet grass to our various accommodation units.
Mogabiri is a farm training centre. A good write up about it was done by Goshen College students who spent time here as students. The official website names it as Mogabiri Farm Extension Centre operated as a ministry of the Anglican Church and supported by Bread for the World (Brot fur de Welt) Germany.
Sunday was discussed over dinner. We had three cathedrals that pastors on our trip were preaching at. Jodie McNeill for Mara Diocese Musoma meant an early start at 6.50am, David Morgan at Rorya didn’t need to leave till 8.15am and Robin Vonk struck the jackpot staying at Tarime with a 9am start. Three local parishes were to be visited by three groups as well so all in all our 19 people were visiting six churches.
We were able to sleep soundly with top notch security looking after us. Oh and the rain just kept coming.
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