South Africa: Somerset West.

Sunday 29th March

La Piazza, Somerset West: It's hard to believe, but it is only 6 weeks ago today that John & I set off on our overland trip to Nanyuki, in Kenya, just north of the equator. In that time, we covered 9000 kms on all sorts of surface, consumed 1050 litres of diesel and stayed at lodgings that went from Camping to 1-5 star hotels, to positively "only in an emergency" will I stay there! And we did!! Our carbon footprint is a great big paw print, but last night I did my bit, switching off all the lights in my house for one hour. 

As 8.30pm struck in each timezone, 4000 cities and towns in 88 countries switched off the lights to mark Earth Hour, a World Wildlife Fund sponsored campaign to highlight the threat of climate change. I just hope that the 6 tea light candles we burned for that hour didn't produce more emissions than we saved!

I had a much needed sleep, only waking up at 11am today. Gus & Kina set off at 6.45 for their 2 day drive to Johannesburg. When I called them at 1130am, they were already in Beaufort West, making great time. They're hoping to make it to Bloomfontein by nightfall, 1000kms away, in a 1980's Land Rover Defender! Looking forward to welcoming them back on the 6th.

I'm going to head back to London around the 9th or 10th of April & then to Ireland soon after. John & I will start our journey again in June, travelling from Kenya to Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania, Malawi and Mozambique before heading for the Kruger park in SA. 

Tony Cunningham, who should have been with us for the last 6 weeks. He tells me that he won't be able to join us for the return leg either. He was going to be with us when we departed Cape Town but owing to some last minutes problems he encountered, he had to cancel his trip. We had really hoped he could join us for the return, but sadly no. He has missed out on some wonderful experiences although he also missed out on some 'rough' living.

Anyway, back to the itinerary for the next leg; Departing from London to Nairobi on the 8th June. Departing Camp David on the 12th June, for Uganda. Leaving Cape Town for London 6 weeks later, richer in knowledge & happiness.  

Tomorrow is the 2nd anniversary of the death of my beloved wife Chrisanna. 

Those who knew us both, know how much she meant to me, and how it has altered my life these last four years, since she was diagnosed with cancer in February 2005, and her untimely death on the 30th March 2007, aged just 45.


I was privileged to have shared her life for 25 of her 45 year life and if ever there was a guardian angel looking after me, or someone urging me to fulfill a dream, it would have been Chrisanna. A very special thanks to Fr Vincent Docherty in Southsea, near Portsmouth, & Fr Kevin Dadswell in Strand (South Africa) for their prayers and remembrance tomorrow at their respective mass. Their love & support these last four years has been a blessing in itself. On a lighter note, I wouldn't have stood a chance in hell of getting her on a trip like this. Mindy wanted her to do a safari in Kenya but she just asked if there was a socket in the tent to plug in her hairdryer!  She was a room service queen. She would have happily supported my journey though.

I'll do another post with all the info for our next trip so it'll be easy to pop back and see what's happening regarding our plans. Stay tuned and thanks once again for all the support and messages we received along the way.

Kenya to South Africa by Jet.

Saturday 28th March

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO JOHN, MY TRAVELLING COMPANION FOR THE LAST 6 WEEKS.

From Dust and Diesel

Nairobi-Johannesburg-Cape Town:

I set my alarm for 4am before I went to bed last night. The mosquitos and the heat in the room ensured that I didn't get any sleep until 30 minutes before I was due to wake. Every time I was dozing off I suddenly heard that high pitched whine of a mosquito, just getting ready to land, preparing for a feast. So, up I'd get, switch on the light & go hunting for it. It was a game of patience because mosquitos have developed an amazing survival ability in recent years, and will head off somewhere dark and stay put for a while. Then, when they think their prey has given up the game, back they come.

Back it came alright, and splat, I got it on the wall beside the bed. At this stage I wasn't too worried about waking the occupant in the next room because every 20 minutes or so, he made a dash to the (shared) toilet, near my room, and was violently sick. That went on all night as well. I was glad I didn't eat or drink whatever he'd had. His Toyota Landcruiser was parked outside and he was on a trip from Cape Town to Paris. Somehow, I doubt he'll be travelling today.

Oh, how I envied John, probably fast asleep on the 777, heading northbound for London.

I decided I might as well get up, so with some trepidation, I ventured into the bathroom, expecting to find it like a toilet in a crowded pub at midnight on a Saturday night. Thankfully, it was fine, so I quickly showered, grateful I had shaved before bed, thereby reducing my exposure to everything.

The taxi turned up at 4.40am & I was at the airport at 5.10am, for the 7.35 departure. The check-in staff for South African Airways told me the flight was overbooked, so I might not get a seat. This is the negative side of staff travel.


I was told to return at 7am so I read my book until then.  At 7am, I went back to the now empty check in desk. Of course she had forgotten all about me, so there was a slight sense of pandemonium as she frantically tried to get me a seat. I was in luck, I got an aisle seat, 28C, & could I please hurry to the gate. 'Hurry' is not a word you hear much in Africa, and there was still 30 minutes to go, so I didn't hurry, given I was tired & I had been sitting on a plastic chair for almost two hours. I got to the gate within 7 or 8 minutes and they'd just started boarding so I went off and got a very welcome coffee as there's no refreshment facilities in the check-in area.

I got on board at about 7.25, got my aisle seat & saw only 1 other empty seat on board. I was lucky today. We left on schedule, a delicious cooked breakfast was served and they also screened a movie, which I watched. I missed the beginning, so I have no idea what it was called, but it helped to pass the 4 hour flight. I managed to doze for a while, read for a while, & next thing, we are landing at Johannesburg, almost 30 minutes early.

My next flight is at 1pm, so I have 2 hours to make the connection. I went to the domestic departure area and decided I'd have lunch at Ocean Basket. This is a chain restaurant in South Africa and their fish is always excellent. I had a combo meal, calamari + linefish & chips. Oh heaven, it was delicious, and it cost R55. That's under US$6, or £4, or for you lucky eurozone folk, only 4 euros. Value & Quality; I'm back in South Africa for sure. Yesterday, at Jungle Junction, John & I asked for a cheese & onion sandwich. One hour later, we got an omlette sandwich. Well, that was a first for me & although it was rather tasty, it cost the same as my fish meal.

I was given a seat on the 1pm SAA flight and landed in Cape Town at 3pm. Tony Cunningham was there to meet me, luxury at last, in his lovely new Mercedes. I got back to La Piazza and Gus & Kina were waiting to welcome me back. That was really lovely because they delayed their departure to Jo'burg so they could spend a night with me. I was presented with a lovely cold beer, frosted glass out of the freezer, & I saw the completed work that has been carried out on my garden; new footpath, plants etc. Thank you Gus & Kina for overseeing that. Very happy with the outcome, despite the initial hiccups of them cutting the water supply pipe, the phone line & the irrigation system as well.

I went to church at 5.30 and met Fr Kevin after mass. He was delighted to see me back safe & sound. He told me he worried for me every day, and always said a prayer. A true friend. We'll have dinner before I leave for Ireland.

It really is nice to be back and I noticed after church that the evenings are turning chilly. Gus & Kina had a braai going; steak,salad & wonderful potato bake. Tony joined us for dinner & somehow we worked our way through a few bottles of red wine. This just added to my need for sleep after last nights deprivation. I was happy to call it a night at 11pm.

Kenya: Nanyuki to Nairobi.

Friday 27th March

Nanyuki – Nairobi: We made a booking with Safari Link Airlines for the 35 minute flight from Nanyuki to Nairobi Wilson airport.

The aircraft is a Cessna Caravan, very quiet, comfortable and powerful. My good friends and neighbours, Tony& Sylvia, call it a rubber band engine, given that it is propeller driven. It departed on schedule at 1230 and we touched down just after 1pm. I'm happy to report the rubber band was strong & lasted all the way.

I normally use Air Kenya on this route but recently they’ve started to vary their routing the day before and often times a 35 minute single sector flight can turn into a 3 sector, 2 hour 30 minute flight, departing at 10am instead of 1130am.

Our taxi was waiting for us at the private  Nairobi Wilson Airfield and Stephen, the driver, took us to Jungle Junction.

This is where we stayed on the 18th of this month when we arrived in Nairobi from Cape Town. John is flying to London at 1130 tonight, on British Airways. He can relax and have dinner here before heading for Nairobi International (JKIA) at about 8pm. I’ll head off to bed immediately after he departs for the airport because I have a taxi ordered at 5am tomorrow morning. I have a 7.30am South African Airways flight to Johannesburg, a 4hour flight, and I’ll make a connection for the onward leg to Cape Town, a 2 hour flight. I hope to arrive in Cape Town by 4pm tomorrow afternoon. It’s just a bit different to our 32 day journey across sand, swamp, bush, gravel & potholed tarmac, between the same two points.

Kenya: Nanyuki (Camp David).

Thursday 26th March Camp David, Nanyuki:

Stayed at Camp David today. As we are garaging Dusty for 3 months, we needed to ensure everything was in order. After sorting out our personal stuff, we emptied and cleaned the fridge, taking the lid off as well so we don’t return to a bad odour. We then took it to the Camp David workshop where there is a pit and gave it a thorough inspection underneath.

We’re happy to report that everything is exactly as it should be so we then disconnected both batteries and made sure we had all our documentation to get us out of the country. To get it into the garage, we had to remove all the extras we carried on the roof rack, such as spare wheel, gas cylinder and both jerry cans of diesel. We relocated all except the spare wheel inside the disco, for the storage.

 Due to the severe water shortage, Dusty will remain very dusty for the next few months, as you can see from this photo.

After that, John had to do a few jobs around the house and then Pauline (the cook) prepared the most delicious chicken curry. We’ve been spoiled for the last 8 days with all her culinary skills. 

It was a most relaxing stay and much needed relaxation after our 32 days on the road. John & I would like to extend a very special thank you to Mindy for the wonderful Camp David hospitality. See you in June for the return leg! And, we both hope the rains arrive soon to fill the dams and water tanks.

Kenya: Nanyuki (Camp David) to Solio Ranch.

Wednesday 25th March 

Camp David to Solio Ranch:

We drove to Solio Ranch to have lunch with Annie, who is starting a sanctuary there for chimpanzees. We passed through the ranch itself & got to see the the White Rhino, Buffalo, as well as lots of other wildlife.

Kenya: Loisaba to Nanyuki (Camp David).

Tuesday 24th March 

Loisaba Wilderness:

After a nice lazy start to the day, we all gathered for breakfast about 10am.

We then went to the workshop to meet Bombay, their chief mechanic. His job is to keep the fleet of Land Rover defenders mobile so that clients are able to have a safari whenever they wish. It's a very impressive operation and Bombay (no, he is British, not Indian) seems to be an absoluter master in his role.

We left Jim & Lori about 12 midday. We got back to Camp David just over 2 hours later and spent the rest of the day here. On the way back, within a few kms of Camp David, we came across an interesting sight. Somebody, and no one seems to know who, has started to fence off land that is just outside the perimeter fence of Camp David. They have actually started to fence off the road, so who knows what will happen next.

And finally, a Zebra crossing in the bush! Sorry, just couldn't resist that old one!

The update on the road is that someone has just bought a parcel of land and wants to fence it. The official government road is not what you see above, so it has to be rerouted. TIA as in 'This Is Africa'

Kenya: Nanyuki to Loisaba.

Monday 23rd March 
 

Drove to Loisaba today to visit Jim & Lori, the owners.  Loisaba is a wilderness reserve of 63000 acres and on a good day, you could see all of the big 5. www.loisaba.com Today, however was a social visit & we were staying the night with them at their home, although we did see a young elephant wander through their back garden.

The drive over took two hours, the road has deteriorated since the last time I drove on it so it was a bumpy and rocky ride for most of the 75 kms. If you have excel on your computer and would care to read the directions, it makes interesting reading. Just click on the link below and then select 'Directions from Nanyuki' It's worth it just for a laugh!

http://www.loisaba.com/fact_file.php

We also had to cross a river but unlike a few months ago, it was now just a dry bed. There is a serious water shortage developing in this region and everyone is hoping that the anticipated rains will arrive in April. We had a wonderful, social afternoon and evening, having lunch by the pool with views across the plains, as far as the eye can see.

We the drove to a beautiful spot for sundowners, in Jim's 2 Yamaha Rhinos, the perfect little runaround for the Loisaba bush, not to mention the great fun of driving them. And, you can drink & drive in the bush, just don't fall out of the Rhino.

They can go just about anywhere you're brave enough to attempt. After sun downers, we returned to Loisaba & had dinner at their house.

Kenya: Nanyuki to Mount Kenya.

Sunday 22nd March

Nanyuki, Kenya: Today we're heading off to Mt. Kenya for a picnic. We have the most wonderful views of it from Camp David.
So, we thought we would get up close & personal. It's only a 1 hour drive to the base from here. When we got there, we pulled up at the entry point and they wanted $165 plus another $30 for the vehicle. Given that we are literally at the base of the mountain by now, parting with $200 just to get in for a couple of hours seemed outrageous so we found ourselves a most delightful picnic spot nearby, with wonderful views of the peak, and had ourselves a lovely picnic. Why do so many of the national parks in Africa insist on ripping people off, it's crazy. Don't they know there's a recession!



There's that great canopy above our heads as well, which to be honest, John & I rarely used. The table is also huge, and fits in its own slot on the roofrack.

Kenya: Nanyuki

                                      Saturday 21st March 

Nanyuki, Kenya:

Happy to report that today was a day of relaxation. That is, until I watched Ireland play Wales in the 6 Nations Rugby. If Ireland win, they achieve the Grand Slam, the first for Ireland since 1948. My goodness, I wasn't even born then so they've got to be long overdue for this.

It was a tense match, on both sides because if Wales could defeat Ireland by 13 points, they would win the Grand Slam. It came down to the final minutes and Ireland was behind then suddenly a drop goal put them in front. What drama. In the final minute of the game, Wales got awarded a penalty kick and all they had to do was score & Ireland would have lost their dream.

The ball fell just short of its target & Ireland were crowned as Grand Slam winners. Give me a showdown with a Somalian rebel any day & I think I would have been calmer. After that, a wee dram to toast my countrymen & off to bed.

Kenya: Nanyuki

Friday 20th March

Nanyuki, Kenya: Oh what a lazy day we've had. No worries about which town to head to next. No worries about where to eat, where to stay, although maybe we should now start worrying about how much we eat!

Had a wonderful sleep last night and today we've been clearing out the Disco a little. Had a few small jobs to do, the rear seat had shed it's bolts, probably due to the rattling on rough roads. They were found and refitted, job done. The headlights needed adjusting, due to the number of vehicles flashing us at night, job done. The spotlights needed tightening, job done. A wire had disconnected from the additional oil pressure gauge, easy, job done. That was it, after almost 9000 kms of hard motoring. Good old Dusty, totally reliable and long may it last.

Apart from that, we've just been relaxing today, even managed an afternoon nap. What decadence!

Tomorrow, we're meeting with friends for lunch, that'll be fun, because they are. We're heading for Loi Saba on Monday to see Jim & Lori. Thankfully, we've not needed to call on their helicopter offer... yet!  I am, however, looking forward to their invitation on the  4th of of April to have a helicopter tour around the Cape Peninsula followed by lunch in a vineyard.

Grant, if you're reading this, can we order those Wild Namibian Oysters please? There's only one place to eat in the winelands as far as I'm concerned, and that's at Henris, in Somerset West, owned and managed by Grant & Laura, ably assisted by the most wonderful staff.

Kenya: Nairobi to Nanyuki. Final Destination of this trip.

Thursday 19th March

Nairobi to Nanyuki: This is the date I set months ago, to arrive in Nanyuki. We are bang on schedule, having allowed ourselves a few days on the coast to relax in Tiwi Beach. We're going to leave the Jungle Junction Guesthouse/Campsite in Nairobi at about 1030. That will hopefully have allowed the traffic to calm down. A 40 minute journey during quiet times in Nairobi can easily turn into a 3 hour journey in rush hour. 

As we have 220 kms to to drive to Nanyuki town itself, we're allowing 4 hours for that journey. We'll cross the equator into the Northern Hemisphere just before Nanyuki town and we're planning that for about 1200gmt.
 

I'll update this once we're settled in at our final stop. Still plenty of exploring to do between now and the 27th. We'll be visiting Mt Kenya & Loi Saba as well as other places of interest so please do check up on us as we'll be continuing to blog.

We've just had breakfast at JJ and getting ready to face the traffic. First stop is to get oil & filter so we can do a service on Dusty when we have a day off.

Update: Despite spending an hour in Nairobi, we never did get the oil & filter. We want to get a specific oil & we just couldn't find it. We set off for Nanyuki just after midday and I never knew Nairobi has so many roundabouts. Also, there is not a single sign anywhere to give you guidance. What price then for a GPS that guides you through each roundabout with absolute precision. The traffic was still crazy, but not gridlocked, so now you're faced with the total lack of lane (what lane?) discipline. We got through the city, at least 12 roundabouts and by 1245 we are on the north side, on a dual carriageway. 

Nanyuki is the next stop and I just want to let you know that we achieved our aim of being there at 12 Midday. We stopped at the Trout Tree for a bite of lunch. Who should be in there but the American Ambassador, just finishing his lunch. I'm pleased to see he has good taste as well!! After our quick lunch, we headed into town, had the disco washed and a quick look around the town we've been heading to for the last 32 days. 

We've arrived at Camp David.
 

Mindy's home: Camp David in Nanyuki, Kenya.

We've had a wonderful welcome from Mindy, and the champagne was opened to celebrate. The total kms driven in 32 days was 8,725 Kilometres. Once again, please stay with us, we're not done yet, by a long chalk.

Camp David (Kenya)

Kenya: Tsavo East to Nairobi

Wednesday 18^th march

Mombasa Highway, Kenya: Having had a light breakfast, we were on the road by 8.45am. The Swiss guests were checking out at 6am and they were so noisy we may as well have got up then, there was no more sleep to be had.

The Highway was definitely calmer than last night, not so many lorries at all. Our first stop was Makindu to visit the famous Sikh Temple there. That was a 175km drive and we arrived there at 1115. We were shown around and then invited for something to eat. You can call in anytime apparently and there is always free food. Also, if you want, they will provide free accommodation. All you do at the end is leave a donation. We had a delicious vegetarian meal, quite spicy for 1130 in the morning and it was actually the end of their breakfast service. We were back on the road at 1215, having had a walk around the grounds.

Now, the next stop was Nairobi and that was about 160 kms. There’s a lot of road works on the A109 as you get within 50kms of Nairobi and that slowed us down considerably. Of course, we saw two more truck wrecks as we passed through this area..

We eventually arrived in the city at about 3pm and then it just became a traffic jam. Anyone who is familiar with the city will know how bad that can actually be. We headed for Jungle Junction, a small guesthouse and campsite in a very nice part of the city. The last 2 kms probably took at least an hour and as it was up an incredibly steep hill, with stop start traffic, I had to engage low ratio or I would have burnt the clutch out by the time we got to the top. Dusty is amazingly strong but put it on a steep hill in that situation and it would struggle to pull away in normal gearing.

We got to Jungle Junction and got the last two rooms, they only have six. Not long after, 2 South Africans rode in on their BMW 1200GS bikes. They had arrived from Cairo & both their shocks also went on the infamous road from Ethiopia to Nairobi. They decided to camp as they didn’t wish to travel any further today. They are heading to SA after this.

We left the lodge after breakfast and after about 4 hours on the road, stopped at a mosque for brunch. 

I use the word brunch as they were in between breakfast & lunch so everything was on offer. It was all free, and seemingly very popular. We had to cover our heads which is normal in a mosque. 

The food was excellent and the welcome very friendly. That set us up for a straight run to Nairobi. About 100kms from Nairobi, the road was under construction and it was awful. Yet more truck wrecks. 

Once in Nairobi, we headed for Jungle Junction, a good overlanders spot.


At about 6.45 pm we headed to a local shopping centre, to an Italian Restaurant I’d eaten at during a previous trip to Nairobi. Had a very nice pasta dish followed by a decadent dessert and we headed back to JJ about 9.45 pm & straight to bed. We’ve got King size beds in our rooms so a good sleep is anticipated. Tomorrow, we have about 250 kms to travel to Nanyuki and at that point we will cross the equator, 25 kms from our final destination, into the Northern Hemisphere

Kenya: St. Patricks Day. Mombasa to Tsavo East.

Tuesday 17^th March

Kenya Coast-Tsavo East:  

We said our farewell after breakfast to Jurie (the manager) & his staff at the Sheshe Hotel on Tiwi Beach. It really is the most wonderful setting even though it was hot & humid. As quickly as you drank water, you felt like it was coming back out through all your pores again. We were the only paying guests there at the weekend. Kenya has suffered a huge downturn in tourism since the election violence of January 2008. Just as it was recovering from that, along came the global market crash. They have an updated website coming soon: 
 
 www.sheshebeach.com
 

We boarded the ferry at about 1045 for the 5 minute crossing to Mombasa Town. Once there, we decided we’d get Dusty washed because it had caked on mud sticking to everything after the journey through the mud of Tanzania. We’d seen a pressure washer in operation yesterday at a garage when we were in town so we took it there. He took about an hour to clean it but it was well worthwhile to see the gleaming finish, especially after 8000 kms of hard driving.

We also stocked up with a few provisions from the supermarket across the road and then we were on our way out of town. Still crazy with traffic, we slowly saw it calm down as we made our way up the coast. 

Road to Watamu from Mombasa

Watamu town.

A most beautiful picture postcard beach

Hemingways Beach Hotel, Watamu

Another beautiful beach

We were heading for Malindi but also conscious of the time factor. Nothing happens quickly here and small distances can sometimes take a long time to cover. We stopped in at Watamu, a nature reserve on the coast. We called in at Hemingways, a rather swish resort hotel on a most exquisite white beach. We then drove along to the Watamu Marine Nature Park. The setting is quite beautiful and the beach is also pure picture postcard. We knew we couldn’t make Malindi now as we’d decided we should try & reduce our long drive tomorrow by eating up some of those K’s today. Anyway, Malindi is just another coastal resort, probably similar to Mombasa so we were not too worried. We had to backtrack to Kilifi, a distance of 55 kms and then take a 50 km dirt road to Mariakani, where we would join the A109, the Mombasa to Nairobi highway. 

A Local truck & bus service.

Driving due west into the sunset now, it was quite difficult because of the intensity of the sun. Along the way, we had to stop while a lorry towed a pickup truck out of a ditch. The pickup looked a bit worse for wear after careering down the slope, with bits of bodywork hanging off in different places.

Having arrived at the main road, we joined it in the middle of Mariakani town. We then basically joined a trucking route and apart from ourselves and the occasional car, it was mainly Lorries of all sizes, all obviously trying to get to Nairobi, or Mombasa, in the quickest possible time. We’ve grown used to Lorries overtaking us in the most ridiculous places, usually on bends, or the brow of a hill, where we’d be driving carefully. If they saw a gap, they were past us. It was crazy, because invariably we’d just recently passed them, & we would pass them again on the next safe stretch. One place we always get overtaken is in town. We slow down to observe the speed limit and whoosh, there goes that lorry we overtook 2 minutes ago.

So, from the frying pan into the fire probably sums up the feeling of coming off a bad dirt road onto hells inferno, the Mombasa highway. It consists of 2 lanes, one in each direction, so a highway is rather a grand term for its description. We witnessed yet again, Lorries trying to overtake each other, and us, in the craziest situations. Also, it is dusk now and the light fades rapidly here. There are Lorries driving with lights switched off. Later, we come up behind a lorry with his reversing lights on! Not the easiest situation. Then, a 4x4 Toyota station wagon overtakes us in a very dangerous place. How he managed to squeeze in before the oncoming lorry appeared, almost off the road trying to avoid him, was a miracle. At this stage, we are sitting behind a petrol tanker so it’s easy to see how these crazy accidents occur. Recently, on this very road, a petrol tanker was in collision with another vehicle and overturned. People were trying to steal petrol from it as it leaked; pouring it into anything they could carry it away in. Allegedly, someone throws a cigarette onto the road and suddenly there’s an inferno. Dozens died in that. Dozens more maimed. It happened just last month. 

We were now quite anxious to call it quits for the day and we were heading for Sagala Lodge, about 100 kms along the main road, by Tsavo East National Park.

We arrived there and gratefully switched the engine off. We’re two kms down a dirt track road and they have a small sanctuary. Right now, we don’t need to see any animals; This is a sanctuary to us from route109. At last, it’s time for that cold Guinness to celebrate St Patrick’s Day. They’ve been in the fridge since my little supermarket shop in Mombasa and they are perfectly chilled. They make the Guinness strong in Africa and when I check I see it’s 6.9%. That’s perfect for now, just what we need after that drive. Dinner is served just after 8, we then sit around a lovely campfire and look at the stars for a while, as Arthur Guinness goes to work. Off to bed about 10pm and we’re no sooner in our respective doors than the place descends into darkness. They never said the generator was being switched off, so no reading tonight then. Always an obstacle when it comes to finishing that book. Hopefully next week then!

Kenya: Tiwi Beach near Mombasa.

 Apologies for the font colour/background on this. I'm trying to fix it, but just seem to dig a deeper hole each time.

Monday 16th March

Tiwi Beach, Mombasa, Kenya:  

This morning we drove into Mombasa, about 25 kms from our hotel. 

You have to take a ferry across to it and the whole process from arriving at the ferry took about 30 minutes until we were disembarking on the other side. The crossing itself takes just 5 minutes. 

Mombasa ferry

Mombasa itself was crazy, the traffic was gridlock and we eventually found a parking space on Digo Street. We went to an internet café and tried to connect the laptop to the internet. No joy, it would not work. It was exactly the same with the next two places we tried as well. I went three banks to try and get money out, all ATM machines were broken.

Downtown Mombasa

We decided to leave the city before rush hour started and got back on the ferry at 3.30. We headed for the shopping area at Diani Beach, near where we’re staying. I’m hoping be able to get money in the relative calm of this area and perhaps also update the blog. That’ll be it for the rest of the day for us, then we’ll just head back to the hotel & relax. 

We’ll be heading off again tomorrow for Malindi, about 120 kms north of here.

Good news, I'm in Diani Beach, I found an ATM that works and I'm connected to the Internet as well so now updated. Also, a lovely little café that has just delivered 2 pots of coffee and 4 delicious samoosas to the internet shop for us. This will keep us going until we reach for a Tusker, later!. 

Tomorrow, I’ll be celebrating St. Patrick's day in Malindi so I’ll be looking for a cold Guinness there. I think I’ll be able to get a can, somewhere. Thanks for all your guest book entries & wishes.