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!