Thursday, July 15, 2010

13th - 14th July Fiona's perspective

Gavin's vehicle has been fixed and we are ready to go.

Whilst the guys were fixing cars, I went through my clothes, only to discover I have 2 pairs of clean pants left! I have to plan a wash and get the clothes dry before the Putsi fly lays eggs! Stress. I thought holidays were meant to be relaxing!!!

After a nice long, hot bath we went out to a local Indian restaurant in Entebbe recommended by Jane, 4 Point.
We had great Butter chicken and then all exhausted headed back to the hotel.

Security had been stepped up at the hotel and we had to open the car for a cursory search and mirror searches under the car. They even had Police in attendance. It is all a farce though as their search was certainly not thorough at all. There are Americans staying at the hotel, so I suppose it looked good.

After a healthy fruit breakfast, we continued on our journey. We are going to cross over into Kenya today. As the border crossings are going to have much tighter security, we are going to travel a little further to a smaller Border post, which is less busy.

We decided to first head for JinJa, where Jen had seen a painting she wanted to buy. I happened to see a couple I like too. After a quick bite to eat at 2Freinds restaurant, we were on our way and soon got to the Busia border post into Kenya. This was a relatively smooth crossing and it probably took all of 60min to pass through both entry and exit customs offices.

So now off to Raj's place in Eldoret, Kenya for the night before heading off to Lake Nakuru or Naivasha.

In Kenya the landscape changed from Banana plants to Mielie fields and Rice Paddies.

The trip up to Naiberi River Camp, Raj's place was uneventful until it got dark and we still had about 50km to go. There is good reason why you should not drive after dark in Africa.
Picture this, No road markings, No lights, trucks with No lights, trucks straddling the middle of the road(and they do not move over for anyone), potholes all over the road big enough to lose a tyre so everyone is weaving around them, which is also difficult as you only see them at the last minute!! goats and cows crossing and people walking everywhere, on and off the road!!!

So the last 50km took well over an hour as it had started to rain too! My job was to spot the potholes, whilst Alan avoided everything else! Very stressful.
By the time we got to our destination it was 8PM and we headed straight for the bar for a double Jamesons.

Raj who owns the place and about half the towns factories... Is a great character. He is a 54yr old with a 23yr old Kenyan girlfriend. He has long hair at the back, shaved on the sides. Jessica who stayed here on the journey up to Uganda calls it a mullet.

Jen and Gav went to bed early which left us drinking Jamesons till midnight with Raj. Listening to his stories and laughing a lot.


Sent via my BlackBerry from Vodacom - let your email find you!

1 comment:

  1. hihihihi... this is Raj and Maggy op you guys can come again sooner lol have a good one we miss you already

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