Home » Kenya » Back to the cradle of man - and 101 photos of Kenya!

Bonjourno! Another VERY long one, but it has been two weeks, so lots to cover, and I promise you it’ll make you think in places. It’ll also definitely make you laugh at me. Enjoy the photos - the connection here is good, and the photos are low quality so it really didn’t take long to upload them. Thought I’d treat you near the end of my travels, especially after the blog length. But it’s quantity over quality. Have fun.

Back to the cradle of man - and 101 photos of Kenya!

Simon Wadsworth
2006-09-04 11:09:08

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In Kenya, there’s a number of forms of public transport: round town it’s either an Indian-style beaten up rickshaw, a taxi on its last legs, or a poda-poda, which is basically a bicycle with a seat precariously perched on the back wheel. Intercity, it’s a choice of either coach, bus or matatu, though the choice is not always available. If it were, matatus (or chicken buses) would be a thing of the past - they leave when full (thus, much of the cause of my prolonged 6hour journey), then stop everywhere on route, to somehow squeeze in even more passengers (ditto), are poorly maintained and driven often at such reckless speeds that riding in one could be considered an adrenaline sport.

I camped at the Lake for 3 nights at a place called Fish Eagle Inn, which had all the essentials - trees for shade, western toilets, decent food, a friendly guard, bikes for hire, lots of annoying monkeys, scary birds and a big TV for the footy. Is it tragic that much of this month is planned around TV locations and footy times? It was a really great couple of days, cycling on a decent mountain bike (a necessity on these roads) through the beautiful Rift Valley. Formed around 30 million years ago, and regarded by many as the cradle of humanity, the valley is gradually widening as the African and Eurasian plates diverge, and will one day form a new Atlantic, but I’ll be
minerals back in the soil long before then.

On day 1, I cycled 20km to Crater Lake sanctuary, typically getting a puncture at the furthest possible point from home, but for a small tip, Mr Gate Keeper kindly fixed it for me. A nice man, who seemed to have a kind interest in my well-being, as having explored the sanctuary on foot for five hours, I was two hours longer than the ‘average’ exploration time, causing him to radio round a mini search-party. Oops. I was enjoying myself so much, I didn’t want to leave, as it is not everyday you can walk right up to wild giraffe and zebra ...