Log in
Join travelers community
Your Profile
Logout
1995
Kenya - Cairo to Capetown
Bec2004-09-20 13:13:29
Displayed times (last time: )
Kenya
This is looking back at Moyale on top of the hill over the Ethiopian border. The sign says "You are now leaving Kenya".
A little further into Kenya, there is a hotel and truck stop where travellers wait for the formation of an escorted truck convoy going south to Marsabit in Marsabit National Park.
There is no independent traffic along the dusty track between Moyale and Marsabit for it traverses guerrilla territory and the well informed rebels never fail to appear if there is no armed escort. We started our trip with three soldiers on our truck, two of them with old Lee Enfields and one with a heavy Browning Automatic Rifle. We left two at a military outpost and continued on with one.
There were two dozen passengers on our truck, six backpackers and local men and women not counting the escorts. The red head chap was the Australian backpacker, Chris Sill who had all his belongings stolen in Addis Abeba.
Our three truck convoy stopped in this rare roadside eatery for lunch and water under the burning sun. The other two trucks also needed protection as one carried cattle and the other goats which would have been highly prized booty for the rebels hiding in this desert.
It is difficult to imagine that people can live in the dry, hot and empty desert near Marsabit but the rebels do.
An adventurous bunch of backpackers: Daniel Delamarre, a Breton journalist who had his 2 Nikon cameras, all his lenses and his laptop stolen in Addis, yours truly, Chris sill from Australia who also got cleaned out in Addis, Matt Hardy, also from Australia and Scott Gordes from New Zealand. The photo was taken by Daniel Lisk from Vancouver.
We were all surprised to see this remarkable meteoric impact crater near Marsabit that had not been mentioned in any of our travel guides. It was a great sight, an unexpected bonus.
We spent a night in Marsabit in a pretty
...
See photographs from:
Kenya Gallery
