South Ethiopia
It is still difficult to believe that just three weeks went by since
we left Addis Abeba. Three weeks of the most decorated colorful
people, nature and bad but stimulating roads. In a few words:
probably the most exciting weeks of our trip so far.
It was on a Sunday
that we left Addis. Later than planned, as usual, we left our hosts
Reto and Edith after they had spoiled us with great food and
interesting conversations during nine days. We stocked up in
different supermarkets and hed off to Lake Langano, a sort of
expatriates week-end enclave with nice lodges and camps. As it was
already Sunday it was empty and all for ourselves… We knew that a
challenging part of our trip would start as of there because we
wanted to
enter
Kenya through Lake Turkana and that way avoid driving in convoys
that used to be shot at by bandits, on the Moyale – Marsabit road.
The problem was that there are no good roads either in the South of
Omo Valley in Ethiopia or at Lake Turkana in Kenya. And with the
rainy season at its peak in April-May, to attempt crossing in the
middle of June could be difficult, as there are many rivers in the
area. We were in contact with two other vehicles that wanted to take
the same route so we rushed down to Awasa to meat one of them.
On our way, we had
a short stop in Shashemene to see the Rastas. Yes, Rastafaris, the
people from Jamaica that wear dreadlocks and listen to reggae music,
to put it in simple images. There are quite a few of them in
Ethiopia. How did Jamaican Rastas end up there is quite an
incredible story… It was Markus Garvey who started a movement that
proposed to go back home, go back to Africa. Most Jamaicans are
African descendents
from
slavery times. Interesting enough, during our stay in Addis, we
learned that more slaves from East Africa went to the Eastern and
Arab countries during the Ottoman rule than to the West. Still, as
these served as eunuchs and concubines in harems they did not have
descendents, in contrast to the slaves going to the Americas or
Europe. So the Jamaicans could trace quite well their origins. When
Ras Tafari was crowned Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia in 1930
and claimed to be a direct descendent of King Solomon of Israel, the
Jamaican movement saw the ancient biblical prophesy stating that
“Kings will come out of Africa” coming true. They started adoring
the new Emperor as well as Ethiopia’s status as an independent state
in a continent governed by colonial power. Selassie became their
“lord of lords” and they adopted his former name for their movement.
It is said that the emperor himself was a bit embarrassed and scared
of what was going on, but nevertheless he granted Jamaicans land in
Shashemene in 1963. Since then there have always been Jamaicans in
the area. We went to visit a sort of museum and met an older guy -he
said to be 70- who is living in Ethiopia only since seven years. He
explained us the bases of their movement and told us about the huge
reggae festival they had in 2005, when Rita Marley, Bob’s widow,
came to Shashemene. According to the guidebooks, no government has
given Jamaicans and their Ethiopian born children the Ethiopian
citizenship.
In the Adenium camp
in Awasa we found out that the red Land Rover we wanted to meet had
left the day before. However, we got lots of important information
about the Turkana route there. Later that day Klaas, a retired dutch,
came
with his Toyota. He also wanted to do the route but he first had to
sort out his carnet de passage (the car papers) in Addis. We
continued to Arba Minch encountering quite some water on the way. It
had been raining and some of the rivers were literally over the
street. There we visited the Nechisar National Park, were I saw
Burchall zebras, kudus, impalas and lots of lovely dik-diks (they
look very similar to Bamby despite being adults) in the wild for the
first time. We also saw Colobus monkeys, baboons and a jackal. The
roads inside the park were rather rough so Reto was quite happy…
We slept at the
park’s main gate that day and we were woken up by heavy rain at 6.00
am. As we had crossed a then dried river to get there, we rushed to
get out before we got trapped on the wrong side. Twenty minutes
after the rain started the river was already three meters wide…
Luckily, as we had crossed it a couple of times before
we knew it was not deep. In the town all the asphalt streets were
completely flooded. But one hour later it stopped raining and
everything went back to normal quite quickly. As of there we left
the asphalt and we would not see it again until way into Kenya. We made it to Konso
for lunch and were lucky because it was market day. So we went
walking around, with the usual bunch of children and youngsters
following us. The people there were already different; the women
wore traditional very colorful skirts and western t-shirts. Almost
everything was sold at the market and people walked from far away
villages bringing their goods.
South Omo Valley
The ro
ad
to Jinka was not as bad as we thought, the problem was that having
many bridges missing the traffic was obliged to do detours, which
were often muddy with the result that two times we had to wait
because a truck or even a big crane were stuck and there was no way
around them. Despite this, we really enjoyed the road as the people
got more and more colorful. We crossed through Hamer territory where
both men and women look very special. They love beads, feathers and
seashells to decorate their clothes and accessories. In Jinka we
rested for a day and took the opportunity to sort our pictures and
wander a bit around town. We were surprised to meet some Mursi men
and women. The Mursi is a tribe that lives further west and Jinka
serves as a base to visit their territory. The special thing about
the Mursi is their looks. Not very gracious for a western concept of
aesthetics, the women were a “lip plate” which is inserted into a
slit separating the lower lip and the jaw. They even take some teeth
out to give space for the plate, which according to Reto does not
make them look very smart.... But they do not wear the plate all the
time so when they don’t, the lower lip is so distended that it just
hangs there close to the chin… For
clothes, they wear goatskin or cloth skirts and are topless. They do
not like decorations in the same way as the Hamer or other tribes.
Instead they look rather dark and generally they are big people and
their skin is very black. It was funny to find out that they are
quite conscious about their exotic look, so each time they see
farangis (foreigners) they offer themselves for pictures for a
two birr fee (per person per camera)… We bargained of course, got a
picture for one birr and started trading our finished jam glasses
and cans (specially the ones with a lid were quite appreciated).
Such things like containers are difficult to find in the South of
Ethiopia. So difficult that instead of the traditional “give me
pen”, we would only hear “give me Highland”. Highland is the main
brand of mineral water in Ethiopia and when they ask for it, they
don’t refer to the water itself but to the plastic bottle. Empty
Highland plastic bottles are even sold in the markets.
That evening Klaas
showed up. We decided to drive together to Turmi the next day and
not go to Mursi as we could see some Mursi already. The next day it
was market day in Jinka and we not only saw them again but lots of
other tribes.
The
drive to Turmi was perhaps one of the most challenging. The road was
practically a track that went from sandy to muddy. We were lucky
because of all the rivers we had to cross only one was really
carrying water. Again we encountered lots of traditionally dressed
people, who were happy to be pictured, especially for a small fee.
As of here the towns did not have electricity, so the only power
came from generators from small hotels, which they mainly used for
music and a few light bulbs.
We started early
towards Omorate the next morning, in order to get our passports
stamped and see the Omo river, which is the only permanent river
feeding Lake Turkana. On the way we saw the track, which would later
take us to Kenya. Omorate was funny. Despite being a very small
village it’s got a round-about (?)… and a couple of hotels, where
they sell black market fuel and change money. We met a French
paleontologist and his crew
there. They were stuck since two weeks because they were supposed to
have cars coming down the other side of the river to pick the up,
but the roads were so bad that the cars had been having a lot of
trouble to get through. There is no bridge crossing the Omo river,
so people come there, cross in boats and continue in vehicles that
are already on the other side. We got some fuel and changed the few
birr we had left over. Before, we went through the immigration
office, a mud house with a desk inside. The officer was friendly and
everything worked quite fast. It was after midday when we headed
back to the track leading to Kenya, again encountering on the way
lots of nicely decorated people. Here we were in an even more remote
area, so ca
meras
were not really known and the locals were just delighted to be able
to see themselves in our little screens. And we were delighted to
see their reactions. One got so excited about it that he got the
camera and started making pictures of everyone else. He was also
curious and quick enough to figure out how the thing worked. It was
then that Klaas started inflating his balloons. He thought it was a
nice present for children, so he inflated one, threw it to the air
and had whole villages (adults and kids) running behind the
balloons. He made wonderful films about it and it was really nice to
see. Everyone was having real fun. What we enjoyed most about these
people was that despite living far from everything in their
traditional ways, they seemed really happy. They seem pure.
Crossing to Kenya
The border post is just symbolic… there is a small village, an
Ethiopian flag, a barrier and a couple of Ethiopian
soldiers that checked the exit stamps in our passports. As of then,
Kenya looks empty in comparison. It took as a while to the first
village, where Klaas continued his balloon revolutions with similar
results. Then we reached the town of Illeret and went to the police
to register ourselves and get some info. We immediately had the
impression that people are better educated in Kenya. The
police officer was kind and helpful. He recommended us to go through Sibiloi National Park as it is almost impossible to find the road
going around it. He also told us that the safety problems in the
area are all regarding tribal people stealing cattle from each other
and that there had never been any safety problem involving foreign
visitors. “These people are pastoralists, they want cows not cars”
he would tell us. There is nowhere to get fuel for a car anyhow, so
it won’t be very useful there.
That
night we camped at the edge of Sibiloi National Park, close to Lake
Turkana(hoping to see some crocs) and had a real party with wine and
our nice Cuisses de Canard for dinner. We drank quite a bit
so we did not have an early start the next morning… We continued
through the park and took the opportunity to visit Richard Leakey’s
museum in Kobi Fora. After all it was here that Leaky and his crew
found an exemplar of what they called the Homo Habilis, a two and a
half million year old ancestor of humanity or maybe a lateral branch
(this is still under discussion). In the small and expensive museum
we found lots of well displayed info about the area, the lake, the
geology and species that used to live there three million years ago.
We continued south
on a stretch that had some muddy parts. After the first stretch we
met another car, which
was quite surprising considering the
remoteness of the place. The car was a sort of bigger Land Rover
with snow-chains and it belonged to an American missionary and his
family, who live in Illeret and were on their way home. We talked a
little while and he alerted us about the road. The mud patches would
get more and more in a couple of kilometers but being two cars we
should do fine, he said. We went ahead and at the last longer patch
we stopped to have a look for the best way just to see Klaas passing
at considerable speed and getting stuck. He was happy to use his
winch for the first time. He attached the cable to our car and
winched his out quite easily.
Then we started
with our efforts to find an alternative road out of the National
Park. According to the maps there should be a track joining the road
going around the park. It was getting late so we camped just out of
the park and had a nice dinner with a fire. The next day we
continued our search, but it always ended up in nothing… We crossed
a couple of dried rivers and even managed to dent a bit our back
fuel tank in one of the descents… Finally we headed to the main road
in the park and excited through the gate. We had a discussion with
the rangers there as we believed that vehicles in transit should not
pay park fees, especially when there is no alternative road (as we
had found out). But the rangers were quite inflexible. I asked the
warden to give me his name, which he agreed to if we paid. We did
and then he said he was not giving his name (he had an authoritarian
manner that was quite irritating, as he walked bouncing a stick
around). So then I made a picture of him and this really annoyed
him. He grabbed my camera and I had to fight to get it back… In any
case, we will never be sure if we were right or not about this
matter.
We tried to make it
all the way to Loyangalani, but because of the long discussion, it
was getting quite late. At
18.30h we decided to camp on the road
towards North Horr and had again a quiet evening. The next day Klaas
started early and we followed about an hour later. Some three or
four kilometers from were we had camped we saw houses being
dismantled and a bunch of camels being loaded. We were stopped by a
guy from a truck nearby and he told us that he was helping to move
these people, who were from the Gabbra tribe, because the Turkanas
had attacked them the day before killing five and stealing lots of
cattle. We were really surprised. We had not sensed any danger in
the area. On the contrary, everyone (Gabbras and Turkanas) seemed to
be very friendly with foreigners… I guess they never had cattle
stolen by foreigners in cars… so we were never a threat for them.
But it is true that all over the place as well as in the South of
Ethiopia it is common to see armed men walking around.
In Loyangalani we
decided to have a stop. Unfortunately, the Oasis Lodge, where Reto
had been several times as a kid, was sort of closed for the day as
they had no guests and they were cleaning the pool, etc. The place
and Wolfgang, it’s owner, got quite famous after John LeCarre’s book
and then the movie “ The Constant Gardiner” were released. We met
Wolfgang, who remembered Reto’s parents and their friends from the
80’s. He thought those were really good times, when things were
happening. Now not much seemed to be going on. We would have liked
to have dinner there but he did not really encourage us to do so. So
we ended up in the El Molo Lodge, which is no more than a camping
but has a swimming pool and relaxed for the rest of the afternoon.
Klaas decided to continue to South Horr as he needed an internet
connection as soon as possible the next day.
The southern part
of Lake Turkana is really beautiful and scenic. There the water has
its famous jade color. And
the place is deserted. The road also
reflects this; it is quite hard and stony for a while. We arrived to
South Horr rather early and as we expected the road to be better as
of there, we decided to continue all the way to Maralal. Our
expectations were too high, but we managed to see some wild animals,
especially a couple of ostriches with many, many chicks. We arrived
in Maralal at night and even before we hit the town we saw the sign
for the Maralal Lodge. We got a very good deal there. We ordered
steaks and French fries in the restaurant and were allowed to leave
our car (with us sleeping inside) in their nice and quiet parking
lot for the night…
We could not find
bread in the North of Kenya so far and we did not want to open
another can of our German dark
bread. In Maralal we could not get
any either. What we could find for the first time in many days was
an excellent internet connection at the house of Laila, a Belgian
lady. Her story is quite peculiar. In a way, it has similar
circumstances as the ones from “The White Massai”. Laila married a
Samburu man, but soon realized it was better for them to live in a
western-style house in Maralal. Today she is divorced but her life
is in Kenya and she even got Kenyan nationality. By the way, the
story of Corinne Hoffman, the Swiss writing “The white Massai”
happened in a town about 60 km from Maralal in the core of the
Samburu territory, where there are no Massais. “The white Massai”
should have been titled “The white Samburu” but this would have had
a worse marketing effect, probably. I think it is irresponsible to
be so misleading…
Going wild
Samburu National Reserve was our next destination. But we took a
detour and tried to find a road along the Ewaso Ngiro river. Again
we saw quite some animals along the way, especially close we got to
a few Gravy Zebras. We ended up in a lodge under construction, which
was beautiful, and learned that they had just constructed a road
along the river towards the Western gate of the national park. On
the way we saw baboons and a nice Waterbuck. We also saw a big man
and his pick up stuck on the sand and of course pulled him out.
At the park we
arrived quite late and the ranger allowed us to camp just beside the
gate, which was very nice. He also came for a chat before dinner and
told us a lot about Samburu traditions. We cooked and baked bread
for the next day, whe
n we got up really early. We headed to the main
Headquarters of the park in order to speak with the Senior Warden. I
told him that I was writing about Kenya and its wildlife for a
newspaper in Argentina and asked
lots of questions about their animals. They were really nice people,
not only they told us a lot of things about the park but also
convinced us to stay overnight
at one of the campsites. Samburu has five endemic species: Baisa
Orix, Reticulated giraffes, Gerenuks (long necked gazelles), Gravy
Zebras (have a lot more stripes than the normal ones) and Somali
ostriches. We not only managed to see all of them but also spotted
lots of impalas, elephants, two buffalos, a couple of crocodiles and
even a lion. Very impressive was my first sight of the elephants.
After the interview with the warden and not having
had breakfast we
were starving so we decided to stop the car by the river and make
some coffee. Just a few minutes passed and this elephant comes in
our direction and starts drinking very close to the car. Of course I
was making lots of pictures of him and a few minutes later the whole
herd, with their little ones, shows up and starts not only drinking
but also crossing the river. It was a tremendous sight. I felt I
could spend my whole life just observing them. The lion was purely Reto’s discovery. After midday we had not seen many animals for a
while, so we decided to head back to the river. And just after a
curve there she was, lying against a bush, looking quite sleepy. We
stayed till she moved and followed her. She really behaved like a
cat, scratching her flees off, yawning and sleeping.
Our next stop was
Nakuru National Park, so we took the road from Archers Post to
Isiolo, which was quite corrugated and rough and hit the asphalt at Isiolo after more than one thousand kilometers off road. It was
already evening when we arrived to Nakuru so we went directly to a
hotel where we made a deal for using the shower, having dinner and
sleeping in the parking. Early the next morning we went to the park
and again asked to speak with the senior
warden, with similar
results as in Samburu. The wardens were very professional and told
us about the problems the park is facing, for e.g. too many buffalos
or problems with the city’s sewage system. Nakuru is especially
beautiful because of its 800 thousand to 1.4 million flamingo
population. They live on the green-blue algae that are so abundant
in the lake. We were really impressed by the sight of the pink sea.
My best image is a couple of hyenas running after the flamingoes,
which then either went flying or moved further into the water. But
we also saw pelicans, zebras, impalas, waterbucks, buffalos and
another of the big five: rhinos… We camped inside the park and even
made a fire, despite the wet weather. We got a bit scared because of
a buffalo grazing just a few meters away from the car, but he or she
seemed quite used to people around.
Finally we headed
off to Nairobi, where Reto used to live more than 22 year ago. We
have heard some worrying things about the city so we went directly
to Jungle Junction, a campsite with excellent reputation among
overlanders. To our surprise, we met old friends: Richard, Sasha and
their old Enfield motorbike were there. So we spent quite a bit of
the evening updating our past whereabouts. In Nairobi we had to do
some administrative things like getting our visas stamped in our
passports (the border we crossed had no immigration officers) and
visit the
Kenya Wildlife Service headquarters to ask
for info on other parks. We also enjoyed a lot the
supermarkets, which are very well stoked. At night we would always
find someone else we knew from the Aswan-Wadi Halfa ferry, like
Kevin and Kristina, the Danish with a Land Rover and Graham and
Clair with their Land Rover and had of course lots of chatting to do
over the tons of meat we are having for dinner. On Friday we went to
the Nairobi National Park with Richard and Sasha and got charged
twice! By a buffalo and by a black rhino that was really unhappy
with us for disturbing his peace… Luckily we were good at escaping
and they gave up soon enough. Besides, we saw lots of giraffes,
Rowan antelopes and impalas. During our days here, Reto also got in
touch with some old class mates and friends, whom we met for a drink
or for shooting at the Swiss Rifle Club. I am proud to have learned
how to shoot with a 9mm pistol over a 25 m distance. It was the
first time in my life I had a gun in my hands and I did quite well.
Once I understood how it worked, which was not that obvious for me
at the beginning, I even made three 10s out of 15 shots. Reto, who
is a very good rifle shooter, did far better with the pistol than
with the rifle.
Now we are having a
relaxed Sunday, updating our website. Later we plan to go for dinner
to the Norfolk hotel, a gift from Reto’s parents, which we are very
much looking forward too. For the near future, we hope to be able to
leave tomorrow for the coast (it seems we are getting stuck here as
we are quite unproductive) and to continue enjoying the magnificent
Kenyan wildlife for another two weeks.
Till soon!
Victoria + Reto
Link to Travel Report
7 Kenya South
On
the tracks through south