Kenya has two very beautiful and different sides.
First there are the parks, the animals and the scenery everyone knows about.
But as most of you must have guessed by now, Africa is not all about elephants, savanna and tribes.
We had the chance to discover and appreciate another city with a very bad (and unfounded) reputation – Nairobi.
I had the opportunity to stay in Nairobi twice – first when picking up Persephone and then on a second occasion later while waiting for our visas for Ethiopia and Sudan.
I came back to Nairobi from Kigali to meet up with Marc who had spend some time hiking Mount Elgan and relaxing on Lamu Island.
Unfortunately for him while on Lamu he had to turn away his drunk male escort.
So to illustrate the modern side of this great city and show the extent to which the reality is usually very different than the perception, let me describe a great weekend we had in Nairobi.
On Friday we spent most of the day running errants, appreciating the foresty and hilly neighborhoods, modern commercial centers and meeting friendly people all across town.
At night we discovered a great mexican/cuban fusion restaurant and then a glamourous lounge which makes you feel like you’re in New York.
Through conversation with other travellers, we then found out that a music festival was taken place on Saturday – the first edition of Earthdance in Nairobi – an event celebrated all over the world in over 70 cities on the same day.
That was a perfect timing and a great occasion to unwind and share some drinks with the newly found friends…
On Sunday there was another event…a little more glamourous!
The annual edition of Nairobi “Concours d’Elegance” brought the most classique cars in a beautiful setting.
Of course Nairobi has some problems similar to most large cities – poverty, traffic jams, inconsistent infrastructures, electricity and water shortage.
But where else in Africa can you hear “God save the Queen” by the Sex Pistols on the local radio!
So after several days spent there, it was time to hit the road again and start our last leg of this adventure.
We headed North toward Ethiopia, stopping in a national park to break the 1000 km journey.
And take a rest from the dust…
The road up to Moyale is getting better (Chinese are working on it) but there are still some pretty rough sections, including a 250 km section of rocks which totally destroyed both my front shocks.
We eventually reached Ethiopia and entered a whole different world…
Welcome to the jungle…!
There are 3 places where you can see the last mountain gorillas on earth – Uganda, Rwanda and DRC (Congo).
Uganda and Rwanda are excellent places and each cost (as of now) $500US for the park fees (more if you book through a tour).
There are several families of mountain gorilla and depending on the fitness of your group, the ranger will decide which family you will visit. The closest one goes to the least (in their eyes…) fit group which is about 30 – 45 minutes walk. We inquired directly at the tourism office in Kigali and were told we could get two permits for the next opening which was about 3 days later.
But I had something else in mind…
I had been trying to gather information about the situation in Congo and the relative safety of visiting Goma for a long time. However it is not until we reached Kigali that I finally decided to go and try by myself to arrange the visit as noone was really able to confirm if it was possible. All the phone numbers we had found or been given didn’t lead to anything so I decided to just go and sort out everything while there.
From Kigali we reached Goma on the East Side on the country, near Lake Kivu.
It is a beautiful drive on a nice paved road.
The border crossing into DRC could be described as “entertaining” to say the least…complete with an interview explaining why we wished to visit.
But once in Goma, I was in for a surprise.
“Chaos” does not even start to describe this place.
The city looks like a war zone. Well actually it is a war zone.
Between the 2002 volcano eruption, the DRC civil war that ended in 2006 and the current migrating crisis with the LRA, this place is definitively not your typical overlander destination.
I am pretty sure we were the only tourists around there.
The city is occupied by the U.N., there are military compounds everywhere, old refugee camps, streets are made of volcano rocks and the Congolese army/police is on every corner.
I had never seen that many guns in my life. It seemed like everyone has some sort of artillery – the military, the UN soldiers, the park rangers, the private security guards, the police and the list goes on.
It also means it was pretty much impossible to take pictures…
More details on the place here if you are curious
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goma
The local way of transporting goods also add an air of “post-apocalypse”
But this is exactly why I came here and I was not disappointed.
I wanted to get a taste of Congo and I got more than expected.
I even had the chance to cheer to my old favorite hockey team…
Finding the local tourism office required the assistance of two local “guides” on motorcycles as our trusty Tracks4Africa set of maps did not cover the area…(but I now have the GPS waypoint if someone needs it).
As I expected we were the only ones in the office making any booking and were able to schedule a visit for the next day.
The only requirement is to go to the local bank (“bank” may be a bit of a stretch) and get an official receipt.
“Just leave around 6am and drive about 10 km up the dirt road past the airport and the military escort will wait for you there” we were told by the very courteous manager.
We booked an hotel that night and stayed put after dark.
The next morning we left early and started driving. About 30 km later there was still no sign of an escort.
But plenty of surprised looks from the locals…
Eventually we saw about 4 or 5 armed rangers on the side of the road.
I stopped and they quickly explained that I was too early and that their boss was behind me…
He appeared a few minutes later and we started the remaining of the drive (about 40 km more) to the ranger station about half-way up the mountain. The road is very difficult and requires 4wd especially if it has been raining.
We started hiking around 10 am accompanied by 2 other belgium guys – the new chief of security for the park and his friend, an agent for the ICC in Congo. We hiked for about 3 hours until we finally found them…(Persephone doing it with 2 broken ribs…)
I have to say that I was unsure about spending so much money but the adventure is totally worth it.
We spent 40 minutes in their company and will never forget the experience.
We were planning to leave the next day but ended up entertaining ourselves with fabulous stories from the expatriates so much that we decided to stay a bit longer and enjoy the lake!
And our Troopie had good company…
From Kenya we reached Jinja in Uganda a few days later. Jinja is trying to be known as the “Adventure capital of East Africa”. Well I am not sure yet if they will reach their goal but we sure had our great share of action there!
Persephone and I started off well by going horseback riding in the hills around the Nile river.
The ride was fantastic but on the last canter Persephone’s horse managed to kick her over despite of her great expertise…and then stepped on her…ouch.
She will be consuming large amount of pain killer for the next several days…and eventually found out she had 2 broken ribs!
She is the toughest one.
We relaxed on a deserted island down the Nile to help stop the pain.
Next day was the most important day of the year – my birthday!!!
To celebrate in style, we went river rafting on the Nile (Persephone sadly had to sit this out due to the broken ribs, but she had a great day making new friends)!
And to add even more to the event, several friends were present.
The Irish crew (see previous posts) had arrived from Nairobi the night before.
Suna and Cynthia, two good friends from SF, had also joined us to what was going to be an epic ride, and an even more epic party!
Unfortunately in order to avoid embarrassment for Ireland, no picture have been taken that night…
A few days later we were on our way to Rwanda, avoiding the usual obstacles on the road.
After Tanzania, we headed to Nairobi to meet an important deadline, just quickly stopping in a popular rest stop.
Persephone was finally coming to join me!
She would stay for a few weeks and we will be heading to Uganda/Rwanda/DRC together. Sooo excited.
We also had to take care of some “important” errants.
Fixing the SLR camera that – like almost everything else on this journey – had decided to stop working a few days before.
Marc also needed a new passport so a visit to our national embassy was in order.
The Canadian embassy in Nairobi has to be one of the nicest in the world, complete with azul blue pool and tennis courts.
We stayed at a campsite called Jungle Junction – a sanctuary for overlanders.
Over the last few years this small and friendly lodge has acquired a reputation to be “the place” to stop – for good reasons.
It is the perfect place to relax, fix your vehicle, meet other travelers and exchange stories.
Which we did almost every night!
From Nairobi we then headed to Masai Mara to observe the annual wildebeest migration.
Unfortunately no river crossing was scheduled in the wildebeest group that day…
I just came back from Kigali. I won’t be talking about genocide in this posting…but about one of my favorite passions – car rally!!!!
I was lucky to be in Kigali last weekend for the Rwanda Mountain Gorilla Rally 2009.
Here are some links:
http://www.africanrallychampionship.com/
http://www.racrallyrwanda.com/
Rwanda is an amazing place to hold a rally. Lot of mountain passes and an exceptional scenery. Locals loved it and are a great crowd!
There was 15 teams at first but a lot of abandons.
There is no doubt that Rally can be dangerous – both for pilots and spectators.
Between 2 specials, we caught this team from Madagascar who had just had an accident. Their Subaru lost a wheel which then fly over and hit a cyclist.
Lot of bloods and a broken leg.
After Mozambique and the infamous river crossing, we spent a few weeks in Tanzania.
First stop was Dar Es Salaam from where we spent a few days on Zanzibar just in time for the monthly Full Moon Party…I’ll spare you these images.
We celebrated with the Irish Crew we had previously met in Zimbabwe on the side of the road…a situation that would repeat itself several times…
From there we followed the coast, spending a couple days in a great campsite by the beach.
We then reached Arusha and all the near by activities – N’gorongoro, Taranguire, Serengati, Kilimanjero, etc. I personally really liked Arusha – I spent almost a week there.
As expected, the game was plentiful!
Having the right equipment helps…although the dash gets a bit clutterred sometimes…
The scenery was incredible!
Inside the crater, it feels a little busy sometimes…
Tanzania felt more like a vacation, a holiday within a holiday.
Well, except for the roads, which always have bring share of surprises…
no we’re not dead….just unable to find a proper connection to upload pictures…
we are now in Rwanda, after crossing Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda.
We should be heading over DRC in the next couple days to see the gorillas. More details soon….
There are only 3 ways to cross from Northern Mozambique to Tanzania.
The brand new bridge at Congresso, on the edge of Lake Malawi.
From the coast, it would take at least 2-3 days to back track and reach that border crossing.
I don’t know the condition of the roads in that area but based on my experience in Mozambique and talking with other travellers they can’t be very good….
By the time you reach Dar Es Salaam you probably have made a detour of over 1000 kilometers and drove at least 4 days.
The second option is the bridge at Meganome which should be completed early 2010 and is about half way between the coast and Lake Malawi (known as Lake Niassa in Mozambique).
Based on “very reliable” information given to us the night before we left
(“yes I am totally positive I met a couple who crossed there last week” – drunk captain at Ilha Ibo)
we decided it was worth a try to go see and avoid the hefty “ferry” fee.
200 km of horrible tracks and one day later we came to this:
A brand new road!
But about 2 km later…an unfinished bridge.
We decided not to wait until completion…
The “3 boats attached with ropes” method at, near the coast – which is by far the most direct route.
If you are coming from Ilha de Mocambique and driving along the coast, that’s pretty much the only option right now until the new bridge is completed.
Here’s how the crossing works.
You heard about it from a few locals and on a couple posting on an Internet forum
The ferry that was in service there before has sunked but the locals will take you across on a “barge”.
Here’s what’s left of the old ferry:
You can’t really get a precise answer as how much it’s going to cost (anywhere between $100 and $400US) and how the “barge” looks like.
So you figure you will get there and with your strong negociation skills you will get a killer deal with the boat captain and everything will be easy.
First you have to get to the Mozambique custom/immigration office.
To reach it, you drive on a really nice sandy track for about 35 km past the last village of Prai do Palmas.
Which is itself about 150 from Praia de Mocimbao on another decent dirt road.
Since you spent major portion of the day driving back from the unfinished bridge at Negonamo (or for any other reason…flat, breakdown, got lost, etc..), you get there at 5pm on a Friday night.
The custom agents are already drunk by then and it’s getting dark.
When the immigration officer asks for a torch so he could read yor passport you realize you are after hours and by now you know after hours equals extra fees for everyone involved.
The office is about 5 km from the river so once you get your Mozambique exit stamps (passport and carnet the passage) you enter a no man’s land and the option of going back to Mozambique is gone.
Great, 1-0 for the boat captain.
By the time you reach the river, it is completely dark.
As usual you get swamped by locals offering their help and eventually you make a few new friends and set up camp for the night.
If you’re lucky like us, you end up drinking Rhino gin with some drunk teenagers who take you for a 2 km walk to a hut that has a generator and a tv.
This way you can watch a Filipino soap dubbed in English seating on a the floor with the entire family of 25.
And hopefully start negociating with the boat captain who according to our limited Swahili should be there somewhere too.
Around 11 pm the locals take you back to your truck, trying to avoid the man-eater lions that apparently roam around there.
The guy to whom you have been talking all night do own the TV and the generator but does not own any boat and there is no captain around.
He lives on the other side in Tanzania. 2-0 boat captain.
The next morning you wake up around 5 am as the locals start arriving with their trucks to pick up passengers from Tanzania.
They all line up their Land Cruisers and since you also drive a similar Land Cruiser you start taking pictures and make tons of new friends!!
Everyone enjoyed the Overland Journal…
You can also familiarize yourself with the latest development in term of suspension upgrades:
By then you start to understand that the boats that will take you across are coming from Tanzania and that they can only cross at high tide, which will not be until around noon.
So you go back to bed.
Around 11ish the boats finally arrive. With the captain. And his translator.
At this point, you have been waiting for almost 18 hours.
Since the captain lives on the other side, you have not been able to start any negociation.
And now you have about 1 hr to get the boats ready and start crossing the river.
So much for your negociation power. 3-0 for the captain.
So you seat down and start talking. $350US. Too much. We give you $200. No way.
We’ll give you $200 plus a couple things – a blue shirt, a book, an old GPS.
Nope. $250 + the items. We sticked to $200.
The boat captain leaves. Time is running out and he knows it.
Call the captain back. $220 + items. Nope.
All right then, $250 cash + items. Deal done. Ouf.
Not too bad, better than driving back for 3 days.
Now, let’s get to work everyone…
This is how the boats look when they arrive:
After they get unloaded, work begins to assemble the ferry.
Pieces are attached together. Notice the high tension and oversized cable and ropes.
Finally a few planks on the top
And it’s time load the truck as the locals hold the “ferry”.
After a few tense minutes, the truck is loaded and we’re ready to go!
The crossing takes about 15 minutes, depending how much water is inside the boat and if the engines survive.
This gives a new meaning to the expression “it seems like an eternity”.
Then it’s time to unload and celebrate – you’re in Tanzania!!!
In reality, the “barge” is actually very stable and from what we gathered there has been over 40 crossing this year.
The whole experience, while being stressful at times, was actually a lot of fun and great opportunity to exchange with the people.
The border crossing into Tanzania is really straightforward.
We got our immigration visa (single entry only, $50) at the border and the custom lady (for the carnet) is very friendly.
Just make sure your friend does not start a policital argument over the G.W. Bush’s legacy with her before you get your carnet’s exit stamps.
And she confirmed that $250 is pretty much the going rate these days…
More pictures here:
Mix together a strong Portuguese heritage, 20 years of communist/socialism followed by 20 years of civil war with pratically no development, stunning coast line and unchanged cities and you get some of the ingredients that compose Mozambique today.
We drove from Northern Malawi across to Cuemba, then Nampala and reached the coast at Ilha de Mozambique. For the next days we followed the coast up North until we reached the Rovuma river, visiting a few islands in the process.
While the Southern part of Mozambique has seen a lot of touristic developments over the last years (thanks to South African coming up for vacation), Northern Mozambique is quasi untouched and unchanged. The roads are amongs the worst we have seen but the people are the friendliest and the beaches/islands almost surreals.
One the most interesting and intriguing aspects of this country was to contemplate the large numbers of abandonned buildings from the colonial era.
I can truly say that this portion of the journey has been one of my favorite so far. There is a real sense of opportunities and you get a feel of what it could have been like for the first explorers – before all modern development started. It has been one of the most challenging area to travel as there are almost no services, no supermarket (shoprite hasn’t made it here yet…) and if you do break down, expect to spend a lot of time around…
We explored some islands using local Dhow boats which have not changed for several centuries and are still being built and used the same way. Don’t expect any life jacket, gps or any other rescue equipment here. Just a boat, a crew and an old sail.
gsesgd
Marc and I had two goals when coming to Malawi – diving and hiking the highest summit (Sapitwa) in the region.
We reached Lake Malawi a day after leaving Lilongwe where we spent the night in yet another typical African city backpacker/overlander place – I can’t remember the name right now as they all begin to look the same to me. Windhoek, Maputo, Harare, Vic Falls, Lusaka, Lilongwe, Blantyre,…every city has one.
They usually all share the same characteristics:
-cheap
-populated by a few friendly backpackers, some expats and locals (usually drunk), a couple rastafari, one or 2 overlanders (usually couple) and 20 students (often from a religious group on a mission of sort)
-pool that looks like it has not been cleaned/used for several months
-bar where you end up too often and spend too much money
-satellite TV with either VH1 or a rugby/soccer game on
-overall state of cleanliness (beds, shower, etc) often questionable
-overworked management
That being said, it is always a great place to hang out and meet other travelers, make plans and get organized. Some are truly much better than others.
I guess they are a little bit like the Lonely Planet guides…whether you like or not, you can’t travel without them.
But unlike Lusaka where we got stuck for 6 days and despite an impromptu visit to the Mozambique embassy to get our visa, we managed to spend only one night in Lilongwe. We drove to Lake Malawi the next afternoon having restocked on food, beers, cash and everything else needed.
Our first challenge was easily completed once we got to Cape McClear, a nice bay at the northern tip of Lake Malawi.
It was my first time diving deep water and it went perfectly well.
I think we even managed to avoid contacts with the water snails that carry the Bilharzia disease.
Apparently Cape McClear was a hot destination a decade ago but has seen the crowd moved elsewhere.
In any case it is still highly undeveloped and a gorgeous place to visit.
We camped directly at the dive shop on the beach and had a great time with the locals.
From Cape McClear we headed over to Mount Mulange.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mulanje_Massif
We got to the park headquarters around 3 pm to get organized, buy our permits and meet Anthony, our personal mountain guide.
Diving had been a breeze but hiking will prove to be a much more challenging experience.
We left the next morning around 6 am to hike to the nearest hut to the summit, about 2000 meters higher than the parking lot.
The plan was simple – hike to the Chiposa hut the first day, sleep there and wake up early, hike to the summit the second morning and come back down to the parking lot in the afternoon.
Well once again as it is often the case in Africa plans can change very quickly…
Even though the summit (Sapitwa) at 3000 m is not very high by North American standards, the hike to get there is rather demanding and at times a bit tricky.
After stopping for a break and chatting with Anthony, he let us know that our plan was not possible. The hike simply takes too long.
Oops, first problem.
We figured we’ll get to the hut and reassess there.
On the way up, Anthony then informed us that a Brazilian guy (Gabriel Buchman) had attempted to hike to the summit without a guide the morning before and had not been seen since then. The weather had been unusually cold and rainy. Some information was coming through as we met a few other guides but nothing was really precise until we met a Canadian couple who were coming down the mountain with the guy’s backpack and personal things, including his passport and money.
They told us they had hiked to the summit but had not seen him that day.
We were expecting to get to the hut and as usual be the only tourists there. We reached the hut around 1pm.
We opened the door and to our complete surprise was a group of 10 british teenagers, their teacher and the expedition leader (Dave) setting up camp in there.
They had arrived about 1 hr before us from a different hut.
We shared the space and explored the options for the next day, discussing with Dave about the missing hiker and what possible assistance we could offer.
Marc and I decided to stay an extra day at the hut to give us enough time to reach the summit.
The next day things became even more confusing. Our guide informed us that no one could attempt the summit until a rescue team of 4 people had arrived and decided of the next action. By then we all started to feel a bit frustrated as time was passing quickly. The nights had been really cool, nearing freezing point and chances of survival were close to none. Around 9 am our guide finally told us that the team was on his way up the summit, and Marc and I could join him to try to climb too and help the search. The group of students and their 8 local porters were instructed to stay put for the day.
Unfortunately by then the weather was still really bad and despite of our motivation, we had to turn around about 400 meters from the summit.
With water pouring down the rocks and clouds closing in, the climbing was just becoming too dangerous.
It was really easy to see how someone climbing alone could get lost and fall in one of the crevasses. We did not find any trace of him.
We spent another evening in the smoky hut sharing spaces with the students and more rescuers coming for the official search that will begin the next day.
About 20 of us slept on the floor that night, playing cards, telling stories and sleeping next to each other in our sleeping bags.
By then it had been 4 days since the hiker had last been seen.
Don’t get lost around here.
The third day, having no more food and with the weather still so-so we decided to go back down.
That morning about 20 rescuers were on the mountain looking for the missing hiker. This is the last I know – more details here:
We said goodbye to our new friends and reached the truck around noon.
Malawi
A few hours later we were in Mozambique…