Posts By Country




May 12th, 2010 | Africa

Eldoret and on to Nairobi…

Do not try hopping out of these ruts on a big bike, doing 80 kmh... Your Medical Aid will not be amused...

I was back on the nasty roads of western Kenya…with their corrugations, potholes, and heavy traffic heading for Uganda and the Congo…

It was only 140 km to Eldoret, and I decided that although I could push through on to Nakuru, I would rather ride this section of the A104 carefully… If anything, the rains had made the road conditions even worse, and the potholes I had dodged the previous week on the way to Uganda, seemed bigger and deeper…

The weather held out until after I passed through Bungoma and Webuye, and then the heavens opened again… The last 50 km to Eldoret passed through higher elevation and together with the rain, a cold wind blew me into town…

I chased after this bus, because he had something I wanted...

I turned down the muddy alleyway behind the Klique hotel, eager to get out of my wet gear and under a hot shower… I had not shaken off the flu that I had picked up in Rwanda, and riding in wet gear is apparently not the best thing to do when you are trying to get better…

I received another warm welcome, and a lot of remarks about the state of the bike… Before I had even started untying the straps holding my backpack and duffel bag, a bucket of water was brought to the bike and two of the staff began wiping the mud and the grime off the Big Fella… I stood dripping a short distance away, bemused by the fact that the bike was getting all the attention…

“What about me?” I asked…

“You have hands to clean yourself with, but this beautiful machine has none! So we must help Big Fella to become clean again…” was their reply… I was dismissed with a wave while they continued with task of cleaning the bike…

I had noticed that wherever we went, people commented on the fact that the bike had a name emblazoned on either side of the tank, and from then on, referred to the bike by its name… Which I thought was cool… It confirmed in my own mind that this was more than just a machine, but also my traveling companion…

Friday night in Eldoret is party night… The disco and club next door belted out loud music until well after midnight… I kept the kitchen staff busy by ordering pots of coffee every hour or so, until they suggested that I accept a huge flask of the stuff instead of the little pots they kept bringing up to my room… I was surprised at the number of these pots it took before they got the message!!

Red Bull's Moses...

After a quick breakfast, I rode the gleaming Big Fella up the ramp from the underground parking, and into the bright sunlight of the early morning… The gate guard winced as I wound my way around the puddles of muddy water and onto the main road… I turned to wave back at him and saw that a small crowd had gathered and were waving me on my way… Nice folk, the staff at the Klique…

The road turned south and 80 kms later I crossed the Equator again, back into the Southern Hemisphere… For the next hour we bombed through the Rift Valley, passing through Makubanu and Kimera, the new road encouraging the Big Fella to explore the upper end of his speed capabilities…. I was mindful of the traffic cops on this stretch of flat, open road, and had taken a few precautions before leaving Eldoret… I had put the majority of my cash into my left boot, leaving only Ksh 500.00 in my wallet… They wouldn’t be fleecing me again!!

We were south of the Menengai Crater, remnant of a long dead volcano, when I came across a herd of Zebra, grazing peacefully amongst cattle and sheep… I could see the outskirts of Nakuru up ahead and marveled at the fact that wild animals were in such close proximity to the town… I stopped at a large and well laid out Shell service station on the eastern side of town, where I enjoyed my very first Fanta Blackcurrant!! Roger Gauntlett, who is the Marketing Director for Coca-Cola East and Central Africa, later told me that this was by far the sweetest version of Fanta which they produced… I could understand this, as after reaching the outskirts of Nairobi, I felt as though I could have ridden on for a few hours more… Red Bull has nothing on this stuff, Dudes!!

I rode the 8km of diversion standing up on the pegs...

I skirted the northern shores of Lake Nukuru and Lake Elmentaita, with their massive flocks of Flamingo, and then climbed the Eastern wall of the Rift Valley and the final run through Naivasha and on to Nairobi… The long diversion where the last section of new highway was being built, was dry this time round, and I rode the 8 kms standing up on the pegs, enjoying the sensation of the bike rocking and rolling under me…

Traffic picked up as I entered the outskirts of Nairobi, and made my way across to the suburb of Karen. The weather had been on my side for a change and although I could see that heavy rain had fallen in the area, it held off until I was safely at the home of the Gauntlett’s. Gemma and Abby rushed out to meet me, and the next hour or so was spent answering questions about my trip, and the all important, “how long will you be staying this time?”…

There was much to do in the next few days, and I called Chris at Jungle Junction to confirm that I would be there bright and early on Monday, to give the bike a service, change tyres and prepare for the ride to Moyale…

“You better have a good raincoat!” was the last thing he said before ringing off…

Veggie seller on the road to Naivasha...

I had been wrestling with the sticky problem of this stretch of road out of Kenya, and could not decide what I should do… My ego told me to ride it, accept the challenge… But all the advice from friends and those who had ridden this road in the dry season, said “put it on a truck, and save yourself the hassle, not to mention the possibility of serious injury to yourself and damage to the bike”…  Very few people even bothered to attempt it in the wet season, and Kenya was having one of its wettest seasons for years, after four years of drought…

Despite these overwhelming odds, I still wanted to ride this bloody road…

Stubborn?…

Who me..?

© GBWT 2010

2 comments to Eldoret and on to Nairobi…

  • Charmz

    I take it you never got the “antibiotic”! Wow I hope SA stocks up on the black currant fanta, it will be a nice change from Red Bull!!

  • Ã…ke

    Stubborn…? You….?
    Hahaha , I just love it !!😄

Leave a Reply

You can use these HTML tags

<a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>

  

  

  

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.