Crossing the Equator

Leaving Moyale we went back to the future (Ethiopia uses the Gregorian calender which is seven years and eight months behind, making it 2003!) As we crested the hill to the south of the town the road almost immediately vanished into a rocky path and with it virtually all other traffic. Even the locals thought it amusing that we were attempting what Paul Theroux calls the ‘longest road in Africa’.

Soon enough all civilisation had vanished and the low scrub turned once more into barren desert broken only by the occasional sight of a lonely tribesman, spear in hand, wandering aimlessly into the distance. To begin with we argued at how to tackle the deep rutting and vicious corrugation. “keep a steady 25” snapped one. “We’ll never get there, just smash it out” barked another. We tried everything and everything was equally painful. It turned out that a ruthless 40mph made the inexplicable corrugation just about bearable, but didn’t account for the enormous boulders that jutted dangerously out of the sand which resulted in the ambulances being almost shaken to an early grave and the suspension taking a severe battering. At one point, whilst swerving the avoid a pothole 2 feet deep the ‘G’ Reg roof rack flew off depositing jerry cans and kit everywhere. Unrepairable we were forced to repack everything in the back and leave the thing to the hands of the desert.

We arrived shaken but in high spirits in the windy mountainous town of Marsabit, famous for its huge elephants and marauding baboons, where we stayed in the garden of Swiss Henry, an eccentric expat, renown for his dislike of the locals. Nevertheless he supplied much needed beer and we were suitably revived for another day of bad vibrations.

More problems ensued as the brake cable snapped and we had to drive several hundred kilometres with no brakes all the way to the British army outpost of Archers post where Russ had pulled some strings to try and find us a mechanic. Unfortunately we were a day late and the whole outfit had moved on to the headquarters in Nanyuki, a three hour drive to the south. Still, while we were there we decided it would be a shame not to enjoy the nearby Buffalo springs national park where we were treated to viewing a handful of Zebra and plentiful gazelle as well as some tantalizingly distant elephants, not to mention an extravagant buffet dinner in the game lodge, meeting with some curious glances from the wealthy tourists as we scoffed in filthy t shirts and shorts.

That night we drove through the black hills to Nanyuki, a pleasant town filled with a mix of ex pats, British soldiers and local curio hawkers wishing to swap wooden elephants for old trainers. We were greeted by 2 Rifles, the resident battle group who kindly let us stay in the accommodation and did our laundry for free whilst Stu briefed up the local mechanic, ‘Titch’ who pushed us straight to the front of is queue and fixed up the ambulances in no time.

With some time to kill we enjoyed a traditional army breakfast and Will had a pair of cow hide Safari shoes made. Since we were in the middle of Kenya we made the most of the opportunity to see some wildlife and visited the Ol Pejeto national park which was an incredible experience. Almost immediately on entering the beautiful plains we were treated to 3 out of the big 5 as well as plenty of Zebra, Gazelle, Giraffe and smaller game. As the sun set we came across a pack of cheetah stalking some antelope and they didn’t seem to mind as we followed them in the chase to within 20 meters of the kill. That evening we camped up inside the park but only after signing a death disclaimer with the park ranger to say that we were happy to be eaten by the lions. Surprisingly we slept soundly- at least until 8 am when a herd of hungry elephants decided to bash their way into our campsite and woke us up in time to see a solitary lioness hunting deer just a few hundred metres away!!

Although we would have liked to have spent more time enjoying the incredible natural splendour of Kenya we were still 2 weeks behind schedule and were forced to move on south to drop off half the team at Nairobi airport. As an unfortunate postscript to the wildlife drama Charlton managed to squash at least 3 poor creatures on the endangered species list with his frenetic driving (none in edible condition). b

It was with genuine sadness when, after driving through the filthy outskirts of one of Africa’s biggest cities, we had to say goodbye to Ruthie (who had some important meetings in Malawi), Stuart and Will. They have all made an overwhelming contribution in their own way and it is a great shame they will not complete the final few (thousand) miles to the finish. We still haven’t quite figured out what we will do without Stu’s know how with the vehicles and from now on will have to rely on the last remaining Gaffa tape to fix any mechanical issues.

Kenya flew by in a dusty blur and before long we had crossed over the border into Tanzania where we immediately put the ambulances to good use and rescued a sick Masai tribeswoman from the remote borderlands and gave her a lift to the nearest medical centre. The people of Tanzania stood out as incredibly friendly and we were glad to give lifts to several cheerful spear wielding tribespeople along the way. They returned the favour by posing for Alberto’s ever present camera and curling their earlobes around their ears. An impressive feat!

The road wound its way through the increasingly green Bantu hinterland where we were once again favoured with sightings of elephant, giraffe and scores of jaywalking baboon all the way along the main highway to the south. By now we had caught up quite a few days but didn’t help that much since Russ had been forced to cancel much of leave to get back to work 2 weeks early thanks to the capricious nature of the British army. All of us by now had less than a week to reach Malawi and find a flight home and so the next few days will prove to be amongst the longest and most tiring of the whole journey.