Going on the Great North Highway

Upon leaving Nairobbery we enjoyed beautiful tar roads and Konstantin being the correct height at the rear axle. We headed to Meru National Park of Joy Adamson/Elsa fame. This Park, being recently promoted and upgraded, has new tar up to the entrance gate but is one of the rarer visited ones. As is normal by now, we are the only visitors of the self-drive type and only see two local cars. The Park is very dry except for small swampy areas and small rivers sustaining relatively small numbers of game. Here the Elephants are taking care of the thorn bush encroachment.

Next on was Samburu Game Reserve. This is a perfect example of how a game area should NOT be managed. 15 years back we experienced the same and to our disappointment, not much has changed since then. Every tour guide driver does as he pleases and the area alongside the only waterway, the Ewaso Ngiro River, is churned up to a powdery dust of up to 30cm deep around every single dry bush or tree.

Although this is home to an amazingly different variety of game like Grevy’s Zebras, the Reticulated Giraffe, the Beisa Oryx (as our Gemsbok, only 2/3^rd of its height), an abundance of Vulturine Guinefowl and the comical Gerenuk. However, due to drought, this reserve has plenty of cattle and goats to look at and should be avoided at all costs.

"The great north highway crossing the Koroli Desert"

Early the next morning we tackled the infamous Great North Highway. The first 50 Km were tar or a good service road but then it deteriorated by the kilometer. High corrugation, sharp stones and fallen off parts and tyres of fellow drivers kept your attention at peak, it was slow going.

We managed OK, doing the 250km's in five and a half hours and decided Marsabit and Henry the Swiss’ campsite (without any sign, just GPS co ordinates and word of mouth!) would do just fine for a rest especially as we had been warned of worse to come.

Early, Sunday morning we started at a snails pace on a very rocky, car destroying stretch, again littered with abandoned tyres and even cars. The countryside changed from arid to rocky desert. Lots of camel caravans, cattle and goats were on the move, one wonders how they survive? A sand storm blew in from the east giving everything a surreal feeling in the morning light.

"Sandstorm at the Dida Galgalu plains"

The last 100 km had been graded recently (heavy corrugation before) and we managed to finish this section of 300 km in six hours, 9 hrs being the norm before.

The border crossing at Moyale was quick and easy on the Kenyan side but Ethiopia welcomed us to a Sunday 3 hour lunchtime wait and a jolting awakening to their time zone, border town touts and right hand driving- even in the between borders zone! Lunch hour is kept everywhere, in small or big towns every one downs tools. As it was late afternoon, we decided to take the ‘best’ recommended Hotel Bekele Mola and were allowed to camp in the back yard with three other cars who survived the Great North Highway that day. Ablutions were back to basics as there was a water and power shortage. At 20h00 the electricity stopped and the entire town was dark and started to settle down from a very noisy traffic, hooting and screeching setting.