The Road to Kericho

Day one on the road was a blast. We didn’t want to get going too early, because Nairobi traffic was going to be a problem, so we didn’t start driving west on the A104 until around 9:30.

Traveling comfortably, with plenty of space between sweaty people. I took shotgun for the day, which is probably the smoothest ride on some pretty bumpy roads.

The route would take us across the Great Rift Valley, which is where the African plate is slowly breaking into two pieces. Lots of science going on currently still, do your own research if you’d like to find out more!

Most of the day was in the van, but we were lucky to catch a few surprise guests along the way.

During one stretch, these guys were all over the side of the road. Denis says that they are beggars, getting food from cars, trucks and buses going by. Plenty of young and old in the groups and they weren’t really interested in us as we drove by. If we’d have stopped they might have come over.

And for good meazure, let’z get another glimpze at thoze zebraz.

We stopped for lunch in Nakuru (Kenya) at a Hotel restaurant. For the most part, this is the type of place where we’ve been taking meals, and the vegetarian (and to a lesser extent vegan) options have been plentiful. Trying to remember what we ate… usually there are mild Indian-style curries over rice and parathas, plus lentil dishes and other stews. Fresh juices and great coffee and tea selections round things out. Always bottled water to drink, although we’re drinking a bit less because bathrooms are few and far between. You can always stop on the side of the road, but it’s a bit of an adventure.

I struggle to describe this in a sensitive way but it’s worth noting. We took some time to stop at a local roadside market, where we were veritably mobbed by sellers of vegetables and and ultimately beggars. It was like a scene from a movie, and we eventually had to roll up the windows because they were very persistent (we were waiting in the van). We were never in any danger — not in the least — but we were already tired after a long day in the car, so this was added stress. Needless to say, our day was surely much easier than any of these people we were interacting with. I’m going to try to describe the different types of cities and villages that we drove through, but it’s hard to do so without feeling very touristy. If you’ve ever seen a Vietnam war movie, where soldiers are rolling through on tanks with villagers onlooking, that’s sort of how I feel.

Anyway, Denis bought a huge (50lb?) bag of carrots and several bags of oranges for his juicer at home. (Spoiler Alert) We would partake of this in a few days…

We ended our day in Kericho (care-each-oh), a relatively small but accessible town in Kenyan tea country. We passed a very large tea production facility and several tracks of suburb-like cookie-cutter housing for tea workers. Once in town we had a bit of time left to walk to the local coffee shop and enjoy conversation of the very friendly and inquisitive locals.

Dinner with the whole crew at our hotel restaurant, reportedly one of the best in the city. Delicious Indian-inspired African food. We met the chef and he adjusted several dishes for our particular tastes. After that we hit the hay — we’d have another long day in the van tomorrow!