In January 2009, the last time we were in Kenya, we stayed in a lovely lodge with Paul and Elaine overlooking the soda lake, Elementaita. Here we are once again looking up at the Lodge on the bluff from our campsite, Duala Flamingo Camp, right down on the Lakeshore. Once again, being low season, we are the only ones here. The drive from Nairobi earlier today was quite spectacular up into the high ground, nearly 3000m at times, with wonderful views of the Rift Valley far below. The countryside was lush and green after the recent rains with corn, sugarcane and bananas and there were flocks of brown sheep at the roadsides, along with stalls selling fleeces and round sheepskin hats. As I am writing this, the dry sunny day weather has gone and the sky looks ominously like heavy rain approaching.
We spent 4 nights at Jungle Junction (J J's) in the up-market area of Karen, a leafy suburb of Nairobi, not far from the Karen Blixen house and museum (the character played by Meryl Streep in ''Out of Africa". Not that we had time to visit as we were busy applying for the Sudan visas. We had been told that most people apply in Ethiopia but we wanted to get ahead of the game. A letter of invitation is normally required along with confirmation from the British Embassy that we were non-resident in Kenya.
On Wednesday we visited the Sudan Embassy to enquire politely what documents would be required. The nice man told us a letter of invitation was not necessary, but we needed a letter from the British Commission. We therefore called there and acquired a letter saying they don't issue letters! That evening we photocopied our Carnet and completed the visa application forms. Thursday we took all this paperwork back to the Sudanese Embassy and after a wait and a lot of checking we were told everything was in order. The normal waiting time for issuing a 1 month visa is 5 days, but the nice man said it could be ready for collection on Friday after 12 noon. Elated, we returned to Karen and found a new shopping mall with a Carrefour. What a surprise, so we did another grocery shop to last us a week or so.
J J's was an odd sort of place, not really a campsite but an overland vehicle storage yard, complete with a workshop and garage. Run by German Chris and his very English speaking Kenyan wife Diana, they also offered accommodation and meals to travellers. Camping was in a big grass field amongst the parked Land Rovers, Toyotas with roof tents and big overland trucks and buses. Due to recent heavy rains, the worst Chris has known at this time of year, the ground was very muddy. The same day as we arrived, Gerald, an elderly Austrian, also turned up. He has been cycling around Africa for the last 5 years and had come down from touring Ethiopia for a bike repair before continuing south. The following day a Swiss hippie couple and their 11 year old son turned up in an ancient converted French military vehicle. They latched on to us once they heard we had a hot air balloon. We are hoping we don't run into them again as they are also going to Uganda.
Anyway, yesterday we were impatient to find out if our visas were ready, so once again we drove the now familiar 13km route into the city, braving the horrific traffic and arrived at 11.45. Imagine my surprise when Chris reappeared before 12.00 with Sudanese visas valid for 2 months. How lucky are we? A bit of Enterprise cleaning this morning and we were ready for the next part of our journey. After having had really fast internet at J J's for 2 days we were disappointed that there was none last night or today, when we had hoped to perhaps make contact with family.
One major thing about driving in Kenya, in spite of the mad traffic, is that there are no police stops, so far. Tanzania was dreadful for low speed limits through even the smallest of settlements and we were caught twice by hidden speed traps and had to pay the equivalent of a £10 fine each time. We were also chased for not having stopped at a weighbridge, unnecessarily, and asked for a £1500 fine. Needless to say, Chris sat it out and they finally gave up with that.
We spent 4 nights at Jungle Junction (J J's) in the up-market area of Karen, a leafy suburb of Nairobi, not far from the Karen Blixen house and museum (the character played by Meryl Streep in ''Out of Africa". Not that we had time to visit as we were busy applying for the Sudan visas. We had been told that most people apply in Ethiopia but we wanted to get ahead of the game. A letter of invitation is normally required along with confirmation from the British Embassy that we were non-resident in Kenya.
On Wednesday we visited the Sudan Embassy to enquire politely what documents would be required. The nice man told us a letter of invitation was not necessary, but we needed a letter from the British Commission. We therefore called there and acquired a letter saying they don't issue letters! That evening we photocopied our Carnet and completed the visa application forms. Thursday we took all this paperwork back to the Sudanese Embassy and after a wait and a lot of checking we were told everything was in order. The normal waiting time for issuing a 1 month visa is 5 days, but the nice man said it could be ready for collection on Friday after 12 noon. Elated, we returned to Karen and found a new shopping mall with a Carrefour. What a surprise, so we did another grocery shop to last us a week or so.
J J's was an odd sort of place, not really a campsite but an overland vehicle storage yard, complete with a workshop and garage. Run by German Chris and his very English speaking Kenyan wife Diana, they also offered accommodation and meals to travellers. Camping was in a big grass field amongst the parked Land Rovers, Toyotas with roof tents and big overland trucks and buses. Due to recent heavy rains, the worst Chris has known at this time of year, the ground was very muddy. The same day as we arrived, Gerald, an elderly Austrian, also turned up. He has been cycling around Africa for the last 5 years and had come down from touring Ethiopia for a bike repair before continuing south. The following day a Swiss hippie couple and their 11 year old son turned up in an ancient converted French military vehicle. They latched on to us once they heard we had a hot air balloon. We are hoping we don't run into them again as they are also going to Uganda.
Anyway, yesterday we were impatient to find out if our visas were ready, so once again we drove the now familiar 13km route into the city, braving the horrific traffic and arrived at 11.45. Imagine my surprise when Chris reappeared before 12.00 with Sudanese visas valid for 2 months. How lucky are we? A bit of Enterprise cleaning this morning and we were ready for the next part of our journey. After having had really fast internet at J J's for 2 days we were disappointed that there was none last night or today, when we had hoped to perhaps make contact with family.
One major thing about driving in Kenya, in spite of the mad traffic, is that there are no police stops, so far. Tanzania was dreadful for low speed limits through even the smallest of settlements and we were caught twice by hidden speed traps and had to pay the equivalent of a £10 fine each time. We were also chased for not having stopped at a weighbridge, unnecessarily, and asked for a £1500 fine. Needless to say, Chris sat it out and they finally gave up with that.
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