We are lucky! Jambo! The parts for Juan’s car really arrive Friday at noon. Quickly we bring them to the car repair shop, where they tell us they can fix it in 3 hours… 3 hours become 10, 
but at least we are ready to leave Saturday morning. At 9 am we leave, however, Juan suddenly discovers he lost his mobile! He wants to go back to town to look for it. So we continue alone – the sec
ond 250 kilometers of the “worst road in Africa”… We manage this part of the road in 4 hours and are not sure which part was worse. Corrugation at its best, potholes we have never seen before and more than once we think the car will fall apart. Another traveler said, you can only do this road if you hate your car, and he was right.
We are more than happy to finally arrive in Samburu National Park. We arrive at a perfect time, in the afternoon, when the big animals come to the river to drink. We are overwhelmed to see herds of elephants, 
giraffes, zebras, etc. And all of this just some meters away from us!
We put up our tent next to the river, and spotting elephant shit all over the place makes us a little nervous! When we sit in the dark, having dinner, we suddenly hear breaking wood, and we discover a huge elephant 
just some meters away from our tent! Thomas tries to make a photo, which unfortunately didn’t work (maybe due to his trembling hands?).
The next surprise is waiting early next morning. While preparing breakfast, suddenly two monster baboons enter our car! When Thomas is trying to kick them out, they knock over the table, spill the coffee and steal our milk powder. Some meters away they stop, open within seconds the lid and enjoy eating it. Only now we remember that the guards warned us that the baboons even open the tents to find food! But only if nobody is around!?!?!
On our way out of the park, we meet Juan, who arrived late at night and tells us the horror story of his mobile. It has been stolen and it took him and the people in the village half a day to locate the thief and get it back! Nevertheless everything turned out to be fine and we are happy that he also survived the horror road.
Together we continue south to Isiolo and then to the highlands around Mount Kenya. The countryside changes completely since we are over 2000 meters now, and the weather as well. It’s c
old and raining. We feel a little like in Germany with all the green and huge grain fields. In Timau, we stop at the Timau River Lodge and like this place so much that we decide to spend the night here. In the end, we stay here for 3 nights.
View from the Lodge to Mount Kenya (5199 m).
Our hot shower is prepared.
From here we go to the Sweetwater Reserve where we see even more big animals.
Our favorite picture during a visit to the open air toilet.
On the way to this park, we cross the Equator three times in one day.
We are surprised how road conditions can change after some rain!
Here in the Timau River Lodge it’s time so say good-bye to Juan, who will head for the coast while we plan to go to the Rift Valley. Unfortunately, we will not see him again, since he is in a 
hurry and has to be in Johannesburg in 3 weeks. Adios Juan, have a safe trip, hope to see you in Spain or Germany, it was really fun travelling together…
Our route in Kenya so far.
Blog done in the Timau River Lodge on 19./20.05.2009
Hallo Claudia,
ReplyDeleteseit ein bisschen mehr vorsichtig - wir wollen nicht, dass auf dem Grabhügel steht: "Der Löwe freute sich über sein Frühstück und es hatte sich schon halb ausgezogen".
Liebe Grüße Markus