Day 5 – Mtito Andei to ?? – The Town That Never Was

If Day 4 had been one of the sweetest and at one of the best places we could have hoped for, Day 5 also began that way and ended in one of the most frustrating ways.

Breakfast was included in our lodging and turned out to be the best meal we could have imagined – even out of all the time I’ve spent in Kenya the past two years! We were served in a ‘dinning room’, first fresh fruit and juice, then coffee/tea, and then spanish omletes, bacon, sausage and real toast (real because toast here usually means white bread, not toasted). The whole meal really spoiled us!

Enjoying our surprise, we got off to a bit of a late start into the National Park, but planned for a 50 Km push into Tsavo in the middle. Martina tried to find a place to stay through the hotel in Mtito Andei, but their sister location was in Voi – 90Km and too far in the heat and wind that persisted. They recommended a new safari lodge just 2km past Tsavo, so that’s what we set for.

The day as a whole was fine. The least traffic we had experienced and few people because it was a Park. We came across some Baboons again and got really lucky with a small heard of Zebras which ran away, beside and then across the road in front of us. Overall, our biggest issue was the wind again and a new obstacle, these nasty speed bumps.

We realized the speed bumps were to stop drivers from passing each other on the shoulder at high speed, definitely a good thing. We could see the results of crashes everwhere – pieces of car, windshields etc. all over the should. The speed bumps for us were a huge hassle though because they came up like 2×4′s every 50 yards or so. We could just hit some of the more rounded and pop over them, but this cost momentum and was hard on our already worn out legs and feet. The best method was to roll up onto the edge of the road – a smooth transition – and back down onto the shoulder on the otherside of the log. This cost some momentum as well, but was much easier and quicker. Problem was, this put us up onto the road and we had to be all the more careful if there were vehicles near by.

It was Rob’s turn to bleed today. The trick with the speedbumps was getting up some speed as you made the transition. Exhausted from the trek, Rob hit a tranny too slow and I didn’t notice. I came over way faster and we clipped wheels in the meter of shoulder space we had to work with, sending Rob crashing. We now share matching bloody elbows, both because of me!

At times, plans need to be adjusted. Life, like business planning, is an iteration. Here in Kenya, that need to be flexible and open to the unexpected, no matter how hard you try and account for things, is a must. That doesn’t make it any less frustrating. To look at a paper map, or my Google GPS map, Tsavo is a bigger town. And logic, seeing as it is in the middle of the National Park, the name of all gates and right on the edge of the Game Reserve, makes it seem like there is a town. THERE IS NO TOWN! There is a gate, and inside the Park there are a couple Safari lodges (aka Expensive $$$$), but no town, meaning no where for us to stay.

The Park Rangers just kept telling us its not safe here, you should not go through here. We knew that seeing Zebras meant there is a pretty good chance the predators could be around too, but what we hadn’t accounted for was that the next town, about 15 Km from ‘Tsavo’ was a prison town and also ‘not safe’. We had only one shot, the ‘new’ hotel 2 Km from ‘Tsavo’ they told us about in Mtito Andei. We pushed on to and found the ‘Man Eaters Lodge’. Hiked (impossible to skate and barely drivable) the 1Km off the road to the lodge to find it deserted with the one person there looking to extort 3 times the price of our previous lodging PER PERSON.

Kaiboshed, we had few choices. It was unsafe to stay in the Park, unsafe to stay in the prison town, and there was nowhere else to stay. We were forced to drive the 40 Km to Voi to find something. Rob and I were very agitated.

Exhausted and frustrated, we luckily found a nice, cheap place to stay in Voi with comfortable beds and arguably the best bathrooms of the trip so far. We grabbed a late dinner and crashed hard. Tomorrow, we’ll pick up where we left off.