Kenya - entering through Lake Turkana

Yes we did it! A huge challenge and a big adventure! Entering Kenya through the Lake Turkana route was definitely exciting and took its toll. The road was one of the loneliest stretches we did so far and as the tarmac ended some 5 days ago in Ethiopia, the road conditions were adding to the challenge.  But it was also unique and utterly beautiful. We wouldn't want to miss it.

Entering the 12 km no-man's-land between Ethiopia and Kenya.  A disappearing road and a beautiful landscape. We arrived at the Kenyan border just before dark, it was raining and the army men were more than astonished to see two westerners on bicycles approaching. Nevertheless, they let us in with a nice and warm "Karibu". We felt very much welcomed.

This is the mainroad!!! It is winding of and on the Lake Turkana shores. And yes it is all SANDY and CORRUGATED!!!! 

As we were sooooo slow, we were even capable of observing the smaller animals along the dirt road. 

In this region live the Turkana people: a very fierce and proud tribe that fights a lot, mainly over cattle, with neighboring tribes on the Ethiopian side and with the Pokot and other tribes in Kenya, at the southern end of Lake Turkana. 

To have enough drinking water is one of the bigger problems in this region. Lake Turkana can't provide that because it's a salty lake that is part of the Rift Valley lakes stretching from the Death See down to Zambia and South Africa. 

Along the way down the western shore of the lake we found little villages every 30-40 km. Most of them have a catholic mission and a church. So for once we weren't so unhappy about  the spreading of religion and stayed happily in those places overnight. 

As the road conditions were very difficult, it took us a very long time to reach the southern end of the lake. We made around 35 km in 6 hours of very hard cycling and mainly pushing our bikes through sand and over corrugated stretches.  

As in most of the african countries, the population of kenya is very young. So you see kids everywhere. At least here they are very nice, interested and polite. 

The Turkana are pastorals which means that most of the huts are only a temporary stay. As long as there is food for their livestock, mainly goats and sheep, they will stay. They move with the rain.

malnourished or just normally thin?

Luckily the rainy season is almost over. So it's a little bit easier to cross the countless seasonal rivers that feed Lake Turkana. 

Two men walking to the next village.

The market is over. While the women have purchased the necessary goods, the husband has had lots of the locally brewed beer. The women are left to carry the heavy things and he is busy trying to walk. They seemed (understandably) very unhappy with him!

Kalokol: Semi-desert landscape also means billions of flies. As soon as you sit down somewhere they are appearing. So sometimes you have to be inventive: This is called the " Non-Fly-One-Women-Mobile-Kitchen".

In Kalokol we spent 2 days in the catholic mission and learned that there is hunger in the region. The problem is known and recurrent. So nothing's new about it. We also learned that although the pastorals have many cows, goats and sheep (= money!), they will not sell their livestock to eat or put money aside for the time when there is going to be a famine. A chief would rather have his children and wife be hungry than sell a goat! 

Here we joined the tarmac again. After so many days on tough gravel/sand/mud-dirt road, we almost kissed the tarmac  at the beginning of this street. 

Beautiful but arid landscape. As it was just the end of the rainy season, it was somehow greener than usual. 

The last camels?

Street live of Lodwar. The first town on the Kenyan side. We reached here after 1 week of difficult cycling and enjoyed the shower very much.   

Our cries of joy at the beginning of the tarmac road were definitely premature. As we left Lodwar we started a stretch with almost as many problems as the one before. There once was a tarmac road! Since then nothing had been done to maintain or repair it, or so it seemed to us. Today this road is a sand-piste with lonely islands of tarmac. What a nightmare for cyclists!

We are as interesting to the people here as they are to us. 

There are still heavy rains and thunderstorms. Spectacular to watch.  

Tarmac islands!!!!! As far as the eye can see!!!!

A bunch of kids "helping" to set up our tent... 

...while others are just watching.

The village whitch! (or the poor lady who was badly treated by her husband and ended as "the whitch"!)

These muzungus (the word for foreigners in this part of Africa) are just so interesting to watch. What are they doing??? Let's have a look. 

Teeth brushing in the morning. 

Boys helping us to cross the rivers. 

These to gentlemen were our personal police-guards. We asked them if we could sleep in this village and they offered us one of their own rooms to sleep in. Very nice, thank you so much! 

The road after a heavy rain fall in the night!

Kainuk: after 30 km in "dangerous" Potok country we are relieved to see houses again.

While having a break, we heard a loud explosion. Somewhere further down the road a bus tire had exploded in the heat and everyone was sitting outside and waiting for it to be fixed.

Where is the baby gecko?

Our lucky charm scarecrow is always worth a second look. 

While we are having a Skype session with Katrin in Switzerland, this young lady develops her hairdressing skills with European hair. 

This uphill stretch at the Marich-Pass is the last part of gravel road. After that there will be TARMAC,  this is what everyone is telling us. We will see!!!!