Karen, Nairobi

We’ve spent a relaxing week with minimal driving or activities in this leafy suburb outside of Nairobi. We found an idyllic stone cottage where we were able cook our own meals, watch mindless TV (including John’s cricket (emphasis on the mindless- ha, ha)), read, sleep, clean up and organize all of our stuff so it fits into our small bags. Christy also got a haircut, mani/pedi, and we’ve both enjoyed drinking cold, bubbly water and wine. We were also lucky enough to catch up with Vishal and Sita, who Christy knew from Campbells/Wharton/Philly, and enjoy a wonderful lunch getting the scoop on what life is like here compared to the US and other places.
Since this part of our trip is winding down and because the Land Rover has been the third character in our trip these past 5 months, we need to take a moment to discuss its’ role in our recent adventures.
Nicknamed Tokoloshe (a mythical and mischievous bush elf in South African folklore), we’ve written many things about this LR as we’ve been travelling. It’s featured so often in our posts because it’s been our home - functioning not only as our transport, but also as our bedroom, kitchen, and living room. We’ve probably spent 95% of our time, since first getting into the front seat in Johannesburg last May, within just a few yards of the LR. It was very rare for it to be out of our sight at any time during this entire part of the trip. We also have written several times about repairs we’ve had to do along the way and several days spent in mechanic’s yards getting things fixed. However, we’ve put this vehicle through a LOT. We’ve driven almost 20,000 kilometers (about 12,000 miles) through 9 countries over the last few months in all kinds of weather and road conditions. We’ve been through hot, dusty deserts, over steep and twisty mountain passes. We’ve driven through rivers, mud, deep, endless sand and long stretches of tarmac for hours on end. We’ve inadvertently hit multiple potholes at speed and driven over roads made up of endless rocks and corrugations so wide and deep that we started a collection of all of the small pieces of the LR that had been shaken loose during the day and we tried to return each piece to its proper place, often with the help of some duct tape.
With all of the bad roads we’ve driven, it’s a miracle that we haven’t experienced any major tire issues – just a few unlucky flats early in the trip. We also fed the poor thing some contaminated fuel, but it still did not die or leave us stranded.
We lost count of how many times we were stopped at police and military checkpoints, but are proud we only picked up one ticket and never paid any bribes. We are especially thankful we did not collide with any vehicles, goats, sheep, cows, donkeys, and - most importantly – hit any humans. With all this torture, the LR still started every morning, without hesitation. Tokoloshe has also been a magnet, attracting people wherever we stop and enabling us meet so many friendly, funny, helpful, generous and interesting locals along the way. So, yes, we are happy not to be driving or camping anymore (although we will miss the experience of camping wild with all the animals), but are thankful to Tokoloshe for enabling us to experience so many great adventures.
It was with mixed emotions that we said goodbye to Tokoloshe as Jennifer & Gerrit (the Dutch couple we met in Zambia) picked it up and began their 8-day drive back to Johannesburg.Read more