Journey back to Karen Camp, Nairobi

We set off back to Karen Camp, passing several Masai settlements and a whole village that was apparently on the move. The look of the Masai people is very striking in their strongly coloured red, blue or orange checked robes, the men carrying long sticks which, I imagine, would once have been spears. They are often very lean and tall people with long, thin, almost gaunt, faces, often with quite large protruding front teeth which doesn't detract from their handsome and dignified appearance. We returned to the main road and more familiar African towns with their multitude of shop fronts and strange names written in English above the door. I was feeling tired and quite 'travelled out' so sat quietly writing my journal as the five hours of travel slowly passed. After a couple of stops for food and refreshments, we approached Nairobi with Mount Suswa looming impressively ahead of us, cloud shadows skating down its vertiginous, jagged sides and a huge flat plain before it, accentuating its rugged grandeur. We then climbed up a very long incline behind slow lorries up to over 2300 metres with epic views over the rift valley plains far, far below. Street sellers had built fires under small, rickety wooden shacks to roast sweetcorn which they then precariously sold to lorry drivers by jumping up onto their cabs as they drove by. Sadly, we saw the result of the road traffic, 'no rules', chaos in Kenya when a poor woman stepped out in front of a van travelling on the wrong side of the road and was hit full square in the back - the van was not travelling quickly so hopefully the woman wasn't too badly injured but we couldn't stop to find out. We eventually arrived back at Karen camp and I set up my tent. It was nice to meet some of the staff again after my arrival over two weeks ago, which now felt like six months ago with all I'd experienced since then. We will have several fellow travellers leaving at this point of the trip and they will all be missed as it's been a very nice group to travel with. I said my goodbyes to those that are leaving and said hello to one of the six people who are now joining our trip for the next stage.Read more