Rest and Road to Nakuru

The 2nd day in Masi Mara was dedicated to rest and home schooling. Part of the education was to take the children to the village of Talek, where they could see the typical houses and shops of the locals. A typical house is made of stone shaped like breeze blocks with a corrugated roof. It has two bedrooms no matter the size if the family and roughly 6 to 8m2 per room. No toilet, no running water. Thankfully, water in Talek is available in the town. Later, a driver told us he walked 15km per day to collect water after school, and then he had to milk the cows. Although our children see the grinding poverty, they have not yet significantly reduced their endless demands.

Two other observations about Talek. It's maybe two or three thousand people who are farmers, hotel workers, guides, and park rangers. Park entrance costs $300-$600 per day with car and driver who is also a guide. Bush camp costs $150 to the sky is the limit. It is clear that practically none of the $millions generated by tourism goes to the people of Talek. You might think those with money would act in their own self interest, by ensuring there are good roads, but the last 30km to Talek has a road that despite being a national highway is unimaginably dreadful and dangerous . In many places you must drive alongside the road because it's just too fucked up. If you ever go to Talek, don't even think for a second of driving yourself.

We took a car that in Europe would fit max 4 people to Nakuru. Why? It cost $140 for a 3.5 hour journey. A small bus would have cost $300.

On the road I gave my first history lesson on the subject of colonialism. Kids were hugely interested. Later in our house I wrote a test, and they all got almost everything correct 😉. A subtle part of our home schooling is that all kids use surface laptops, that are a PC, tablet combi with touchscreen and pen. They are already far ahead of Kids at school, who of course still mostly use pencil and paper.

In Nakuru we had a self catering place for $80 per night. The hotel that ran the place wanted $20 per person for breakfast, so we declined and bought bread cornflakes and yogurt at the supermarket. We also bought for a picnic next day, in place of going to Nakuru lodge in the park at a cost of $$$.Read more