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Let’s bring Sauna into Africa
  • Michi, der
  • Franze Dude
  • Michi, der
  • Franze Dude

Let’s bring Sauna into Africa

South Africa to Germany – at least a try. Read more
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  • Let’s bring Sauna into Africa
    Breakfast at the narrow passage coming up on the right
    Not for big rigsCows can do it

    Found the tricky part

    January 13, 2021 in Kenya ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C

    My curiosity is too strong. This road to Mochongoi up from the valley at Waseges river is supposed to be undrivable. After taking the northern detour, sleeping at a primary school and arriving in Mochongoi the next day I still want to see "what the challenge is" and find a passage which indeed is very, very steep and paved with big stones which would make a climb pretty difficult. Even with 4x4, differentials locked, finding grip on big loose stones is difficult and the steepness makes it dangerous. But with the visible, somewhat cleared motorbike path it should be possible to get grip at least with one side of the vehicle. Also, part of the road - just at the upper ridge - must have been flushed away in a small avalanche recently. There is a very narrow passage coming up, having just the width of my car. I have breakfast here, walk down with a cup of coffee, up, down and up again, re-thinking if I should risk driving down and not being able to come up again :D In the end I do not drive down even tough it should be possible. Somehow I don't want to loose a whole day of "experimenting" and save this place "for the next time when going west". Later I will regret this decision :pRead more

  • Let’s bring Sauna into Africa

    Laikipia

    January 13, 2021 in Kenya ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

    Overgrazed, loveless landscape. There are some reserves here but the cattle ate all the grass so what are "the wild animals" supposed to have for lunch?

  • Let’s bring Sauna into Africa
    Mountains in despair
    Kentrout camp, a paradise!Clear sky at night, few clouds in the morning

    Climbing? Not now.

    January 13, 2021 in Kenya ⋅ ⛅ 10 °C

    At Sirimon Gate of Mount Kenya National Park I collect some valuable information for hiking up. Unfortunately it is not possible any more to hike on your own. I will not get permission without a guide. Shit. Don't need anybody. Damn. Na gut. I at least collect the phone number of a nice, experienced guy and have now to bargain a price with him. I would like to hike for 5 days and descend to the east. But anyway, the last days it has been raining up there and the weather forecast til the end of this week looks also bad. No view from up there. So, again change of plans, I decide to drive up to Chalbi Desert and lake Turkana first and try to visit this mountain on the way back.Read more

  • Let’s bring Sauna into Africa
    pineapple-passion-avocado-beetroot-mango

    Fill-up, wrap-up

    January 14, 2021 in Kenya ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C

    Within roughly an hour I descend from around 2300 m to 800 m. Northwards in the dryer region the air looks much clearer than this hazy smog which I had to deal with during the past days between Aberdare Range, the Lake System and Mount Kenya. Time for some last big refills in Isiolo. By incident I find a decent bar with good local food, fresh pineapple-passion-avocado-beetroot-mango juice and … toilet paper in the restrooms, for a local (non-Mzungu) price.
    One of my jerry cans is leaking and I have to change my cabin filter of the air condition because apparently it served as a mouse nest recently – probably at Eckhard’s place – and is now generously shitted and partly eaten. I just need a cheap spare part but the “mechanic” insists in changing it for me. Oh dear, this is what drives me crazy about many Kenyans. You are not able to to anything by yourself. For every poop you need “a guide” or someone to assist you. Of course then they want money for it but they just don’t understand if you say “No!”. I even started to deposit junk, trash, water, supplies and everything else on my spare front seat because even when you just ask for directions instead of getting an answer the next second somebody is sitting next to you and wanting to guide you to your destination.

    Maybe it’s time for a condensed wrap-up anyway. So, there is a gradient visible from Zambia through Tanzania to Kenya. In Zambia the people don’t have anything – but they speak at least English. They are so poor that they got excited whenever I gave them a banana. I felt very bad. They are a bit shy but very warm, hearty and honest. So far, from these three countries I appreciated their “feedback” most. There are barely any cars in the countryside and the nature looks more or less … like nature. Sure, also because I’ve been there during rainy season but the overall impression considering the population distribution and landuse is “more natural”.
    The moment you cross borders to Tanzania the very same landscape looks totally different with much more agriculture and vanished bushland which has been replaced by maize and other crops. Suddenly there are hundreds of boda-bodas (motorbikes) and piki-pikis (tuk-tuks) around. The people are also nice, warm, welcoming, but communication is more difficult because English is not so dominant in the countryside. Just learn three words in Kiswahili and their hearts are open! But as Google and Wikipedia build the base of world’s wisdom nowadays I am not sure how the Tanzanians will cope with future because Google and Wiki do not understand Kiswahili very well ;) Still, Tanzanians seem just not to care which I find very attractive =) So, when you ask for directions in Tanzania you either are not understood or you get a clear answer, whether it is correct or not, or get invited to their home. But the guys don’t want to suck your blood immediately like it might happen occasionally in Kenya.
    Yeah, Kenya. Cattle. Erosion. If your find grass, only it’s roots are left. If something is green, it's a crop. But also the vegetation zones change to semi-arid and semi-desert bush- and scrubland northwards. Obviously a greater challenge to feed the people and thus maybe unfair to draw a direct comparision. More cars. Like I wrote before the people are nice as well but especially around the urban areas I have to approach them differently. When I stop and a guy approaches me asking to buy him a lunch I cannot take him serious when I see the 10+ motorbikes being lined up and waiting to be repaired by him. But, where in Tanzania I had the impression that wherever I go the men are just sitting next to the road and watching the wind while the women and children are doing all the society’s work, here in Kenya everybody seems to be up to something “productive”. The youngsters I have spoken to have clear visions and seem to be motivated whereas in Tanzania I did not meet any youngsters, they all seem to be emigrated? Where in Tanzania they send their children to carry water and firewood, here in Kenya they use donkeys. Tanzanians seem not to know that donkeys exist :p    Read more

  • Let’s bring Sauna into Africa
    The right of way is clearly defined

    Trans East-African Highway

    January 14, 2021 in Kenya ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C

    The right of way is clearly defined on the Trans East-African Highway. I am very surprised because I expected something apocalyptic like the busy, crappy highway from Dar-es-Salaam to Zambia or the Mombasa-Nairobi connection. Instead, I find a wonderfully wide road in superb condition with no traffic at all! It reminds me of cruising from Cape Town to Namibia with Wurstdaniel or the greater northern Swedish highways where you can cruise with 100 kph for hours and just enjoy the landscape. Such a contrast to my last weeks. Clear air, great view of approaching mountains. This is where I’m heading to. Again, mountains!Read more

  • Let’s bring Sauna into Africa

    Bush camp

    January 14, 2021 in Kenya ⋅ ☀️ 25 °C

    Wild camp when turning off the gravel road into a dry, wide riverbed. I do not recommend camping in riverbeds even though they might seem to be dry for years. Flash-floods coming from heavy rains in distant mountains are not uncommon. Just a few days ago bad things happened in southern Namibia around very idyllic, river-side camping spots. Choose an elevated spot wisely and be conscious of your surroundings. Which way to retreat, just in case? Then you are ready to enjoy the riverbed. I find plenty of dead, dry fire wood. This is mostly dense, hard, heavy acacia stuff. Just a few medium sticks burn as long as a whole Schubkarre full of common northern European wood. I am greeted by warthogs and small bush bucks and surrounded by elephant poop. But no big animals in sight. I am in Samburu territory. The next morning I see my first camels next to the road! The bush- and scrubland gets drier and they exchanged cows for camels :pRead more

  • Let’s bring Sauna into Africa
    Where to cross best? :-D
    Track in riverStabheuschreckchenOver Ngire River to Ndoto MountainsNgire riverbed

    Mathew’s Range/Ol Doinyo Lenkiyo

    January 15, 2021 in Kenya ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C

    Again I decide to take the “rough road” instead of doing the easy way. Yeehaaw! It turns out to be 4x4 paradise as I turn into the Mathew’s Range (Ol Doinyo Lenkiyo) from Wamba, north of the Samburu National Reserve. Great landscape! Hills, mountains, barren land, dry, thorny bushes, getting less and less as I progress further north, giving way to scrubs and more camels and goats. I cross dozens of luggas (small, dry river beds in dry season), manage steep descends and ascends and have to drive around 80 km in low range gears. I have to admit that having an automatic gearbox could be advantageous in this situation. My manual 6-speed is far from
    being as smooth as a VW Passat's one ... It is just a slow progress but full of experience and impressions. North in Mathew’s Range the path is so bad that it actually is no difference of driving next to it or not. In my paper map it is marked as “seasonal” and this is why: parts of the track are in big, dry riverbeds. Towards the afternoon I have to cross the wide valley of Ngire River with an eye-filling view of Ndoto Mountains in the north. The riverbed is still muddy and wet in parts but it is crossable without any problems. Awesome! I just came in the right season. My night I spend just a few metres off the road, approx. 30 km south-easterly of Baragoi, on a small hill between scrubs and stones with the view of both the sunset and sunrise as well as the hilly landscape all around. Yum yum! Later I get approached by two young villagers who tell me that camping here is dangerous because of the rivaling tribe from Baragoi which comes here to steal their animals. They would also high-jack cars and I should better come to their village. But I am lazy, tired, currently preparing food and it is almost dark. Have a peaceful night though with a golden ball rising over the mountains at 06:35.    Read more

  • Let’s bring Sauna into Africa
    Kenyan motor crossers1Turning to Ndoto mountains from the north

    Approaching the desert

    January 16, 2021 in Kenya ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C

    From Baragoi I drive north after lunch and a long chat with a teacher. The landscape turns into blueish-grey, the stony, rocky soil into sand. Before reaching South Horr I turn east and while speeding through the smooth sand track in direction to Illaut I encounter two motor cross riders from around Nairobi who came here on their 250 ccm machines for some desert adventures south of lake Turkana. One has a broken clutch cable and I assist with some tools. The guys tell me about fancy remote tracks which are not on my maps (yet). Ohlala, this is going to be an adventure because I probably will be unable to resist further challenges =)
    My car drives east/south-east while I keep my gaze south-west into Ndoto mountains. The sun is setting over the mountains with epic scenery. Ok, the desert has to wait as I spontaneously turn to Ngurunit.    Read more

  • Let’s bring Sauna into Africa
    Camp next to riverbedExploring eastern Turkana region on mapDigging for water in the riverbedEpic trees they have!!Joel's home hutStepmom supplying us with lunchAll you need in one placeRiver slides and ponds

    Island in the desert

    January 17, 2021 in Kenya ⋅ ⛅ 27 °C

    Quickly I decide to stay two nights on a locally owned campsite. With me two Germans from around Bremen arrive with a Kenyan friend. I get assigned my sandy spot under the trees by Joel, a 13 year old Samburu, the brother of the manager. Joel is still in primary school (they have 8 years) but already a professional. He will not need to visit any tourism academy, he can start as professor directly. I share my dinner with him. He is smart! Asks many questions, sucks in all information. The next day he is my guide around town and I have lunch with him and Peter the manager in their home village. We have rice with milky-sweet tea. Joel's dad has five wives. They own 6 camels, 20 cows and 10 goats. With the cattle they pay the school fees for the children. Later we hike up into one mountain valley to bath in some natural ponds where there are also "slides" in the river. It is Sunday and the locals slide down the mossy-glossy rocks into the ponds. What a fun! :D The whole pack of people freaks out when two innocent, green snakes appear in the nearby bushes. There is a small metal pipe bringing water from the river into town but most of the people get their water from water holes dug into the dry river bed. Pretty much of effort to stay hydrated ... This is also where the cattle gets the precious water.Read more

  • Let’s bring Sauna into Africa

    Kaisut tut gut

    January 18, 2021 in Kenya ⋅ ⛅ 30 °C

    According to my paper map the road I take leads between the Kaisut Desert (south of it) and the Kaisut Plateau (north of it). There are no other roads. Am I in this Kaisut Desert now? The internet is not very informative on that. But I want to be in a desert! Damn. Ok, at least here my impressions: Between Ngurunit and Log-Logo the landscape changes from yellowish sand with many greyish scrubs and wide bushes to reddish sand with less scrubs but fancy thorny green-greyish tree-like things which even seem to be in blossom. Also somebody scattered many dark volcanic stones all over the place. The colours are pretty strange and impressive. Could stay here longer. I don't meet many human beings, just two very interestingly looking tribesmen with colourful beads and long spears. I am frightened as shit and proceed as fast as I can! ;-)

    Now I have some questions for you. In Tanzania little children come running at you and very aggressively as for money. Every day they will be coming. Thousands. Would you give them any money? In central Kenya little children come running at you and ask for food. Would you give them any? I travel with at least 20-30 bananas but I cannot feed the nation. Still, I loose some here and some there. Here in northern Kenya little children come running at you. Only few but they don't run, they rather fly because their long capes swing horizontally as they move! The sun burns perpendicularly on their capes. So, they come flying at you and ask for ... water. What would you do? Happy mindfuck.    Read more

  • Let’s bring Sauna into Africa
    Camp HenrySwiss travellers in camp

    Mars? A bit!

    January 18, 2021 in Kenya ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C

    Kaisut Desert or wherever I have been is at around 500 m above sea level. I gradually climb to Marsabit on 1300 m and expect a stressful, crazy, ugly town, being located so close to the border. But no! I am damn surprised to find a very calm city with a peaceful atmosphere. And the people look totally different! Wahoo, my small culture shock compared to the last days. And this just happened within one third of a day. Friendly they are, communicative and discreet. I have to digest this day.

    Mount Marsabit has been a Volcano once. Just look on the aerial/stellite images. This might also explain how these big dark rocks came to Kisut Plateau ;)    Read more

  • Let’s bring Sauna into Africa
    Descending from MarsabitOasis at the edge of the desert plain11Fallen palm trees near Kalacha

    Chalbi Desert

    January 19, 2021 in Kenya ⋅ ⛅ 42 °C

    The night was unexpectedly cold and windy and I start with a sour throat. After descending from Marsabit down to around 500 m I choose an alternative, rarely used track parallel to the main road C82 which gives me additional 45 km of Chalbi Desert beauties. It is around three weeks after the last rains and I still encounter 2-3 muddy but short sections. Speeding though with 60-80 kph works well but I do not want to know how it would look like in fresh mud here in the middle of nowhere. Temperatures rise up to 42 °C. In the middle of the desert my air condition stops working. Haha! The evening in Kalacha is dry, hot and windy. I hoped for a calm evening but at the campsite I am disturbed by three different parties all coming to me and asking for money. School children, a drunk "head of security". One other guy stays the whole evening, pretends to be my best friend and each 20 minutes he invents a new story why I should support him. In the end we discuss over 100-1000 $ in order to support him finishing his studies. Sure, just take my soul.Read more

  • Let’s bring Sauna into Africa

    Oasis

    January 20, 2021 in Kenya ⋅ ⛅ 35 °C

    Before fleeing from this dry heat I pay a visit to Father Antony in the church, a German who came here several years ago and who also is a passionate overlander. He shipped his Land Rover to Namibia some 5 years ago and travelled all the way here using a similar route as mine. Freya, his German helping hand, comes here for 15 years mostly for three months during European winter and is currently preparing cinnamon rolls for some guests who will arrive in the evening. I have a very nice chat with her and learn a lot about the local mentality and about their way dealing with the people. They send me a few km back from Kalacha to the oasis with a natural spring and abandoned lodge which still has water in the pool. I ignored that spot yesterday because it was just full of camels and I did not see anything. This would have been the better camping spot for sure! My aircon works again. I think it just does not like the low altitude and desert heat :pRead more

  • Let’s bring Sauna into Africa
    Walnut bread on wheat-sour-dough basisHurri Hills treesTypical Gabbra housesBehind these hills the world ends

    Hooray Hurri Hills

    January 20, 2021 in Kenya ⋅ ⛅ 31 °C

    My topographic index finger guides me north-east into Hurri Hills. Also because I read about it somewhere but I don't remember where. The drive is a climb from 500 m up to 1300 m over very stony, exhausting tracks. Average speed is something around 25 kph. Further up the soil gets ashier, sandier, smother to drive. The wind is still crazy-going and dry but with much nicer temperatures. I have a lunch break in the shade with self-baked walnut bread on wheat-sour-dough basis.
    The Hurris are awesome! It’s a volcanic plateau with these smooth hills scattered all over the place, nice (dry) grass and an astonishing view all round. When you stand on top of the area you just see a ridge from where the elevation drops down to 400/500 m in all directions. After a small hike the chief officer of security of Hurri Hills awaits me at my car and tries to convince me to stay in the safe town. Safe from what exactly? The only threatening element around here is the wind. I continue through the grassy plains towards the sunset in direction of Balesa. Want to find an overnight spot with view down into the valley.    Read more

  • Let’s bring Sauna into Africa
    Hammering with stones, very effective!
    Bush garageFixed again, gap big enough2Good morning into the void!

    Ups

    January 21, 2021 in Kenya ⋅ ⛅ 31 °C

    The road gets stony again, all stones are round volcanic projectiles. I speed slightly because it’s just pure fun to drift around with this well-balanced car! But its front ground clearance could be better ... I take an even smaller side road where the tracks are very deep and the mid-ridge is overgrown with grass which is pretty bad because it hides potential stones. Driving next to the track is impossible because of big stones all over the area. Additionally, with the low sun I cannot see anything! This is where I hit a bigger stone with my underbody skidplate. *klong* Hahaaa! Not that my skidplates were not totally bent and scratched anyway, but this stone deforms the 7 mm thick aluminium in a way that it touches my right drive shaft and makes some rattling noise. Shit. In order to not miss the sunset and continue to find a spot for the night I quick-fix the issue by loosening some skidplate screws. But there is no way to escape the wind, no bush, nothing. So I sleep in the open, ashy landscape. The car gets shaken by the wind the whole night. Strange night. I continue at sunrise just to find a quiet corner further down the road in the valley where I have breakfast, drive the car up some stones and begin my bush repair workshop. Both skidplates I unmount and at first try to re-straighten them by using the car’s lifting jack and the car's weight. But the plates are so strong that I just lift the car with the jack without bending the aluminium at all. Damn. The ugly but working solutions is using the big stones around. I align the plates accordingly and with well-aimed hammering of big rocks I can straighten the bent parts. More scratches but very effective! The plates are as straight as they were before I entered Botswana :DRead more

  • Let’s bring Sauna into Africa
    Not even midday ...Default road conditions here

    German technology

    January 21, 2021 in Kenya ⋅ ⛅ 35 °C

    Balesa is not on my paper map but I find a lunch (with fresh mango juice!) and a well-engineered solar power plant there which relies mostly on German technology. A friendly technician approaches me and proudly presents the installation and explains everything. A German organisation introduced this experiment here, trained local staff and “wanted to see how it performs”. Now it has been transferred to Kenya Power and the villagers can buy power tokens via their phone. It is competing against Chinese technology in Dukana. At night only 5 % of the battery capacity is drained nowadys. Since 2018 the backup generator was used for maintenance work only. On his smartphone he shows me all statistics in nice graphs. Back in Germany I know one sauna owner who monitors his garden sauna the very same way ;-)Read more

  • Let’s bring Sauna into Africa
    Left one doing morning push-upsGreat view into Ethiopia!

    Sele Gublo Pass

    January 22, 2021 in Kenya ⋅ ☁️ 25 °C

    Through Dukana I opt for the “seasonal” track along Ethiopia’s border. It takes me back into mountain area. I like that! For two days I did not meet any other vehicle. Barely any people around, just some herdsmen with camels. Again I am in the right place at the right moment and shortly after crossing the Sele Gublo Pass, before descending into the vast river valley, I turn off the track into the open, stony bush to find a nice wild camping spot at the ridge with a view of the sunset between two hills. After a very peaceful night without wind I get visited by a swarm of friendly wild bees in the morning who drink of the water at my washing place. For over an hour I supply and watch them. They manage to drain the cap of a yoghurt cup within a few minutes. When a bee falls into the pot of water, 1-2 others come to assist. They form a pontoon, move to the side wall and crawl on top of each other in order to continue with their business. Only three old- and weak-looking bees of the few hundreds drawn but the hive lives on. Every single drop matters. Wonderful!Read more

  • Let’s bring Sauna into Africa
    42 °C with humid wind shortly befor rains
    Black lava patches when coming from eastDescending to lake TurkanaApproaching IleretDrying fish on the grassMy crew

    Ileret

    January 22, 2021 in Kenya ⋅ ☁️ 36 °C

    I reach Ileret and its sandy surroundings and with that the final destination of my current trip: Lake Turkana! 42 °C, strong humid wind from the lakeside, a punch in my face. The water is warm, interestingly smelly, slightly salty and has a soapy texture. After having crossed Gabbra territory here the tribe calls itself Dassanach. The cattle is drinking and locals are bathing so obviously no crocodiles around. Hopefully! Anyway, it was an awesome trip up here, so I would categorize an unplanned encounter with a croc as "the real African adventure" and would not have any reason to complain ;-) The locals dry Tilapia, Nile Perch and Catfish in order to export it into the country. The children rip dried chunks off the fish and chew on it like on leather. I park in a dry riverbed under a tree for the night and enjoy the sunset with distant rain. The whole evening and morning I have a crew of local kids around.Read more

  • Let’s bring Sauna into Africa
    Mount Sibiloi with petrified forest
    Petrified forest2Chestnut-bellied SandgrouseSpoonbillsLocusts approaching cattlePink, gregarious locustsYou find that everywhere!Endless badlandsCamel spiderGood morning over Mount SibiloiRising water level ...

    Sibiloi National Park

    January 23, 2021 in Kenya ⋅ ⛅ 34 °C

    My next destination on the way south brings me through Sibiloi National Park. The barren landscape with its wild track is fun to drive and gives a real feeling of remoteness. The eroded, endless badlands look like open surface mining. I find fossils all over the place wherever I stop for a second. Interestingly looking sedimental and volcanic stones with various “things” enclosed. I really wonder “how this all got created”. At Koobi Fora research camp there is basically nothing going on but from a ranger I learn a lot about tribal problems and conflicts within the national park. The herdsmen push with their cattle into the national park (coming as far as from Ethiopia) and the wildlife service tries to fight/control that. This also explains why all natives I met in the park were running away from me when usually the opposite happens. In contrast to the Masai of southern territories who live rather in harmony with the nature and at least do not touch the wild game, the local tribes here allegedly are involved in poaching in order to claim land for their cattle. But they say that this northern region is out of governmental influence and that “things are handled differently” up here. I indeed met some shepherds with Kalashnikovs. No need to be bothered. What is more bothering is the huge (small) locust swarm I get to see. While sitting with the dudes in Koobi Fora, “something” starts to rain down on us. Crazy! Immediately all lizards around the buildings and even squirrels run to the field to catch a locust for lunch. Yum Yum. The swarm moves with the wind further north.
    Around Mount Sibiloi I find traces of a petrified forest: 4 million years old trees turned into stone. Fantastic! Being here and inhaling this whole atmosphere lets you seem very tiny and unimportant. People, whatever you are currently caring and bothering about, just stop! Lean back and watch all the things to pass by. Just be nice to each other and enjoy what you call your life. On the long term you, everything, all this is just a moist fart (feuchter Furz)! Love? Money? War? Climate change? Overpopulation? Nature destruction? Ha! Pointless! Either we will exterminate ourselves or the planet will get rid of mankind anyway very soon. Then, after just another few million years and some “tectonic re-adjustments” everything is back to normal. Splendid!    Read more

  • Let’s bring Sauna into Africa
    "The road" marked by bushes as "closed"
    One of maaaaany sandy river crossingsEpic landscapes around Moite village

    Inland navigation

    January 24, 2021 in Kenya ⋅ ⛅ 34 °C

    I want to drive the "rough road" along the lake's shore to Loiyangalani in the south. After leaving Sibiloi and being completely sunken into my audio book "The Man-Eaters of Tsavo" I miss the junction and drive 5 km in the wrong direction towards North Horr. Wtf? There was no junction! I head back to where OpenStreetMap (OSM) claims the junction to be and indeed find A BLOODY FOOTPATH splitting from the gravel road. Are you serious? On OSM this is tagged as "secondary road" which is simply wrong and has been already corrected at the time of writing. Ok, let's try it. The problem is that I am running out of diesel. I knew that after Marsabit there would be no filling station and I have one jerrycan left as backup with which I calculated to be able to reach the next station after Loiyangalani but not further! If this path here along the shore turns out to be a dead end, at one certain point I will not be able to turn back to any other populated place where I could find diesel (in plastic bottles). No risk, no fun! Goat milk I will always find around here ...
    So, after 2-3 kilometers the footpath widens slightly and two tracks become barely identifiable with some motorbike footprints. Also there appear stone markings at the sides. But this track has not been used by cars for weeks! And indeed on a hilltop "the road" is blocked by thorny bushes in order to signalise "do not proceed beyond this point". The locals do that to close the roads in case of a landslide or untraversable river, for example. I encountered the latter earlier in my previous mountain exploration but continued and it turned out to be OK because all rivers are dust-dry since mid of January. The last rains were a month ago and so I decide again to drive around this blockade.
    Right decision! It is a wonderfully wild drive, indeed with broad, sandy river crossings. All dry as expected. The low sun is casting warm colours. After around 35 km - while reaching the village of Moite behind the coastal hills - the track gets better and some human beings appear again.    Read more

  • Let’s bring Sauna into Africa
    Flat riverines begin, an exhaustive drive
    Later I moved around the tree for wind shadeTurkana hutsLesser flamingos with fishermanNatural shoreTurkana settlement on sandy slopes

    Along the wild shore

    January 24, 2021 in Kenya ⋅ ☀️ 34 °C

    The track slowly converges with the lake shore. Yellow grass on dark-grey sand creates nice contrasts! For the next 45 km this flat landscape literally drives me crazy because the whole flat section is cut with tiny, perpendicular water drainage channels which means that every 50-200 m I have to switch between 3rd or 2nd and 1st gear to cross a bumpy ditch. I thought to be alone here but finding a calm camping spot turns out to be difficult with many scattered nomadic settlements around. At least I will not have to bother about a diesel shortage because the further south I get the more used the track gets. Wind, flamingos, cattle. At 22:00 still 37 °C. A killer! Did I say that it is windy here?Read more

  • Let’s bring Sauna into Africa
    View north from the desert museumModern sat TV with traditional fencingOld Samburu ladyNight guest

    Loiyangalani

    January 25, 2021 in Kenya ⋅ ☀️ 32 °C

    The guys I met before in Ngurunit recommended to say hello in Loiyangalani and this is where I camp spontaneously at a resort. The town is calm but offers nothing special. It is a boiling pot of all surrounding tribes: Borana, Dassanach, Turkana, Samburu, Gabbra, El Molo, Rendille, Somali. El Molo inhabit just one small bay
    north of Loiyangalani! I still do not get how they all interact but at least they settle peacefully around town.

    At the lodge I meet Jane from Nairobi who stays here for a week and interviews young girls at school and their parents in order to distribute scholarships for poor pupils. She is fundraising and works in conjunction with aid programs. I learn a lot about how the school system works and also respond with many stories about the German one.

    On the street I am randomly asked to marry a girl. But for that I have to bring at least 6 camels into her family! I learn that a camel is worth approximately 120.000 KES which is 900 EUR. Holy banana! Do you remember the pics from Kalacha? For the Gabbra guys it is not uncommon to own a herd of 200-400 camels. They must be millionaires here! But their families have barely anything to eat. How does this work? Apparently this all is just a prestige thing and they rarely sell a camel. For every daughter they can marry away, they aggregate new camels. And in times of severe drought? 90 % of the camels die. Investment in "a better future"? Not of interest. Things here just work differently and we white, snobbish Sesselpupser will never be able to understand. I also learn that the many sheep of the Dassanach north around Ileret are well-adjusted to the hot and dry climate but ... I complained about the wind, right? There is always strong wind here, throughout the whole year. Once these sheep get completely soaked during unusual long and heavy rains and the air cools down a bit, the strong wind just makes them freeze to death over night. All of them.    Read more

  • Let’s bring Sauna into Africa
    Nearly out of diesel
    Hundreds of Windmühlen on the desert hills

    36 km left

    January 26, 2021 in Kenya ⋅ ⛅ 30 °C

    So, my gambling was successful and I reached the next filling station on my route from Marsabit via Chalbi Desert, Kalacha, Hurri Hills, Balesa, Dukana, Ileret and Loiyangalani after 927 km, having emptied both jerrycans and with just around 36 km range left. With 127 L diesel in total this results in a consumption of approximately 13.2 L/100 km on pretty rough terrain with only gravel, sand and sharp volcanic rocks. The filling station here belongs to the big new wind farm in Serima. Finally somebody makes use of this wind ... but none of the nearby villages is supplied. All the power is exported to the capital cities and in Loiyangalani you have generators running at night.Read more