Kenya: 1 355 km, 20 jours
Jour n°52 (lundi 29/11/10): Moyale - Turbi / 167 km
Jour n°52 - Karibou (Bienvenue au) Kenya! Au programme 350 km de piste chaotique sur "Bandits Highway"
Jour n°52 - Dix minutes pour faire pipi sur "Bandits Highway"
Jour n°52 - Vingt minutes pour réparer les caisses de Julien sur "Bandits Highway"
Jour n°52 - La barbe pousse et la poussière s'accumule!
Jour n°52 - Le village de Turbi, arrêt obligatoire pour une boisson soi-disant fraîche...
Jour n°52 - 10 km plus loin, le roulement de transmission de la moto de Julien lâche, la moto ne peut aller plus loin!
Jour n°52 - On passera tout l'après-midi à attendre un camion pour transporter la moto...
... peut-être viendra-t-il du sud pour nous ramener à Turbi?
... ou du Nord en direction de Nairobi?
Jour n°52 - Finalement, on rentrera à Turbi à deux sur la R80GS après avoir caché la moto de Julien et ses caisses en alu dans un buisson...
Jour n°53 (mardi 30/11/10): Turbi - Marsabit / 141 km
Jour n°53 - Trois Somaliens acceptent de transporter Julien et sa moto jusqu'à la prochaine ville
Jour n°53 - C'est donc le voyage en solitaire pour la dernière rescapée de "Bandits Highway"
Jour n°53 - Mince! Pourvu que la voiture de nos sauveurs ne tombe pas en panne... (version 1)
Jour n°54 & 55 (mercredi 1/12/10 & jeudi 2/12/10) - Chômage technique à Marsabit jusqu'à une solution pour rejoindre Nairobi
Jours n°54 & 55 - Chômage technique aussi au niveau des bières! Pourquoi avoir choisi un hôtel au règlement si strict!?
Jour n°55 - Solution trouvée! Andy et Veronika, deux jeunes allemands rencontrés sur le ferry du Lac Nasser, acceptent de charger la moto dans leur van VW
Jour n°56 (vendredi 3/12/10): Marsabit - Isiolo / 270 km
Jour n°56 - Pour des raisons de sécurité, on décide de faire le tronçon du jour en compagnie d'autres Allemands: Tom, Dag et leur camion incroyable!
Jour n°56 - Dernier tronçon de mauvaise route au sein d'un convoi militaire
Jour n°56 - Convoi militaire qui se disloquera très vite... Vive l'existence d'un convoi militaire pour traverser une zone dangereuse !
Jour n°56 - Julien en première classe...
Jour n°56 - Et avec sa moto!
Jour n°56 - Julien sur le lit d' Andy et Veronika et nulle part ailleurs!
Jour n°56 - Toujours la dernière rescapée de "Bandits Highway"!
Jour n°56 - Mince! Pourvu que la voiture de nos sauveurs ne tombe pas en panne... (version 2)
Jour n°56 - Les derniers kilomètres de piste, vitesse moyenne : 25 km/h...
Jour n°56 - Enfin!!!! Le goudron.
Jour n°56 - Petit picnic au bord de la rivière Merile
Jour n°56 - En route vers Isiolo
Jour n°56 - Et dire qu'on râle quand on doit changer un pneu de moto!
Jour n°56 - Camping à Isiolo
Jour n°57 (samedi 4/12/10): Isiolo - Kabati / 207 km
Jour n°57 - Petit déjeuner de rois
Jour n°57 - La Suisse? Et non: les versants du Mont Kenya!
Jour n°57 - Stop obligatoire; le combi VW surchauffe dans les montées!
Jour n°57 - Ravitaillement à la superette
Jour n°57 - ... pour un picnic avec ...
Jour n°57 - ... vue sur les neiges du Mont Kenya
Jour n°57 - Passage au niveau de l'Equateur
Jour n°57 - Arrêt 90 km avant Nairobi, histoire de ne pas arriver de nuit dans la capitale kenyane
Jour n°58 (dimanche 5/12/10): Kabati - Nairobi / 90 km
Jour n°58 - Bienvenue dans les embouteillages de Nairobi
Jour n°58 - Arrivée chez les Twomlow et déchargement de la bête malade
Jours n°58-70 (dimanche 5/112/10 - vendredi 17/12/10) - Séjour chez les Twomlow jusqu'à la réparation des motos (roulements pour Julien et cardan pour Antoine)
Jours n°58-70 - Petit-déjeuner sur la terrasse
Jour n°59 (lundi 6/12/10): Nairobi - Naivasha - Nairobi / 174 km
Jour n°59 - Descente dans la vallée du Rift
Jour n°59 - Lauren et Khristy, deux Zimbabwéennes en vacances chez les Twomlow
Jour n°59 - Photo de groupe avec vue sur la vallée du Rift
Jour n°59 - Dans la vallée du Rift
Jour n°59 - Picnic au bord du Lac Naivasha
Jours n°58-70 - Le mot de Lindsay Twomlow (http://linzinkenya.blogspot.com/)
"Friday, December 10, 2010
"Friday, December 10, 2010
… and now just like waiting for a bus 2 come along together … here is another post ….
We were descended on by strangers yesterday (sons of friends of friends along with 2 German travelers who had rescued them)
We have had 2 hairy Belgian bikers sleeping in the maid’s quarters and the German couple in their German registered camper van in our front garden!! Their story is quite amazing and makes our trip from Zimbabwe to Kenya look very tame.
The Belgians were principally raised in West Africa, Niger and have been studying in Belgium. They are now on their way to South Africa where they will spend a year furthering their studies and decided to take a trip from Brussels to Cape Townwww.ridebacktoafrica.blogspot.comCheck out their amazing photographs and details of their fascinating story.
I received a message from friends in Ethiopia on December 1st 2010 asking if we could help these guys…. They had broken down in a remote part of Northern Kenya in bandit country. I was asked could we maybe let them camp in our garden for a ‘couple of nights’ as they were going to try to get the bike fixed here. I passed on my phone number so that they could call me…..
After a couple of calls they arrived at lunchtime Sunday 5th December 2010.
The bike broke down about 120 km North of Marsabit … this being seriously far from anything. They had hitched a lift with some Somalis in a truck and managed to put the broken bike and luggage on the truck and get to Marsabit … this is not a metropolis BUT there was civilization there.’ Luck’ was on their side as they bumped into some Germans who they had met on the ferry from Europe to Egypt. They are travelling from Germany to Cape Town in a 20 year old VW camper van … and I thought these sorts of people were fictional characters!!
The Germans offer to take Julien and the broken bike (bike partially dismantled and squeezed in the bedroom area of the camper van – with Julien also sat in a cramped space – reminded me of when we left Bulawayo and squeezed Harry into the car to get him to the kennels in Harare!) to Nairobi where they can get it all fixed, with Antoine following on his bike …
So, imagine, it is Sunday lunchtime and Steve is about to leave for a trip to Rome and we are trying to fit in a quick cooked meal BEFORE he leaves … about 30 minutes before we are ready to serve the meal the 4 travelers arrive. Following whispers in the kitchen about how much food there is and preparing a few extra veggies to increase quantities we offer them lunch – talk about feeding the 5000 with 5 loaves and 2 fish …. They seemed grateful for a home cooked lunch- the Germans, Andy and Veronica were a little overwhelmed with the hospitality. In true Twomlow style I offered the Germans to stay for a night in their camper van on the drive – this turned into 3 nights and they gratefully thanked me with some beautiful long stemmed thorn less roses! Must have worked out I was a sucker for flowers – very perceptive! They all went up to the Great Rift Valley for the day on Monday 6th and took the twins (Anna’s mate’s visiting from Zimbabwe) This was very useful to me and they all seemed to have thought the trip was worth it for the stunning view – VW camper van broke down 3 times while they were out though.. Is this the curse of the Twomlows? On Tuesday they were able to get new shock absorbers for the VW – highly recommended for the speed bumps of East Africa. The Germans are planning to head for Amboseli having perused some of our safari photos and then to the coast when they will eventually meander down to Tanzania. They have all used the veranda as a dining room/ lounge and the staff quarter’s kitchen for cooking, so were able to be virtually independent as are the 2 brothers … yes ARE, the best laid plans of mice and men … December 10th 2010 and they are still here (as it is getting towards the close of year I figured I should clarify that it is still 2010!!) – bearings arrived in Nairobi on Wednesday from Belgium via DHL and were collected from the EU offices yesterday BUT unfortunately only one bearing is correct (this was not a complete surprise as they had had suspicions but was still a big blow to moral I fear) … however they had a Plan B so hopefully the RIGHT parts will arrive with some travelers from Europe on Monday. Tried to lighten the mood with a communal dinner and movie night last night – Mugabe and The White African was maybe not a feel good movie BUT was fascinating to watch . tonight we will find something lighter….
Since being here they have discovered a problem with the functioning motorbike – so Julien is stripping the gear box today in the hope that he will discover and more importantly be able to fix the problem. Antoine has mainly stayed around the house catching up with computer work on the blog, sorting out photographs etc, etc. So he has evolved from sitting on the veranda working at his laptop to using the spare desk in the study and finally sharing the study this morning while I wrote Christmas cards …. I have enjoyed using my school girl French – but with me twittering away and being a dreadful middle aged distraction I must have driven him crazy! He has gone off in the tragedy car with the twins to the local Mall where he can use the free internet to upload photos to their blog and the twins are looking round the Masai Market – big help to me that they are all sorted out and I have the house to myself for a short time! I am old enough to be Mum to both (which has made me feel exceptionally middle aged!!) and I have been trying especially hard NOT to cluck like an old mother hen!! Probably failing miserably but airing on the side of the mature concerned!! Having spent much more time in Antoine’s company, it has felt like having an older son in the house who I have not seen in a LONG time – still would not want my dear Luke to get any ideas about motorbikes though – even after all these years bikes just do not do it for me – too scary!!
Before I finish – a clarification – Hairy Bikers – the nickname has come from me, as I connected them to The British TV cooking show called the Hairy Bikers – motorbikes and beards appears to be about all they have in common …..
‘til next time …."
Jour 71 (samedi 18/12/10): Nairobi - Moshi / 358 km