A storm in a Tea Cup – with a Sausage or a Samosa?

Posted by Paul

September 28, 2009

We left Nairobi in the morning to head for Kissii, around 400km South West of the capital. This was my first experience of driving in Kenya, and it’s safe to say that my skills were tested along the way!

Our journey took us through some incredible scenery, including a quick stop at a viewpoint to admire the landscape and the dormant volcano in the distance. All along the way we passed through villages abuzz with activity and people going about their daily business.
We decided to break for lunch at Navaisha, a big town and popular holiday destination for the Kenyans. When we arrived at Navaisha Country Club, we were delighted to see monkeys running around in search of mischief and food, plus animals that looked like a mix of a horse and a donkey (quickly nicknamed ‘honkeys’ by the three of us.) So far so good…..

After our lunch stop, we continued on our way and came across the first of the road ‘diversions’ that we had heard about. Now we’re used to diversions on our motorways and roads in the UK, but they usually come with things like signs, cones and a fairly clear idea of where you should head: not so here.

The road would just suddenly end, to be replaced with almighty pot-holes and the dust on the surface of the road creating almost a sandstorm, which didn’t really help matters! We often found ourselves heading towards oncoming traffic, which Rachel assured us was quite normal, but playing a game of ‘chicken’ wasn’t quite the leisurely drive that I had in mind…

We stopped once more in the afternoon, in the Kericho tea district, having a quick cup of the stuff at the Kericho tea hotel. However we politely declined the offer of a samosa or a sausage as neither seemed to accompany a cup of tea as a biscuit would, and decided that dinner would be more than sufficient, on arrival at our destination.

Once we left here, the fun really started. A thunderstorm arrived, with very impressive lightening and rain so heavy that we really could barely see out of the car. And yes you’ve guessed it; there were more ‘diversions’.

Having been on the road for 10 hours, we finally reached our destination, tired, hungry and quite frankly, grateful to have made it! A glass of beer or wine would have been a bonus, given the circumstances.

Shame then, that not only was the hostel a ‘strictly no alcohol’ venue, but dinner also had to be ordered before check-in to be sure of getting something to eat. At this point, bed was calling!