This is Africa (T.I.A.)

On Friday afternoon, Tia, Emily, Dana and I set out on our weekend trip to Lake Baringo. We had this "brillant" plan to rent a car and drive ourselves to the Lake, 5 hours north of Nairobi. We were all a bit nervous- after all we hadn't driven in Kenya before and we were now driving on the opposite side of the road. But "pole, pole" (slowly, slowly) and we knew we would get there safely. We left at 1:00 pm so we would get to the campsite before dark and decided that if we had to stop anywhere along the road it would be at a gas station. Many car jackings occur when people stop on the side of the road. So all in all we felt like we had things under control.

We arrived early Friday evening to a set up tent, with mattresses and bedding (love camping in Africa)! We then walked over to the "Thirsty Goat"- the campsite pub had supper, drank wine, and chatted. When we settled into our tent and fell asleep I woke up at about 2:00 am to the sound of munching, loud munching...and knew right away that beside our tent was a hippo- well actually more than one hippo. I woke Emily up and whispered "what are we going to do?"- her response "go back to bed- they only attack if we disturb them". She fell asleep and then I heard Dana giggle and say "Oh are those Hippos munching?"- for some reason it was so comical I started to laugh so hard and was worried that this would set off the Hippos. Fortunately it did not and we all fell back asleep.

The next morning we had a campside breakfast of delicious homemade muffins and a selection of fruit (thanks to Dana!) We then set off on our morning boat ride- where we went bird watching, saw hippos, and crocodiles. We watched eagles catch fish and visited a village- it was a great way to spend the morning. (video to come) In the afternoon we hunkered down by the pool where we relaxed until 4:00 pm, where we then went on a reptile walk. This wasn't that great as I have decided that I am not a reptile fan especially when it comes to scorpians and vipers... umm no thanks. But the views were breathtaking and we had an entourage of small children walking with us, so that was fun.

That evening I made spaghetti on the campfire and we had a ceaser salad with chilled white wine... yes like I said "I LOVE CAMPING IN AFRICA!" We then went over to the "Thirsty Goat" for more stories, chatting, some travel scrabble, and then went back to our tent.

The next morning, after Emily's fireside French Toast we packed up the car, all got settled in the vehicle and for some reason the car wouldn't reverse. So, we thought that if we pushed the car back and set it in drive then it might work. Tia, Emily and I pushed the car and Dana got it going in drive.... for a few feet. The car then stalled (it was an automatic, so why it stalled we have no clue). At this point we decided to talk to the camp staff who then brought a mechanic from the village over to look at it. Here were the determinations from the mechanic:

1. Air filter dirty because an animal was living in the air filter system (nice)
2. Spark plugs were shot
3. Something was wrong with the fuel pump

So, after he tells us this we ask "so you can fix it?" "Oh yeah- no problem 2 hours". We told him we would be at the pool if they needed anything. Five hours later, we are still sitting by the pool wondering what was going on. We then realized that we would not be able to leave on Sunday, so we called our bosses, explained the situation and decided that once the car was fixed Monday morning we would set off. That evening, while the mechanic continually told us "two more hours"- we hunkered down at the "Thirsty Goat" pub, spent the rest of our money on wine and food and went happily to bed thinking that the next morning we would be off on the road.

Monday morning, we get into the car and set off- yes! the car is now working. However, we had strict instructions to Dana- do not brake or slow down- hmmm... she was not that pleased. About 5 km into our journey the car begins to stall, and the comes to a dead halt. Once again, the car has broken down. We call the mechanic to come meet us and we wait for about 1 hour- playing travel scrabble and chatting. When the mechanic arrives he determines that the battery has died. So, Dana, Tia, the mechanic, and I push the car on to the side of the road. The mechanic is going to go fix the battery and "in two hours" will be back and no worries the car will be working. Tia then decides it is time to call our taxi driver Tom, who rented the car and tell him to come get us. So- as we begin to walk the 5 km back in 30+ weather, we flag down a car and get a ride back to the campsite, where we spend another day lazing by the pool.

All in all we did get back to Nairobi last night at 10 pm with Tom, the taxi driver, free of charge. The car came a few hours later with the owner, who we managed to give a good talking to. We had quite the discussion in Boringo with the owner saying "how could you rent a broken vehicle to 4 white girls to drive 5 hours north?!" We were not impressed and he knew it! Thankfully, we only broke down near or at the camp, so we were safe the entire time, but we did count our blessings.

Anyways we are thankfully back in Nairobi safe and sound. We were all planning on going camping this coming weekend to another park called "hell's gate" but we might wait another week before we hit the roads again!

Pictures and video to come!!