Lake Turkana Day One - The beginning of an adventure

At 6:30 AM we left the comfort of our dingy hostel bed for the open road en route for Lake Turkana's North Eastern shores. We left early because we wanted to make good time, possibly arriving in a town called South Horr by nightfall. We didn't know what to expect of the road that we would take, only that it was going to be remote, difficult to navigate, and potentially dangerous. Our car rental salesman, Hallelujah, was convinced that the car we had was safe, the equipment that he rented us worked, and that we would have no problems. Of course, I never believed him.

The first several hours we spent on a tarmac road through some fair but not breathtaking scenery. The highlight was coming across the Great Rift Valley, a giant rift that overlooks a seemingly endless valley below. With hardly any traffic on the road, Nathan and I cruised out of town and into the more remote areas of Southern Kenya.

By early afternoon we reached the small town of Rimuruti, where the tarmac ended. It would be 5 days before we saw it again. We were greeted by a giant step back in time as the villages became more traditional and the people more colorful. The road was decent for a dirt road and every half hour or so we would see another car passing by. It was such an exciting and wonderful feeling, being in the middle of nowhere in Kenya. Little did we know that each kilometer would bring us further and further from civilization, and further from safety!

About 1:30 I noticed some large animals on the left side of the road about 200 meters out. We stopped and saw that they were Zebras! We had seen them before in protected parks like Kruger, but to see them out on the range in the wild, in this unprotected area really gave us the feeling of being in Africa. We would see hundreds of giraffes, zebras, antelope, and other animals walking right on this deserted road in front of us. It was amazing.

Near 3:30 we ran into a school bus that had braved the dirt road. This 50 year old bus carrying dozens of teenage girls somehow made it this far on the rough road but had broken down in need of some minor repairs. We offered our tools and the driver thanked us. The he told us to wait for him. He said that just hours before a group of "Texas cowboys" had raided the village ahead and killed 16 people, including children, stealing goods and cattle. The fear in his eyes was very real. "We will be safer as two than as one," he says. Our excitement quickly became fear. Later we would learn that the slaughter was a clash between Pokot and Samburu people and that it was a tribal thing, never ever directed at tourists.

When we arrived in the town of Maralal it was approaching nightfall and we decided that we would stay here for the night, not wanting to drive at dark. We ate at the Hard Rock Cafe. No not thee Hard Rock Cafe. Just some tiny disgusting restaurant that served some type of unidentifiable meat, either a reddish fish or a pinkish beef. In Africa, you always see stores that have popular names like "Wal-Mart" even though it is just a small local hut, or "Applebees" even though it is just the same as every other restaurant.

We camped out at the safety of a place called Yari Camel Club, a nice hostel 3 k's from town. There we met some local Samburus, one of the many traditional groups of people in Northern Kenya. Most were getting wasted at the bar. Samburus are like Maasai in that they are tall, skinny, wear red and traditional decorations. But the Samburus seem even more traditional. More wild.

For 2 US Dollars we were able to sleep in our tent, outside beneath Billions of stars and the sounds of Northern Kenya's plains. It was a full day of beautiful drives and no problems! That would quickly change.