Kakamega Schemes

So last night’s detour to the forest did indeed happen. We left Kisumu and drove the 35 km to Kakamega. This took us about 2 hours because the roads were full of potholes, lots of trucks, and people and animals constantly crossing the road.

Since we didn’t have a place to stay, we began by driving to several establishments and negotiating prices. We were a bit limited since we needed safe parking for the rental car but soon found that the local (very run-down) golf-course will allow you to stay and feed you breakfast for a very reasonable 1,700 KSH (about $20).

Once in our room, E “suggested” I shave. We decided the result was vaguely Amish and I decided to leave the beard for one more day:



The next morning, we drove north to the Kakamega Forest in our trusty Toyota. This forest once stretched from here all the way to the Atlantic, connecting with the great Congolese rainforests, but now is an isolated 240 square kilometers, which sounds bigger than it is. Though it is a “forest reserve”, there is still illegal logging and farming taking place within the reserve. Here is the canopy from one of the look-outs:



We passed through the reserve gates and tried to find a good hike. There were several hikes shown on a map but almost no signage within the park. I ended up actually driving up a trail before I realized that we should probably get out and start hiking:



The rainforest was much cooler than the surrounding area because the canopy blocked most of the strong equatorial sun. I’ve never been out to the great forests in California, so these were probably the tallest trees that I’ve ever seen. There were even some ficus trees with the crazy roots! We saw a few large Toucan Sam-type birds, and heard lots of squawking, chirping, and howling, but because of the density and height of the canopy, we weren’t able to see much except for a few monkeys. After a hike of about an hour and a half, we decided that we’d better get moving toward Nakuru since we knew it would be a long drive.

We drove north through Eldoret (5th largest town in Kenya) before heading east toward Nakuru. Driving on the left-hand side of the road has become pretty natural but this was pure highway driving which is very unnerving (especially if you’re the passenger as E will tell you!). It’s not all bad though, there were some highlights.

Produce like carrots and mangoes can be purchased from roadside stands in under 10 seconds (advisable since stopping any longer risks drawing a crowd that would prevent you from driving away). I believe that these carrots were purchased in 7 seconds for about a quarter:



The drive through the Rift Valley is filled with beautiful terrain including tea plantations and mountain views:

Rift Valley from above:


Tea plantations (the white houses are for workers):


There were also some ‘anti-highlights’, notably E-sized pot-holes and matatus and trucks making crazy passes on the narrow roads. See below:



We arrived in Nakuru at about 5 pm. We had read in the guidebook that Nakuru is the bogus car repair capital of Kenya, so if someone tries to stop you by pointing frantically at one of your wheels, just to move along. This happened not long after entering town, but like seasoned veterans, we just continued along our way. About five minutes later, an older man walking with his three year old daughter did the same thing, so we thought it better to check. Oh irony. A flat rear tire. I pulled over in a hotel parking lot, and within five minutes, I had the wheel off, the spare on, and the flat in a local shop. 45 minutes later, the tire is repaired! The bill; $10 for a new tube, $1 for labor. Maybe the scam will rear its ugly head tomorrow, but I say it’s $11 well spent. We didn't get any pictures because we figured that drawing further attention to ourselves wouldn't be smart. While I was dealing with the car, E walked all around town to find a hotel, and she found one that has a bizarre stone castle / hobbit motif, but it’s cheap and has parking, so it’ll play.

Tomorrow we'll see the flamingos and hopefully a rhino or two.