Mt Elgon, Kenya

5 March 2011
We left backpackers, in Kampala, on Thursday morning, 3rd, to ride about 280 km to Sipi Falls, North of Mount Elgon. The initial riding through Kampala involved the usual bad traffic, with all forms of traffic pushing and shoving to get anywhere. The day before, while riding through the traffic, we almost got pushed into the street vendors stalls, by a bus, that deliberately didn’t want us to ease past him on the side. Ended up in a pile of shoes for sale, on the edge of the market, trying to hold the bike up, with him turning his wheel, and pushing us further into the shoes!!!
The ride was pleasant, once clear of the city, on good tarr roads, average speeds about 80 km/h. Then we climbed the escarpment, to Sipi Falls, with what should have been great views, of Mount Elgon on one side, and the valley bellow us. Unfortunately, the haze was once again so bad, that we didn’t get to fully appreciate it.
At Sipi fall, we looked around for somewhere to stay, and ended up at Crows Nest, with little huts built onto the side of the slope, looking across at the main Sipi Fall. Very attractive place, and will be a lot better once the rains start and everything turns green. Very dry in this area at the moment, with lots of dust. The wind howled all night, funneling up the side of the mountain, to where we tried to sleep, with a loose sheet of corrugated iron flapping and banging all the time. Eventually I got up, and packed some large rocks on the roof, to keep it quiet, and we managed to get a bit of rest.
Sharon was sore and tired by the time we arrived, mainly her chest, where we presume she might have a cracked rib, from the bicycle accident. But all ok, and she feels able to continue.
We left at about 8 the next morning, to ride about 90 km, to the farm of Bob and Bea Anderson. Bob is Morny Le Roux’s brother, and they have kindly offered for us to visit, when passing this area. Bob is unfortunately in Grahamstown, for kids half term, but Bea has been super kind and friendly.
The first 15 km riding was on good tar, as far as Kaporchwa, but then we went onto a small gravel road that got progressively worse, the further we went from civilization. There were two sections, that were very steep, with loose powdery red dust, and rockes, that was difficult to negotiate, so I helped Sharon get her bike through and up. I suppose the road was something similar to going through Baviaans Kloof, which we have done a number of times, but we couldn’t take the risk of Sharon falling and injuring her knee or chest further. Steep mountains, beautiful views, not much traffic – all thankfully moving slowly, small huts and villages all the way along the road. Should hopefully have some good video. After about 85 km, we crossed the border into Kenya, which turned out to be the easiest and smallest border post imaginable. Total time was about 30 min, both sides, total cost was zero. Small buildings, very friendly people, made this a breeze.
5 km, further, we arrived at the farm. Huge tunnels – 25 hectares of them, contain roses, which get picked and exported daily!!! Bob and Bea run a huge operation here, with primary and secondary schools, a hospital, where they are busy installing an X ray machine, an orphanage and many other projects that keep them extremely busy. They employ 850 people, but the nearest European neighbours live an hour away!
Today is Saturday 5 March, and we have been travelling for 8 weeks. Our main concern is to get an Ethiopian Visa, which has become a nightmare of backwards and forwards, with all sorts of ridiculous demands of bank letters, travel itineraries, letters to explain that my wife is travelling with me etc. It was rejected again on Thursday!!! They could certainly take a page from Sudan!! Hopefully it will be issued early this week, so that we can head for Northern Kenya, and then Ethiopia. We would like to be passed Egypt in about 4-6 weeks, before it starts getting really hot in Sudan.
In the meantime, were a little stuck, with time to kill. We might go to Mt Elgon National park for a day or two – Bea has very kindly offered us the use of a farm vehicle, as once again the bikes wont be allowed in.
All depending on news from the Visa!!

L