It has been 35 years since I was in Kenya and now I’m heading back there and will meet up with a friend from that time. He lives in a remote part of Northern Kenya. The area is very deprived with most people pasturalists. Most people have had no formal education and firewood is the most common fuel.
Terror attacks apart, the road to that part of the country is patrolled by armed police to keep it safe from bandits. I am slightly nervous about being on the public bus at a time when recnt (last week) terror attacks by Al Shabab target tourists. I cannt look much more dfferent – my chalky white skin will be even more conspicuous in Africa than in China.
I have found my old diary from summer 1983 and have transcribed the most memorable part of the trip.
Context
The group of us Brits (8 students and one leaders) were newly arrived in Kenya, having missed our acclimatisation period because we got stuck in Madrid for two days without our luggage. One leader remained stuck behind in Madrid while the the rest of us continued to Kenya. At this point in the trip, a group of 9 of us and a similar number of local students, are walking through the bush in the Rift Valley with camels carrying our luggage. It is hot and dry.
Saturday 6th August 1983
“We walked for ages and ages. We stopped by an acacia trees on a dry river bed. After a couple of hours we started off but I couldn’t walk very far and we stopped after an hour. I had heat exhaustion. We had very little water.
“Woche and Timothy went with two camel men to get water. They walked all night and passed two dry water holes.
“Complications of the day
- One camel run away with rucksacks on
- No water
- Camel man with malaria
- Camel men won’t move and leave the ill one behind
- 4 or 5 people moving on to get water and Land Cruiser from Balesa Kulal
- Walking 20 miles a day – much more than planned
- Everyone tired, thirsty and dusty.
Sunday 7th August 1983
“Walked until 10:00. No water. Pauline, Chris, Wendy and Camilla stayed under a bush while me and Tim went to look for the three who had gone on ahead, Sue Anna, Nina. We stopped under a bush. We could find no acacia trees. We could not find the three girls. Soon the camels caught up with us. We were very very hot and thirsty. No shade. Then the Land Cruiser came and after three days of virtually no water we now had four jerrycans and we drank for ages and ages. “
Reading my diary again I am struck by the energy of youth – we were resilient. One of the leaders, Wendy, nearly died from heat exhaustion and dehydration and we got a glimpse, a small one, of how hard life is for locals in this part of the world.
I will be back there this time next week – reliving the most memorable expedition I ever had, the one which started my love of East Africa.
Can’t wait.