Mission Impossible: the Christmas Mission

The best laid plans somehow always fails.

We had big plans for Christmas. We had time off and the opportunity to see some Africa. But alas, Africa didn’t seem to want to see us.

First, we wanted to go to Rwanda. It’s supposed to be really beautiful and after having read a lot about the genocide, I really wanted to see how the country has managed to pull itself out of that horrible a history and become one of the most prosperous countries in Africa. My Lonely Planet East Africa guidebook told us of great places to visit and internet searches painted pretty pictures. Unfortunately, we hadn’t taken into account that the Lonely Planet book was written in 2009 when it was still possible to get into Rwanda without a visa. Because that is apparently no longer the case. As it turns out, as a Danish citizen you need to apply for a visa through the embassy or mission and it is likely to take around three days to issue. Well, that would mean that we would have to go to Nairobi one way or the other to obtain the visa and that was just not a possibility. Only a couple of days before Christmas we learned that it was actually possible to apply online and get it much faster – but by then we had given up all Rwanda plans.

OK then, we were not inclined to sit at home all Christmas now we had the opportunity to get out, so we started looking for lodges in region to spend a few days in luxury. However, luxury comes at a price(go figure) and apparently that prize is significantly higher during Christmas. We were not prepared to spend upwards of $600 a night, so that was another plan for the garbage can. Instead we decided that after a month of observations of the Kenya road rules, we were ready to venture out onto the roads ourselves(much to the dismay of certain family members). On the 21^st, we headed for the one place in Nanyuki that has car hire. Once again, we were late. “Sorry, we have nothing.” We then tried to figure out when a car would become available and in the meantime the somewhat clueless girl behind the desk had gotten hold of the company’s owner. He gave us the same message, but had barely finished the sentence before he promised us he would find us a car by the 24^th. “For you I will find a car.” AVIS take note, because this place has almost impeccable service!

We left the office as happy campers and trusted his ability to get us a car.

Charlotte got a new hat, ready for adventure

He did not let us down. We arrived Saturday morning to find that he had apparently given us something that seemed to be his own car. A nice big Toyota with automatic gear(I had wished for this but not dared say aloud). Somehow, the wheel and the driving being on the wrong side, did not actually feel that wrong. When everyone else is doing it, it only seems natural. Excited by the prospect of a road trip in a really nice car, we headed out of Nanyuki for the spectacle of Thompson’s Falls, a waterfall near Nyahururu, some between 95 and 160 km away(depending on the route). We opted for the short cut across a 20 km gravel road, which made for a nice view but not very comfortable ride. About half way in, the car started behaving a little weird. It was like it was accelerating a little by itself in the gear changes. How odd, we thought, it will probably get better once we’re back on the tarmac. (Have no pictures from most of this day, so today I'll introduce you to random shots of countryside - mainly taken from a car going back and forth between Chaka and Naro Moru or Naro Moru and Nanyuki - enjoy!) 

But it did not get any better. Quite the contrary.

It seemed that when we hit around 60, the gears did not catch on(side note: I know nothing about cars other than how to drive them, so all my theories might be completely wrong) and I could step on the gas all I wanted, but it would not accelerate. Once it had slowed itself to around 40, it would catch again and we could move on. We determined that this was not a good thing and called the car hire guy. We had called him at one point where he told us to just keep going and when I kept the gas pedal down during one of the non-accelerating points, it did somehow catch again and we didn’t experience anything after that. But then he called and one thing led to another and we ended up agreeing that we should turn around and meet him in Mweiga so he could take a look at it and thereby assure us that everything was fine.

So we turned around and headed back towards Mweiga experiencing no mechanical problems along the way – of course. 10 minutes before the town, we were driving behind a car that suddenly started behaving a little weird. He was slowing down and swerving a little like he wanted to either pull over or turn right, but not indicating either of those options. I slowed down as well anticipating his move, when I looked in the side mirror and saw a matatu going for an overtaking of us. I think we both managed to exclaim something as the inevitable was going to happen. The car in front of us suddenly turned right, just as the matatu came speeding past us and slammed right into the front of the turning car. The car spun around and the matatu continued a few meters further down the road until it came to a stop in a cloud of dust. We quickly pulled over and got out to check on the passengers at the same time as people came running from out of nowhere to do the same. Charlotte said she was expecting to find people dead, but I really didn’t even think about what we could find in the cars. 

Not THE matatu, just A matatu for those of you still wondering what the heck it looks like

By some (Christmas) miracle, no one was hurt. The matatu driver had managed to have enough sense to try to avoid the accident and had pulled towards the right side of the road, hitting the front panel of the car – enough to spin the car, but far enough from doing damage to the passengers. In the front seat of the car was a man with a screaming baby. We learned from First Aid class, that a screaming baby with no visible injuries can be a good sign, because it has the energy to scream. I was most worried by the couple of young kids emerging from the back seat. One girl in a pretty purple dress was conscious but looked somewhat lethargic. The people around indicated that she had banged her head and I suspect she might have gotten a minor concussion, but we had no way of telling. One man at the matatu praised God and assured us that everyone was fine, but few others seemed to speak English when we tried to get them to tell us if everyone was ok. There were so many people and we realized that there was nothing we could do, so after having seen that no one was bleeding or had broken limps, we got back in the car and went to Mweiga.

We were naturally both a bit shaken, but having seen that everyone seemed ok, we took comfort in the fact that God, or another power-that-be of your choice, had protected those people from getting hurt.

In Mweiga we met up with our friendly car owner and after a quick and fruitless check under the hood, we then drove to Nyeri another 15 min or so away. We parked the car and spent an hour maybe more waiting. First at the nearby sort-of-restaurant and then by the workshop. Eventually they seemed to have determined the cause – a something-gear-something that they replaced. We dropped off the car owner in Mweiga and pretty much headed home. By then it was around 5pm and we wanted to be home before it got dark.

For those of you wondering about the geography of all this, here's a map. I've highlighted Nanyuki:

We had no trouble going home and looked forward to the adventures of the next few days. Christmas dinner was at Teresia’s restaurant, Kongoni. It was wonderfully non-Christmassy and just a really, really good meal. Best steak I’ve had in several months! For three courses for two people incl. beverages(beer and Coke) we paid no more than 3500 KsH, which is around 300 kr., I think. And really, the food was really good. Probably a good thing we don’t live closer than we do.

Ice cream for dessert on X-mas? I love it!

The next day we packed our bags and headed for Lake Naivasha with the intention to stay in that area for a few days. However, we had not gotten more than five minutes outside of Naro Moru before the car did the same thing again when we hit a higher speed. We decided that it was just too unreliable and turned around. I think that we probably would have been ok to keep going, but at the same time, who knew if the next time it happened, we would be passing someone going uphill. We did not want to risk anything, so much to the comfort of those certain family members, we called the car guy and told him we’d be returning the car and not needing another for the time being.

So that was the conclusion of the failed Christmas mission. We didn’t manage to make it outside the zone we’d already seen but instead ended up in the homely setting of Nanyuki, working on our school report. We did venture a few kilometers up the road the other day though, to see the Commonwealth War Cemetery that is now the eternal resting ground of soldiers that fought in the Second World War in Kenya. For more history on that, you’re going to have to google it, because I’m not too caught up myself(sorry).

Nanyuki War Cemetery

The most interesting thing about the place was the location next to a local, in-use cemetery which was in a terribly neglected state compared to the well-kept one next door. I felt uncomfortable taking pictures of the local one, so just imagine your average piece of land dazzled with random trees, bushes, tall grass and the likes. In-between all of that were graves – in no particular order or structure, just wherever there seemed to have been an empty spot. Some of them had headstones actually made of stone, while most of them were just wooden crosses with names and dates. I felt like it was a little sad, but maybe it wasn’t. I’ll have to ask someone about that at some point. That’s all for 2011 dear friends and beloved family. Thank you all for reading this and I look forward to seeing you all again in 2012.

I leave you with a couple of highly manipulated pictures - one of a leaf with the setting sun behind it, and the other a collage of some of the gates we pass by on the way to town.

Merry Christmas and the best of wishes to all for a wonderful New Year.