Merry Christmas from Lake Turkana - Part 2

Sunday, 23rd December

We left the east side of Lake Turkana yesterday and started our three day trip to the west. Because of the layout of this part of Kenya it is impossible to get from east to west without first heading south of the Lake for about 200 km.   We knew that if we wanted to spend Christmas in some sort of comfort rather than bush camp we had three days of solid driving on very poor roads ahead of us.

The first day was reasonably uneventful. We had been on this particular road before and although there were a few muddy patches, we got through alright. We arrived at our camp in Maralal by early evening and as we walked into the bar a Christmas party hosted by local Turkana people was in full swing. We didn’t want to intrude so we sat outside but as the music got louder and the beat more inviting,  Heather and myself couldn’t help ourselves and decided to join in (sorry kids, I know what you are thinking…). We were immediately welcomed into the group and needless to say, had a lot of fun. 

For the second day we didn’t set ourselves a target other than to get as far north as possible before dark. We had planned a route which would take us as close as possible along the shore of the lake although in the south and most of the west, all roads and tracks are separated from the Lake by mountains. By about three o’clock the track was getting steeper and narrower and then our GPS ran out of ideas altogether and just displayed the wording ‘danger of Bandits’. Well by now we consider ourselves to be seasoned travelers and it didn’t particularly worry us.

We did however pick up a local Turkana man in one of the villages we passed through to help us find our way. He knew of a village nearby (that’s two hours away!) where there was a catholic mission and where we would be able to spend the night.

We reached the village by 5pm and decided to call it a day. The priest running the catholic mission and who was a ‘Father Ted lookalike’ kindly let us spend the night camping in the local school yard.  

Monday 24^th December,

What a day! We left very early this morning safe in the expectation that we would reach the western shore of the lake in good time since we only had another 280 km to go. We had identified a camp site in our guidebook (Eliya Springs) which sounded like a good place to spend Christmas and it seemed reachable.

During the day I received several calls and messages wishing me a 'Happy Birthday' which was very special, being so far from home.

By 3pm progress suddenly came to a halt. As we were approaching the Turkwell River crossing we could see a long queue of stationary lorries and trucks in front of us and when we got out to investigate we saw that a river had burst it’s banks and flooded the bridge. The problem was not only the height of the water level but the fact that it was impossible to make out the boundaries of the bridge. 

After an hour or so of waiting around it looked like the water level was falling and one truck made a start to the cheers of the onlookers. About three quarters of the way it looked like it was going to topple over and with people hanging off the sides and sitting on the roof it was a breath taking moment. Luckily it made it across and after that everyone had a go. Ian and Heather went in front of us and made it across without any problems

It was our turn next and Don kept his cool but I was shaking when we got to the other side. By this time we only had one hour of daylight left and a local priest told us that in order to reach our camp by the lake we needed to cross two more rivers so we decided to call it a day. We ended up camping in the compound of a lodge run by a local women's cooperative and actually had a nice evening.

Tuesday 25^th December, Christmas Day

This morning we scrubbed up and went to the village church where the local people were celebrating Christmas, Turkana style.  As we walked in an old Turkana woman came up to us to welcome us with an elaborate hand shaking ceremony which was very touching. The congregation consisted mostly of Turkana children and a handful of elderly ladies and the service was entirely singing and dancing, a mixture of what must be local music and reggae. It was magic!  At one point everyone was dancing (apart from Don and Ian!) and it felt like you were at a concert.

The kids were incredibly well dressed in what must be there Christmas, not just Sunday, best and of course we were very curious about us. 

After about an hour we left , not sure whether the service would continue in this fashion for another hour or the whole day. We finally made it to our destination by lunchtime, a beautiful camp right on the lake with sand dunes and palm trees but very very hot!

Sadly we discovered on arrival that there was absolutely no phone signal for at least 100 km so for the first time ever, we didn’t manage to speak to the children to wish them a Merry Christmas.

We finally had our Christmas meal as the sun was setting, sitting under palm trees overlooking the lake and because it was Christmas, the sky was clear and the moon was full.

Thursday 27th December,

Today we took another boat trip, this time to 'Central Island' on Lake Turkana. This the the island I have mentioned before which is dominated by the remnants of three former volcanoes, two of of which have been infiltrated by water to form isolated lakes within the island. One of these lakes now serves as the most prolific breeding ground for crocodiles in Africa. When the baby crocodiles hatch in March /April they make their way towards the lake. Amazingly there are no snakes on this island which is why so many of the newly hatched crocodiles survive. The views were stunning but because we are now in December we saw neither crocodile eggs nor baby crocodiles (although we did see adult crocs slinking in the water). I did however find a skeleton of a baby croc, although Ian thinks it is that of a Nile perch, but as you know there are no Nile perch in Lake Turkana....

We have decided to finally leave Lake Turkana and head towards Uganda. If there is one place we may come back to one day it would be Lake Turkana!