From Torbi To Mega (Stage 3)

Left Torbi with two armed askaris on board. The road was now muddy and slippery as all hell. On top of that the fuel line of the bus started to give trouble. Three times the bus just stopped and the pump, line and what have you dismantled and cleaned then all re assembled and away we go. Then we hit the real mud patch and got stuck. The bus ended up on its bell at right angles to the road. What struck me was how everybody just takes this in their stride. No fuss, just do what is required ad get things back on track again. The mud has a high clay content so that as you walk through it, it builds up under your soles and you carry up to 5cm of it with you. The people use the mud water in the pools on the road to wash it off and ‘clean’ themselves. What is normally a 3-hour journey now ended in Moyale about 4pm. But no complaints. My scooter has signs of the bus ride, but it still goes. Had some trouble with the bus owner since he wanted me to pay the people for getting the bike off the bus. To hell with him, I refused and I don’t know how he settled it with them.

 
I went to the border hoping that Nic would make it still the same evening, but not knowing about his problems of getting out of the school in Marsabit. At the border I met up with Thomas Reinhardt, a German Video reporter going down to Tanzania to open a camp on the top end of lake Malawi. He says it is the most beautiful spot on earth. He was going down in a big red 12ton Mercedes truck pulling a 8-ton trailer caravan. The caravan was his house and base when building the campsite. Thomas and I found a local shebeen where we had two beers and just watched the locals get drunk or stoned on a certain leaf that they chew. When we got too much attention (all friendly…) we went back to the local campsite and cooked a dinner of spaghetti, onion, garlic, cheese and peas. Ate directly out of the pot so as to save on washing water.

Said goodbye to Thomas after an excellent cup of coffee. Then waited for Nic. He was also held up at Torbi and camped in the bush and waited for the convoy this morning. Thomas said he would tell Nic I was safe, OK and waiting. Which he did when they met along the road. Nic arrived about 10.20 and we went through Kenya border with no problem. The Ethiopian side was slow and not so friendly
 But with friendliness and courtesy from our side they also responded. Unfortunately customs closed between 12 and 2 so there was a bit of a delay. We used this time to fix and clean things up a bit. You must see the mud on the Land Cruiser. At about 3.30 pm we were through the Ethiopian border. On the way to Mega we were always just behind a rain storm ,but never in it. Some of the villages we passed through were up to their knees in storm water.  An hour after entering Ethiopia we stopped and decided to camp on a moonscape. A flat piece if earth pockmarked with craters varying in size and depth. Out of each crater a tree was growing. Some of these crater are also watering well for the people in the area.  Some good bird live here – the feathered kind.