Tim Cahill, author and travel writer, proposed that
"a journey is best measured in friends rather than miles"
which may prove to be true as in the last 24 days Ben & I have traveled over 2,000 miles with a group of 13 other travelers all jumbled together on this fortuitous encounter. So far we haven't been counting the distance, or the days, but instead learning a whole host about our fellow globetrotters.
Unlike previous blog posts I'm writing fairly blind as I have no idea how to sum up our 75 days with Oasis Overland in a handful of paragraphs. Instead I thought Ben & I would update you as and when, attempting to share with you highlights of our time on the road.
So let me introduce you to the basics of our trip so far...
Days traveled: 24
Countries visited: Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania & back to Kenya.
Fellow passengers: 2 Aussies, 1 Irish, 1 Canadian, 1 American, 1 Scot & 5 English (plus our trip leader, fellow Brit Em and our Kenyan born driver, Walter)
Girls: Amanda, Lindsey, Melissa, Keianna, Sheila
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| Boys: Danny, Michael, Scott, Joe, Ben Sp, Ben Sh |
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| Our first night under canvas in Africa! (Our huge yellow truck in the background) |
Leaving Karen Camp, Nairobi we drove north west through the Great Rift Valley and visited two Kenyan lakes; Lake Naivasha and Lake Nakuru where we had the opportunity to take a small boat to see hippos and other water based wildlife. The group enjoyed it's first safari together in the Lake Nakuru National Park where we were treated to sightings of the usual zebra, warthogs, baboons, white rhino, buck, buffalo, the Rothschild giraffe, hyenas munching on a kill and the local resident flamingos. Incredibly we also spotted a leopard in plain view on a track (and to anyone who has 'safaried' before you can appreciate how rare such a sighting is!!).
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| Ben taking in the huge expanse of the Great Rift Valley |
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| Sunrise as we start our Lake Nakuru safari |
We then journeyed on to Eldoret, Kenya's 5th largest city to explore the famous cheese factory - unfortunately for us on arrival we learned that the factory is not currently producing cheese... Instead we resided in a nice campsite and I, with the brilliance of Ben Sh & Keianna (fellow dream team cooking team), made lasagne from scratch on a camp fire.
Next it was time to cross the border and travel in to Uganda stopping for two nights in the adrenaline junkie hangout of Jinja, also thought to be the Source of the Nile. Our two day stay was action packed as our group hired kayaks for a leisurely paddle; Ben catapulted himself multiple times in to the bilharzia ridden Nile; we all braved the local boda-boda's (motorbike taxis) to explore the bustling markets; and last but not least enjoyed a handful of sun-downers at our beautiful campsite.
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| Lindsey & Keianna on the Nile |
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| Sharing a boda-boda (sorry Mums!) |
I can't move on to our time in Kampala without mentioning our exhilarating white water rafting experience that Ben, myself and four others from our trip signed up to. Led by Nile River Explorers we spent the day bracing ourselves as our raft thrashed down some of the world's finest grade 5 white water rapids. It was a day of eye-popping moments as we paddled ferociously in to onrushing water I was convinced would drown me. Instead we trusted the instructors, who are mostly past or current Ugandan Olympic paddlers who safely led us through a whole host of wild water. Thankfully nobody drowned and despite drinking a fair amount of the Nile we finished the day buzzing and wanting more. Stay tuned to hear if Ben can convince me to do it all again when we get to Victoria Falls!
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| Entering one of the grade 5s |
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| Pinapple for lunch having half drowned at the last rapid! |
Our stay in Kampala was a little less adventurous but equally as fruitful as a handful of the group managed to negotiate the hectic city center markets and successfully haggled away when buying some local made foam mattresses. Getting them back to our campsite on the back of a boda-boda was another ordeal in itself! Our day finished off with the obligatory viewing of England vs. Wales in the six nations following a relaxing swim in the pool.
The next day we spent nearly all day driving the 250 miles south from Kampala to Kabale, stopping at the equator just 36 days after Ben and I drove over it with the TBC team. To our delight we were spared 20 minutes or so when the truck drove through Rwentobo for us to rush down to the school and see the construction progress of the TBC funded community clinic and for our fellow travelers to meet Sunday, the headteacher, and sign the visitors book! Unfortunately we were unable to see any of the children as we were traveling on a weekend but we remained delighted to have seen the school, clinic and stop briefly at the Satellite Hotel - much to the delight of Gershom and James who rushed to greet me and Ben!
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| Ben & Gershom reunited after a month apart |
Whilst in Kabale the whole team enjoyed a relaxing day at Lake Bunyoni, with half the group spending the morning visiting a local community project that have established a school for orphans. After a whole load of dancing, games and more dancing we settled down to a beautiful local lunch of crayfish and rice, followed by swimming and diving at the Overland Resort.
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| Some of the team with the children at the community project |
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| Our lake taxi at Lake Bunyoni |
Our time in Uganda came to an end in a rather stressful manor as one of the guys on our trip had his passport stolen during the night and as morning broke the extent of this setback was realised. After a stressful morning we had to say goodbye to Joe as we headed off to Rwanda without him (with the intention of seeing him in a couple of days after emergency travel documents had been secured). It was a rather pivotal moment for the group as we realised just how valued each member was to the team even after 11 days on the road together.
Despite this hiccup the truck made it in to Rwanda and we arrived in Musanze / Ruhengeri late afternoon (for some reason a lot of Rwandan towns have two names). The group headed out for a memorable meal - but not necessarily for all the right reasons! The next day was Gorilla Trekking day, an apparent must when visiting the Volcanoes National Park. Unfortunately for myself and Ben this once-in-a-lifetime experience was just a little out of budget ($750 per person for the hour spent in the presence of the primates) and as Oasis require you to book on to the Gorilla's when booking the trip we had decided it was one activity we would miss out on. For the rest of our group they set off first thing to pick up their permits and trek up to known locations for the habituated gorilla groups.
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| Photo credit: Lindsey |
After regrouping we headed to Kigali and spent a reflective morning at the Genocide Memorial. The place itself is an essential reminder to any visitor of the suffering and hardship the country has endured. It was also the place that Joe rejoined the trip having been issued an emergency passport in Kampala, all was well again as our group was complete again until Danny (a fellow traveler and Oasis crew member) was called out to help run another Oasis trip.
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| Boarding the ferry to cross Lake Victoria |
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| Sunrise at Mwanza Yacht Club |
From here on we started our mammoth drive days. 4 1/2 days of early starts and pulling in to our campsite late afternoon. Splattered within the monotony of driving all day was a brief ferry ride across Lake Victoria, an exquisite sunrise at our stay in Mwanza Yacht Club and a bizarre stay at a old German fort. A true highlight of this leg of the trip was our night in a tea plantation just outside of Kericho in Kenya. We pulled in just in time to enjoy a leisurely swim in the lake and a walk through the tea plantations to enjoy the sunset. The best thing about this place is that no travelers had stayed before and their facilities at the camp were made in two weeks especially for our stay.
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| The group! |
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| Our beautiful campsite |
Arriving back in Nairobi we were all delighted to be done with driving for a couple of days and our day was made infinitely better when we pulled in at the giraffe center - a research sanctuary for the endangered Rothschild giraffe. It was incredible to be up close and personal with this gentle giants.
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| Slobbery kisses with a 7ft giraffe |
On the last official day of this leg of the trip, and before we welcomed the 'newbies' that would be joining our adventure, the group decided to visit the 23 orphaned baby elephants at the David Sheldrick Widlife Trust. For an hour we were blessed to witness the elephants drinking their milk and having their daily mud bath. It was wonderful.
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| One of the baby elephants enjoying their milk |
Now we are on our second leg of the 'Grand Adventure'. We said goodbye to Joe as he finishes the trip and welcomed 7 new people on to the bus. Over the next 22 days the trip officially goes from Nairobi to Harare, journeying through Tanzania, Zanzibar, Malawi, Mozambique and then Zimbabwe. I say officially as Ben and I, along with 5 others from the original group, have actually signed off the Oasis Overland truck for the next 7 days. The reason being we didn't want to foot the $550 per person bill for two nights safari in the Serengeti (I'm sure many people will tell me that game spotting in the Serengeti is like no other - but for us the price didn't justify it). Instead the 7 of us have journeyed to Mombasa and will spend the next week beach hopping before rejoining the Oasis group in Zanzibar.
A reminder for anyone who wants more regular updates from M&B on the road we are currently day 24 in to our #75daysofOasisOverland where we are posting an Instagram photo each day.
Thanks for reading!
Love, Melissa x
Prayer requests:
- That we are continuously kept safe, especially when travelling as a group
- That long lasting and special friendships can come about as a result of this trip
- For all border crossings to go smoothly and for any passport issues to be resolved
- For our families at home, communication is tough on the truck and therefore difficult to speak to friends and family as much as we would like to
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