Day 182

Sleeping location: Bushland 1.57N 35.47E, Kenya
Distance (km today/total): 107 / 12728
Estimated climb (m today/total): 500 / 92400 
Vegetation change: large

Day in three words: Here is tarmac

We set off on what was, at long last, a concerted stretch of tarmac. Even though it was a bit bumpy we were so happy to finally have some easy riding. Lokichar’s Wild West vibes continued as we headed through bush/scrubland, but now with added craggy peaks and termite mounds with their long thin chimneys. It was flat or slightly uphill, and for the first time in ages the cycling was easy and enjoyable. In terms of issues, my saddle bodge bolt was still holding, albeit creaking and needing frequent tightens, and I had given up on headphones and was listening to podcasts through the speakers on my phone #antisocial. It’s much easier to interact with people on tarmac (because you don’t have to concentrate as much on bike handling) and it was nice to be able to wave and say hi to people again. There weren’t many people about but the Turkana tribal vibes were still on show, and everyone was quiet but friendly. 

At a coffee stop there was no coffee* but we did enjoy a cute chick roaming around our feet, at least until it started eating a cockroach and became somewhat less cute. As we progressed the air and the vegetation grew thicker and mid afternoon we were caught in another rainstorm, although this one was way less severe than previous versions and was over pretty soon. Coming into the town of Kainuk felt like Snowdonia, with clouded green mountains, water everywhere and weak sunshine coming through the clouds. At Kainuk we met the edge of the high mountains that make up one side of the Great Rift and cycled on flat roads along their base. The presence of the mountains must mean lots of rain, and it was very green and lush. We had moved from almost pure desert to this in less than a day. 

We decided to camp and found an apparently secluded clearing with good cover from the road, but we didn’t realise that there were Ethiopia levels of people just wandering about and a few people walking through the dense undergrowth (from/to where we have no idea) saw us. One woman very insistently begged for food, even after her (presumably) grandson arrived carrying...some food. This was going on whilst we were trying to repair my tent poles, one of which had snapped, and we needed them to go way so we could use the scant remaining daylight for the fiddly task. I tried to use my phone to translate into Swahili how often we get asked for food and how we can’t give to everyone, but the poor kid couldn’t even read, and when I pressed the speaker button this weird robot voice came out and confused them greatly. Soon after they left, so maybe it helped somehow. Maybe they thought we were aliens. After dark four men on one moped** who were riding down a tiny path through the undergrowth saw us and came to say hi; I half expected some aggressive begging but they were only friendly. 

*Some interesting coffee facts. Kenya grows excellent coffee but until recently there was a law saying you couldn’t roast beans, to encourage export (and money for the government). So there is zero coffee culture and everyone drinks tea. There aren’t really any roasting facilities so Kenyan ground coffee is generally exported, processed and reimported, massively driving up the price. If you get coffee it’s almost always nescafe. We picked up the cheapest bag of Kenyan ground in a fancy supermarket and it was £5, ie way more than a better bag in a UK supermarket. 

**Not a typo