To hell and back

Kakamega Forest Reserve was lovely, although really only a tiny fragment of the vast rainforest which used to stretch from Kenya, across Uganda and into the Congo. Mostly these days it is all tea plantations and corn fields. Whilst our walk in the rainforest was great, the journey there and back was more entertaining. The only way to Kakamega was to catch the local matatus (mini-vans) about 1.5 hours each way. As usual we were presented with a selection of decrepit vans in which you have to sit and wait at the station until they are full before they depart. In this instance it didn’t take too long, at least less than an hour this time…. In the end though we made it there and back again with no problems, but saw a variety of entertaining things from a chap carting a pair of severed cows heads along the side of road, a shiny new coffin strapped to the carrier of someone’s pushbike (he looked a bit wobbly but was managing to ride it), a mysterious matatu shuffle which caused lots of Swahili arguments as people were kicked out of ours and put in another (no idea what was going on) and were kept company by a box of cheeping chickens. It is lovely here how attached people are to their pets and you often see them taking them on trips with them, chickens squawking with joy and excitement at the adventure off being stuffed in the cargo compartment/over head rack of the bus or goats wriggling with enthusiasm at getting taken for a ride in a box on the back of someone’s pushbike (all the while being securely tied down to make sure they are comfortable and can’t fall off and injure themselves).

The day after our Kakamega adventure we went “fishing” on Lake Victoria – which was really boating. Our fishing guides assured us they knew what they were doing, but I suspect otherwise. After securing a few small catfish from the local fishermen for live-bait we were taken to a “deep” section of the lake where we trolled around for a while. I managed to hook 3 fishing nets, but no fish. Never a good sign when the lake is full of old nets which will still be killing fish long after they have ceased to be used. We then decided to try the live bait as I was getting sick of untangling lures. Apparently the preferred technique is to put the hook through the tail of the catfish and then troll it around flapping on the surface while it quickly drowns. I suggested that perhaps that wasn’t the most effective use of live bait, retrieved them whilst they were only half dead (about 30 seconds), added a weight and sent them to the bottom. Unsurprisingly (given the confused look I got when I asked if there was a reason we were fishing in that particular location) we didn’t manage to catch anything on our not-so-lively live baits. Never the less it was good to get out on the water and we had a very interesting chat with our wannabe fishing guide whilst we waited to hook another discarded fishing net.

From Kisumu we headed to Nakuru for a night before continuing on to Naivasha where we are now and spending today visiting the Hell’s Gate National Park. Hell’s Gate is an interesting park with volcanic steam issuing from the hillsides and narrow steep gorges to explore (with the compulsory guide….). We were also able to hire mountain bikes and go for a bit of a ride (although I got a flat tyre so it turned into a push instead). Apparently some scenes from Tomb Raider II were filmed in the park along with scenes from selection of other Hollywood films.

We are in Naivasha tonight, before heading to Nairobi tomorrow and flying out for London on Sunday night to sponge off Rosie and Lance and bore them with endless travel stories and photos. They can’t wait.