Last Few Kenyan Days

Our last few days in Kenya we have spent doing a few short road trips in our new car, Marvin. We went to Hell's Gate National Park and then to Sagana to spend a couple days on the river. On the way back we found a small leak in our radiator and so we delayed our departure to Uganda by one day to tomorrow.

A New Car and a Big Waterfall

After looking into all sorts of options on how to travel around Africa Mark and I decided that to get the most out of our African adventure we would buy a car. So a couple weeks ago we started searching for a vehicle. A couple of scorching days in Nairobi, a trip to the local post it board, myself surviving a mild case of food poisoning and somehow we ended up the proud owners of a 1991 Toyota Hilux Surf. But finding the vehicle was only half the battle… we had to endure a four hour wait in a line up to get a PIN number (you need a PIN number to own a vehicle), got all the paperwork completed for the transfer of ownership, stood in line to submit the transfer of ownership and now we are waiting to receive the vehicle registration. Hopefully we will have it by the end of the week. In the meantime we had a custom roof rack built, so that we can carry our kayaks, along with a spare tire and a couple jerry cans on the roof.

While we were waiting for the registration to go through, Mark and I headed back to Sagana with James and Simon Coward to do some kayaking. The first river on our agenda was the Maragua, which we hit on Friday. Unfortunately I had a run in with a rock and came out with a sore shoulder and a broken paddle so I was unable to finish the run. But the boys came back with grins on there faces. After the run they went to scout a section of the Maragua that had never been run below the dam. It was too late in the day for them to have a go at it so it’s sitting there for another time.

On Saturday Mark, Simon and I went to scout the Upper Ragati. Thrashing through the bush along side of the river for a couple hours resulted in thorn scratched legs, scaring the local children (who had not seen many white people) and a desire to return to the river as quickly as possible to run this hidden gem. Back to the camp to pick up James and the boys went off to paddle slide after runnable slide. A portion of this river had been run once before by Simon, though the majority of it was a first descent. The locals watched in amazement from the bank, unable to fathom what the crazy muzungus (white people) were doing. Most of the local people cannot swim and thus are scared of water.

Sunday we woke up super early and drove out to the Rubangazi river for another first descent. Five hours after they put in, Mark, Simon and James found me at the take-out. The river contained a couple portages, deep canyon gorges, a sweet waterfall and beautiful lush jungle. The day wasn’t finished yet… on the way home Mark decided to fire off a 50 foot waterfall on the Nyamindi. He named it Shoosty Booty.

Shoosty Booty

Climbing out of the canyon

Mt. Kenya

Kenya Impressions

We arrived into Nairobi airport on Monday morning and by Monday afternoon we were on the rafting section of the Tana River.

James Savage running "Mission" on the Tana River

The White Water Adventure camp, near Sagana, is a little piece of paradise. Located right next to the Tana River, it is the ideal place to recover from a bit of jet lag.

Camp

Though we did not get much of a chance for rest as James Savage, local Kenyan kayaker, was keen to show us some of the local rivers. So Tuesday we paddled the Mathioya and the Lower Tana. Both really sweet runs and a good introduction to boating in Kenya... warm and red water.

Mathioya River

Then early Friday morning Mark and I headed back to Nairobi to get on a 3-day safari to the Masaai Mara National Park. It took a few hours of a very bumpy road to get to the National Park, but it was all worth it. The amount of animals that were roaming through the park was incredible. I thought Banff and Jasper had loads of animals but it was nothing compared to what we found here. Below are some (of the many) photos that we took while we were on safari.

Wildebeast migration

For the past week and a half we have been out at the White Water Adventure Camp. It's been hot with the odd bout of rain, awesome paddling on red colored rivers ....lots of waving screaming kids, snails pace internet, muddy feet, the best coffee and the worst roads.