TURKANA DIARIES

from Vroom Issue 4: Chasing Sunstets

by VroomKE

RHINO CHARGE 2019

TURKANA

TURKANA DIARIESBy Vijay Chandaria

PART1

& Harshit Shah

Waterfalls at Ngare

Ndare Forest

t is not often that one thinks of Turkana as a Family Holiday destination, and that is exactly what we did. In fact, we didn’t think, we just assumed we were going, and back in April 2018 the emails began flowing! Where to go, where to stay and more importantly how to get there!

“Are you sure?” “A road trip?” and with many asking us the same questions in the end we can say this road trip was exciting,pulsating and difficult but a trip of a lifetime! Our main concern however was kids. Travelling with kids makes us question everything more than

“Are you sure?” A road trip?”

we would usually, from food to safety to just being selfish and thinking will we actually manage 1700km in the car with the little brats? But in the end, we saw it is possible, safe and if planned well, a super adventure holiday for a Family!

Months of planning meant, we were well prepared for this, the Great Road Trip. Great because it is not the ideal family vacation where the luxuries of water are at plenty! Road trip, 1700kms ofdriving would definitely make this a road trip! We started off in Nairobi late morning, slight delay after packing our cars ensuring nothing was left

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out, but we were still in good time for our journey ahead.

Our road trip would take us to the East Side of Turkana towards the tip of the lake and back. The drive would have to be broken down as it would be too cumbersome to drive the whole mileage to and fro.

Our first stop, The Ngare Ndare forest. Having left late morning and making a few stops in Nanyuki and further to a cheese factory we were destined to reach there by 5.00pm. Little did we know that there was heavy rain the night before. Knee deep mud, cars and bikes getting stuck every 50 meters, meant we had to start our 4wd driving earlier than expected and the first test of our cars had begun. We managed to reach our night stayover by 7.00pm. The manager of the hotel went out of his way to see that dinner and

some snacks were prepared as he knew we had kids who by this point were cranky and needed food and sleep as soon as possible! Kudos to him for his service and hospitality.The next day we explored Ngare Ndare. From strolling through the canopy walk amongst its thick indigenous forest to a cold swim in its freezing pool of water, direct from the slopes of Mount Kenya. After the canopy walk all we could think of was to cool down and thus we choose to drive to the water pools. Jumping of the ledges into the icy cold water below brings an adrenaline rush one can’t describe. Feeling refreshed we headed back to the hotel to relax for the rest of the day. That night it was time to discuss our route to Turkana, managing fuel stops, weather conditions, catering to the children and preparing ourselves for the long drive to South Horr.

Beautiful Mt Ololokwe

The end of tarmac roads and we get onto some corrugation and murram roads by this point passing the Milgas Plains and small settlements on the way. At this time the sun was beating down

hard on the cars and our car air conditioners were a soothing help, eventually leading us onto the Paul Teasdale road (now the wind power road).

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One of the many villages we passed on our drive to Koros Camp

aul Teasdale road is an isolated road with very few cars passing by with the exception of armed massai herders every now and then. A major thing to note is that the road is a graveyard for tyre’s, good tyres are a must when planning this road trip. Though barren we felt like we were in

another country, away from the hustle and bustle of a city. The kids who were taking their sweet naps were doing well, and with nothing but savannah on both sides of the corrugated road, we moved on leaving nothing but dust clouds behind. We finally reached the Kargi Junnction and after another 15kms we finally made it to camp. After 715 kms

of driving we had reached Koros camp! Surrounded by big mountains the camp is nestled in the middle of nowhere! We felt relieved and tired from the driving, but just looking up into the sky with the stars shimmering all around above you makes the journey quite worth it.

We had reached Turkana, but the adventure is just the beginning.