Day 53 - Central Highlands, Kenya

Point of departure : Lake Naivasha

Point of arrival : Timau, Central Highlands

Accommodation: rooftop tent - Timau River Lodge

Km travelled today: 308 km Cum: 9 459km (gravel 19km cum 2 302km)

Countries so far: 6/16

Where to next? Elsa's Kopje, Meru National Park

Total number of photos taken: 15 (cum 2 790)

On leaving Fisherman's camp we headed north up the Rift Valley towards Lake Nukuru.After fighting our way through Christmas taxi traffic in Nukuru we worked our way through to the Nukuru National Park in which the lake is situated but discovered to our dismay that a couple of hours in the park and a view of the lake was going to cost us US $120 - we decided against it!Back through the traffic in Nukuru and eastwards towards Nyahururu and the equator which we crossed for the first time at Subukia.Here we met Peter, quite a persuasive salesman and demonstrator of water spirals either side of the equator.Whether there is a trick or not, we do not know, but in the northern hemisphere the water spiralled clockwise and in the southern hemisphere it spiralled anti clockwise.On the equator line, it was neutral.Having said that, our GPS did not fully agree with the equatorial position (out by a couple of seconds)!Nevertheless, having got our certificate and done our compulsory shopping we were on our way again, travelling pretty much east along the equator and then eventually up the escarpment and out of the Rift Valley at Subukia.

We were now travelling in the Central Highlands of Kenya, quite a different proposition from the drier conditions in the valley… coffee plantations, lush vegetation and rolling green hills, very pretty.It almost felt like England in Africa.We then crossed the equator back into the southern hemisphere at Ndaragwa and then back into the northern hemisphere at Nanyuki, where we met George Matts - a solo cyclist who was travelling from the UK to Cape Town (www.cycletocapetown.weebly.com) An impressive feat, travelling anything from 80 to 120km per day with a bicycle and kit that weighed about 80 to 90kg.John lifted it… really heavy!

Then to our planned camp site, Nanyuki Camel River Camp but finding nobody at "reception" and really not liking the look of the place we moved on to Timau where we found Timau River Lodge.A much better proposition with a grassy and shaded camp site (we were the only ones in camp) and a hot water shower, although fairly basic and sit down toilets - what luxury!