WELDING UBHEJANE BACK TOGETHER

5 June 2008

Day 96

Nairobi (Jungle Junction)

0km

BRUCE: We were out of the gate at 7:30 sharp this morning and we were at Schumacher Land Rover specialists (S1 20.570 E36 43.412) before they opened. While we were there we saw 2 other landies from Jungle Junction so this must be the place! I went for a test drive with Robert, their head mechanics, and he had his guys check the steering from end to end and all they could find was that the radius arm bushes were worn. I had spares with me so he fitted these and did an oil and filter change with the parts I had. They guys also fixed the rear cross member by welding a plate on each side and underneath. They even got all they holes in the right place and re-sprayed it so it looks like new! More welding was needed to join the spare wheel carrier back together.I decided not to change the clutch master cylinder which had started leaking but I bought the part instead and will do it when the problem gets really bad. It has only leaked 3 drops since Ethiopia and I have not had to top it up so we might as well leave it well enough alone. Schumachers is a great place, really organised with teams of guys in matching overalls. They do everything from rebuilds to services. They also make the best coffees and give your car a wash when they are done. Needless to say they charge like wounded buffalo.

Se spent the day doing the blog so we are now up to date! We left the garage at 5ish and headed for the Junction Centre which is near to Jungle Junction. It was so like SA it was great. We splashed out on some new clothes at Mr Price, had a Wimpy burger for dinner and spent ages in the Nakumatt Supermarket which had everything! We bought loads of stuff, most of which was restocking supplies, but we also bought box wine, beers, boeriewors and chocolate! We got back to JJ late and refitted the spare wheel and high lift jack which had been on the roof, before going to bed exhausted with the excited from western style shopping.

6 June 2008

Day 97

Nairobi

0km

SARAH: Today was a frustrating day spent stuck in Nairobi. I was pretty chilled out but Bruce was itching to get to the game reserves and was so frustrated as being cooped up in an internet café. Admin really takes up so much time with slow internet connections. After 1 hour at the first internet shop we left during the power failure with nothing achieved and found another internet café at Nakumatt. We unintentionally spent the rest of the day there downloading antivirus software for my laptop (infected in Ethiopia) and uploading blog photos. It was our turn to surprise Brenda and Taco as we returned back to JJ. They thought they'd seen the last of us. Tomorrow we really are getting on the road - indicators or no indicators working!

ON SAFARI

7 June 2008

Day 98

Nairobi - Voi (Red Elephant Lodge camping S3 22.262 E38 35.601)

350km

BRUCE:We were packed and on the road by 8am this morning. We filled up with diesel for the first time in Kenya and boy did it hurt at 90p/l! I'm glad that we bought extra in Ethiopia! We were very impressed with Nairobi as we drove though the city centre which looks European with no sign of shanty towns. The drive to Tsavo East was long along a detoured rough road but the good news is that our vibration seems to have gone! We made a stop at Hunters Lodge in Makindu which was built by a big game hunter, JA Hunter, who's books used to keep me sane in the UK. Next stop was Voi where we got a smart card that you load with park, camping and vehicle fees for the parks. I had only enough cash for 2 days of each so we did that and found a great place to camp at the Red Elephant Lodge. We saw some Elephant in the distance as we drove down the park boundary and they really are red! Their redness comes from the red sand they bath themselves in. We had the place to ourselves and had sundowners on one of the balconies of the bungalows that overlooked sa waterhole. Unfortunately nothing came to it bt we got some planning done and we've decided to go to the coast at Malindi after visiting the park tomorrow. We had a nice braai for dinner and got the news that the boks beat Wales. Tomorrow it's Tsavo East game reserve and I can't wait!!

GREAT GAME VIEWING IN TSAVO EAST

8 June 2008

Day 99

Tsavo East - Voi - Sala gate (Bushcamp at Gate S3 04.560 E39 13.056)

187km

Entrance fee: 40$US pp

Car: 300Ksh

SARAH: We were up at 5.15am before sunrise and were waiting to get into the park at 6.30am. Perched on our seats looking for animals we drove to 2 waterholes but only saw buffalo. Heading along the river we saw loads of animals and huge herds of red elephant. A highlight was watching Gerenuke Gazelle grazing from trees whilst balancing on their hind legs and we got some great photos. Game spotting included: elephant, giraffe, grants gazelle, Gerenuke, waterbuck, buffalo, zebra, gemsbok, secretary birds and more. Though what we didn't see were the cats. The best thing was that we had the park all to ourselves and we only saw 3 cars all day. All the camps are empty and Kenya is feeling the effects of the troubled elections in March. We couldn't find a campsite in the evening and the Sala Gate customer service officer kindly left us camp in their compound where it was safe. We had a quick risotto and chatted with Elija about Kenya and Africa. It's been a great day.

RELAXING ON THE COAST

9 June 2008

Day 100

Tsavo East - Malindi (KWS Campsite S3 15.333 E40 07.871)

122km

BRUCE: Wow! I can't believe that we have been on the road 100 days already. It doesn't seem all that long ago that I was writing in my diary in Calais in a Formula One hotel!

We were out of the gate at 06h15 and the nice ranger did not even charge us the park camping fee. So we had a free nights camping, with security! We stopped and watched the sunrise over the bush while I made some tea and coffee with the Kelly kettle. While we were having out tea we noticed that there was a track heading off into the bush towards the park boundary. We decided to do our own game drive and headed off down the track! It ran along the park boundary and but we were too nervous to go much further than 10km, but I am sure that you would be able to sneak into the park down that track! We took some similar tracks and saw loads of game including elephant and waterbuck. It would make a great area to bush camp in too.

The road to Malindi started off being really corrugated and rough, but after a while it improved and turned to hard packed earth. It did get worse again though as we got closer to Malindi.

The first waypoint that we went to for a campsite turned out to be for one that had closed 4 years ago so we ended up at the Kenya Wildlife Services campsite which is great! I decided to put the awning up for the first time since Luxor in Egypt which turned out to be a good thing as it rained all afternoon!! We spent the evening choosing our Ethiopian blog photos and crashed early after a nice bolognaise dinner!