Hitting the Road: Days 1-4 of our Kenya Overland trip

In case you were wondering, we DID survive the trip. Yes, it’s taken almost 2 months since we left and a month since we returned to show up on here. It’s taken me that long to recover. It was a TRIP. It was beautiful and fun, amazing and epic, and also hard, stressful, and extremely exhausting. It was everything - everything, that is, except relaxing.

So here I am, finally sorting through the photos and finally able to carve out the time and mind space to reflect on it all. I blogged at Lake Baringo about our packing list, but it took up so much time when there was so much else to do, so I didn’t worry about it for the rest of the trip. After all, one of our goals was to be present together as a family, and blogging did not lend itself to that. Now, as I review our trip, I’ll share the good, the bad, and the ugly as best I can. Overlanding includes it all, especially with a 1-year old in tow.

Days 1-2: On the day we planned to leave home, the Land Cruiser was still in the shop getting a suspension upgrade 3 days after they told us it would be done because they kept ordering the wrong parts from Nairobi. Eric and Leo went to the garage to just sit and wait and put pressure on them to get it done quickly. By the time all was finished, it was mid-afternoon.

They drove the car home and we loaded up as quickly as we could with all that I had finished packing that day. We told Leo to take a final pee before we hit the road, so he found a large water bottle, peed in it, and said he wanted to take it along because it was “for bad guys.” It even made the family photo we took before we set off. You can see it there in the bottom left corner. It took some time to convince him that it really was not essential and to leave it behind.

Off we went to Jinja, where we had a staff retreat. It was the “soft launch” of our trip, since we parked the car and stayed in a resort with great food and an excellent view of the Nile River. Although we were in a comfortable and familiar setting, we still had problems to deal with. Eric brought in our electricity system to charge the battery and promptly blew a fuse and Pax ran a fever for the 4th night in a row, meaning we started the trip on a lack of sleep. I assumed it was just a virus, but thought it would be smart to make sure before we got ourselves out of range of good medical care. The next day, while Eric was in meetings, I took the kids into town to a clinic and hardware store. We certainly didn’t want to start the trip with a sick kid and no electricity system. Pax was fine. His fever broke the morning we decided to get him checked. Eric fixed the fuse. Later that evening, we danced with our colleagues at a Christmas party and crashed into bed.

Fishermen on the Nile

Day 3: Now we were really on the road. After breakfast, we headed for the Uganda/Kenya border. The first “real” day of our trip was just one to get through. It involved a lot of time on the road - on highways, in particular. Our general rule for the trip was that the kids could get out of their seats on dirt roads, but had to be in their car seats on paved and fast roads. This was a day of paved, fast roads, so they had to endure it. We made more exceptions for Pax. We had a break at the border, where all the confusion and annoyances of borders ensued. We held off hagglers and waited in lines with children bouncing around and clinging to our legs, and then on we went again to a simple, local guest house in Bungoma, Kenya. We arrived as it got dark, waited a long time for some food, and all squished together in bed.

Border crossing

Day 4: Having just arrived in Kenya the night before, we had not yet sorted out our phone and internet situation or even gotten Kenyan shillings, so Eric took Leo into town just after breakfast to sort out those basics. Pax and I stayed back at the simple guest house, bopping around the garden looking at the rabbits, chickens, cows, and birds. All was well for an hour or so, until I started wondering just how long it should take to get money, phone, and internet. Surely, they should be back any minute. Another hour went by and with each passing minute, my imagination ran a little more wild. I had no way of contacting Eric and no money, so all I could do was sit and worry, trying to keep Pax awake so he would sleep in the car when we finally could leave. At two and a half hours, I asked the woman at the guest house if she could call a boda driver. It certainly wasn’t ideal to take Pax on a boda, but at that point I felt like I had no other choice and had to go out looking for the other half of my family, convinced I would find the car on the side of the road somewhere. Knowing their first stop would be at an ATM and also knowing I would need cash to pay the boda, I asked to tour the town’s ATMs, shaking with worry and frantically scanning the road as we passed.

Tired baby, worried mama, on a boda going to look for the other half of our family

While getting money, the boda driver received a call from the woman at the guest house, saying that Eric and Leo had returned. Eric laughed and wondered what the hell I was thinking and I was more than relieved to be able to laugh about it all. A deep breath in and out and we packed the car back up and hit the road, heading for our first real destination - Lake Baringo.

Kibale Forest and our camping trial run

For my birthday weekend, I desperately wanted time in nature. I had heard about Silver, an ex-poacher who has turned into Uganda’s foremost butterfly expert, and I wanted to track him down and take a butterfly tour. Since it was only a couple of weeks before we were due to set off for the month-long trip, we figured we would combine my birthday weekend with a camping trial run. I arranged the tour, we finalized our packing, and we set off on Friday morning for the edge of Kibale Forest at a very special place called Sunbird Hill.

It’s a good thing we did this trial run. We learned so much.

While my tour and time away in nature for my birthday was absolutely exactly what I had in mind and I loved every minute of it, our camping test-run was a bit of a different story. Again, we learned so much.

Primarily, we were reminded just how much work it is to camp - to set up, take down, take out, make dinner, clean up, etc. And doing this with two young children who want to play in our precious water and investigate every small thing we had carefully selected and packed was a bit of a nightmare, not to mention finding a way to climb a ladder with a sleeping baby in my arms to put him to bed.

We learned that the kids absolutely cannot stay clean and, therefore, neither can we. So we realized that we either take more clothes or just let the kids be naked as much as possible. We tend to opt for the later choice, which is admittedly nothing new, but that also has consequences with a 1-year old. On the plus side, I saw my first dung beetle.

After finally getting the kids into bed the second night, Eric and I had a very serious discussion about whether we can really survive a month-long camping trip with kids so young. “They won’t even remember this!” we told ourselves. So we went back to the basics and asked: “Why are we doing this, again?” Ah, yes. We are doing this to spend time together as a family, to have fun, to play and be happy together. So once we had re-established our goal, we re-evaluated our set-up and our itinerary. What can we do to help us have more fun and minimize the “NO STOP DOING THAT!s” and the “DON’T TOUCH THAT!s” and the plethora of 4-letter words muttered under our breath.

We learned there is really no need to be hard-core. There is no need to be entirely self-reliant. Let’s loosen up the reigns a bit and allow ourselves to order meals if we need to, hire out our laundry to be done if we need to. I had also predicted the hardest part of the trip would be the long drives, so I originally worked out our itinerary for short drives, with just 1 night at most stops. But with all the things to set-up and take down, we realized that we can do longer drives (It was about 6 hours to Kibale, with a stop for lunch), and we should stay no less than 2 nights at each place. If we are to stay just 1 night, we decided we should get a hotel and order meals.

We also learned how grateful we are that we decided to get the tent annex that zips around the bottom of the tent to make an extra room (heretofore fondly referred to as the “safari barn”). We thought, at the time, that perhaps it was a bit too much. Were we just being those typical Americans who have to have everything BIG and luxurious? The hardcore overlanders rarely have annexes. But after a lot of thought, we figured we would use it enough now and in the future to make it worthwhile and we are very glad we made the investment. It provided a lot of privacy, a place to get out of the sun and rain, and a place to put our stuff at night.

So the plan is still in action. We are still going. Whether this is going to be epic and amazing or miserable and super difficult is still to be determined. Likely, it will be all of the above.

In the midst of this test-run, I escaped the campsite and the kids for most of the day on Saturday while tromping about through the delicious Kibale forest.

It was my birthday and what I wanted most was time in nature without children. I came for Kibale’s incredibly diverse population of birds and butterflies and any other small and spectacular fauna, and I was not disappointed. My guides and hosts were incredible. They have studied the species around Kibale closely and they know so much. They are doing important research, even finding new species all the time, so I knew that even with all I saw, it was just a taste of what this incredible forest has to offer. I felt honored to walk along beside Silver and Nick, learning from them along the way, so we ended up eating my birthday cake together!

butterflies

birds

Hairy-breasted barbet

Black bee-eater

Copper sunbird

Collard sunbird

White-spotted flufftail

Yellow-breasted apalis

insects, reptiles, and amphibians

Most people find their way to Kibale forest to trek the chimpanzees. This little corner of Uganda is home to one of the world’s densest populations of primates, the chimpanzees being the most popular. Most people stomp right on by the other, more subtle fascinations of the forest. But I’ve often had the experience that when you begin to notice one thing in nature, you will be shown so much more. And so, as a birthday bonus, I had a glimpse of the chimps - humankind’s closest relatives. Happy birthday to me!

It’s clear that Kibale has much more to offer and I do hope it won’t be long before I’m back. I will go straight back to Sunbird Hill, where Julia (the owner) and her team work with a passion to share their love and knowledge of the flora and fauna with the locals and visitors alike. I had only a glimpse of the swamps - enough to call me back to explore them more thoroughly. In a country that caters so much to tourists coming to see the big game, most guides know a few simple facts about the popular animals and not much beyond that. But now I’ve found a place where kindred nature-lovers move forth with all senses open and look beyond the surface to the abundant richness below that can be infinitely known and loved.

Visiting the Ik, Uganda's "lost tribe"

Our trip to Kidepo Valley was splendid in many ways, but what really set it apart from other trips around East Africa was our New Years' Eve visit to Uganda's "lost tribe," the Ik.  In a region dominated by the Karamajong tribe, a people group still living very traditionally, the Ik (pronounced eek) have set themselves apart from their neighbors both in geography and in language.  After being forcibly removed by the government from what is now Kidepo National Park, the Ik supposedly wanted to avoid the violent clashes among the Karamajong, so they took to the hills.

And to those hills we went.  Eric's mother, Cathy, and I hiked with a few others through the mountains and valleys, an incredibly stunning scene in a remote corner of Uganda, for 5 very long hours.  We set out in the morning and began to walk, first among the lands of the Karamajong.

The hike was not easy, and after several hours of our guides telling us we were "close," we finally reached a small village where our hosts, the Ik, were waiting for us.  They greeted us with a song and a dance and later took us around their small village, showing us their granaries, and letting us observe their lives. Communication was sparse; .even our Karamajong guides could not understand the Ik language, but it was fascinating to discover what kinds of communication were universal among us.  A thumbs up?  An "ok" sign?  If nothing else, a smile!

As we left the Ik, a people so remotely tucked away, I reflected on how that night the rest of the world would be ringing in the "new year," yet the Ik lived not according to our calendars and wouldn't see any difference between that day and the next.  Our visit to a culture so vastly different from my own brought up several thoughts about who we are as humanity, what we share, and how our differences came to be.  This unique tribe will sadly, but likely disappear in the next few decades, leaving the world a little less aware of our human diversity.

The wilderness of Kidepo

We lucked out with a trip over New Years a couple years ago to Uganda's most remote and highly-lauded game park, Kidepo National Park.  Situated in the corner of the country between Kenya and South Sudan, Kidepo Valley required either a couple days' drive from Kampala or a flight.  Part of our lucking-out included a stunning flight over the country.  When we landed, we were escorted to Apoka lodge where the remoteness of the landscape met luxury.  We had bathtubs overlooking the savannah and an infinity pool overlooking a watering hole.

Kidepo is a place where the most well-safari-ed come to safari, and with good reason.  Each day, we came across a pride of lions, once just after they had killed a water buffalo for breakfast.  The park also has all the other big game, along with one of the best variety of birds in Africa.  Our time at Apoka was my favorite Ugandan get-away so far, and that's saying a lot!

A flight to Kidepo valley

As December marches on toward the end of 2015, I'm reminded of how we ended our year in 2013 - the last time we stayed in Uganda for the holidays.  We had nothing out of the ordinary planned for the last week of the year, but we ended up winning the lottery, so to speak, of New Years trips.  To make a long story short, we finagled our way into a flight to Kidepo valley, location of the most remote game park in Uganda, with a 2-night stay at one of the best lodges in the country.  Others had dropped out of an all-expenses paid trip and through a friendly travel agent and a generous mother-in-law, we were offered their spots.

More to come on the game park, lodge, and the people of that region in the coming weeks, but for now I share with you the beauty of the flight across Uganda and into Kidepo valley.  We flew low in our small plane over the shores of Lake Victoria spotting island fishing villages, followed the Nile River up to Murchison Falls National Park and convinced the pilot to circle the famous falls, then landed in the remote valley spotted with the huts of the Karamajong tribe.  Flights like these are always a treat, reminding me of the great beauty and diversity of this country.