24th Nov - 1st Dec 2011
24th 11 2011 Thursday
Set off early for Nanyuki, dropping off Richard at the bank in Isiolo and Rosemum and Damaris at the Matatu (local minibus) stop so they could return to Wamba.
Did some more shopping for supplies in Nanyuki and Ken left at 1 for Nairobi and his flight home. Pretty quiet day and was going to bed when I received a call stating there had been gunfire heard at Ngaremara but it was not thought to be nearby.
25th 11 2011 Friday
Awoke early and set off for Ngaremara. It was pouring with rain and it was a challenging drive with one windscreen wiper working (the one on the passenger side of course) plus the usual problems of the dodgy brakes and 5th gear not functioning except when accelerating. The plastic sheet sunroof survived well until I got to Isiolo where it finally gave up and I got a cold shower in the drivers seat.
I stopped in Isiolo to try and fix the sunroof and saw the Bishop of Marsabit and his wife (Rob and Lucy if I remember correctly) at the Bomen Hotel. They were a friendly English couple and were waiting in Isiolo for news on whether it was safe to travel north. They told me their driver had been grazed by a bullet on the back of the neck and his passenger shot and injured travelling down the road between Laisamis and Archers Post, on monday. They said the car was full of bullet holes. I didnt think to ask at what time this happened only realizing later that we had been along the same stretch of road twice on that same day. It could have explained the tracer we saw on monday evening on the way to Wamba.
I picked up three of the sponsored kids from the deaf school and brought the two who were from Wamba to Ngaremara, they will stay here until I go there, hopefully on monday or tuesday. I returned to Isiolo met Locham and Dominic and had a part for the winch on the Landcruiser repaired. On the way there I gave a lift to some old women who were laden with bags of relief food (I only realised what is was when unloading them from the car) which I can only presume they were taking to the market to sell... The town was full of APs (administrative police). I spoke to some and learnt that the area around Cambela and been been reinforced with 100 APs with the intention of containing the bandits who had been causing the trouble.
Returned to Ngaremara and tried to pick up the secondary kids school results without sucess. A quiet night.
26th 11 2011 Saturday
Went to Isiolo early to have a sheet of metal welded in as the sunroof, get the wipers repaired and the other electrical problems looked at. It ended up taking the whole day and I didnt get to leave until dusk.
Luckily, earlier in the day I met a girl called Gigi, who was originally Austrailian but now lives in Berlin. She was visiting Kenya as part of her PhD but as a result of the lecturer strike here, suddenly had a lot of free time and had decided to backpack round Kenya. She was heading to Archers Post, then Maralel so I offered her a lift to Archers.
Unfortunately, due to the car repairs I was unable to leave until later than expected and she stayed at Ngaremara, sharing a room with the two deaf girls and two trainees.
Had a slight bit of confusion later in the evening when the two deaf girls and two of the feeding program kids arrived at the house reporting there was no dinner and Ben (the chef) was not there. It became evident later that the two trainees had sent Ben home as they wanted to cook for the three APs (administrative police) on site... Maybe a nice idea for them but the flawed plan had meant the kids had no food, and the food they used for the APs was mine. Theres a lot more to the story but in the end everyone got fed and the two trainees werent speaking to me...
27th 11 2011
Set off early, well earlyish by the time everyone was ready, for the game park down the road with the two trainees, deaf girls and Gigi. We had to go in by Archers Post as the Ngaremara route was unpassable due to the rains.
It was an eventful day with arduous driving conditions. Several times the water in the puddles was 3-4 feet deep and I was never really sure if we would make it to the other side. Of course the car decided not to start in the middle of the park of all places after Id turned the engine off to photograph a large herd of elephants at the edge of the river. Luckily there were some French tourists nearby and we were able to restart the land cruiser after a short tow.
We went to Samburu Lodge for lunch and met John Doherty or John Giraffe as he is known locally (he is carrying out research on the reticulated giraffe and his work is sponsored by Queens University), who negotiated a good discounted price for us. We spent a few hours chatting with John before heading to Loruka (a village in the park) and enjoyed his story of waking in the night to find a scorpion sharing his pillow. We returned to Ngaremara by dusk.
After nightfall there was sustained gunfire from the direction of Zebra, a village about 1 - 2Km from here. During the night more shots were heard.
In the morning we learnt that it had been an ambush set by the police to catch cattle rustlers.
28th 11 2011 Monday
Back to Isiolo again. Met Dominic and Nzau the site managers of Ngaremara and Wamba who had both traveled from Wamba to go to the bank and get some supplies with me. The Landcruiser spent most of the day being repaired and by the end of the day was still not really working.
The two trainees went off round the town with Gigi. She swapped phone numbers with them so she could meet up with them again after she went to an internet cafe. I tried to contact the trainees as I needed to know if we had enough stock of a certain item. Both phones rang off the first time I tried to contact them and the second time I tried they were both switched off.
Maybe they thought they were being clever and that their excuse of having no charge left on their batteries would work (despite seeing them both being charged before we left), but that, the fact they still hadnt done what they were meant to have done in town and that they had abandonned a visitor who could have ended up being left behind earned them a bus ride home instead of a lift.
A quiet evening, even moreso because the trainees werent speaking to me again. There was a peace meeting in the village today with people from both tribes in attendance as well as officials from Nairobi. Numerous promises have been made for improving security in the area.
29th 11 2011 Tuesday
Isiolo yet again with the landcruiser. I must have looked that angry at being back again that none of the street kids, sellers or beggars came near me. The electrical problems were finally fixed on the car (I hope) and the new metal sheet sunroof was painted before midday.
Returned to Ngaremara then set off for Wamba, arriving at around four. Arrived to find older kids in the house trying to clean it before I got there. When I had been leaving the last time Id caught one of the trainees trying to slip the key to one of the older girls even after she'd been told the house was to be locked and noone was to use it. Obviously she'd still managed to give away the key despite been told quite clearly twice. This had caused problems at the site because all the older kids had been hanging out at the house every night and theyd told the site managers (who didnt approve) that Id allowed them to. As a result the culprit, who had been involved in the aforementioned problems plus more, is now enjoying a weeks unpaid holiday.
Spent the rest of the afternoon playing with the kids and a quiet evening chatting with Gigi.
30th 11 2011 Wednesday
Dropped Gigi to the matatu (local minibus) stop in the morning for her onward journey to Maralel.
Had a site meeting with the managers and trainees and several issues were ironed out.
Set off at around two for the return trip to Ngaremara. All was well and it was an enjoyable drive as the road was in a better condition than it had been in previous weeks. As we descended from the mountains that all changed when we came across a lorry parked in the middle of the road. The dry river bed beside the road was now a fast flowing river due to rain in the mountains. It had burst its banks and was flowing down the road. We waited over an hour before deciding to risk driving down it as the water level by then had subsided.
Arrived safely in Ngaremara around six. Quiet evening.
1st 12 2011 Thursday
Went to Isiolo to get some supplies with 4 of the feeding programme kids, Denzel, Joseph, Kennedy and Cosmos. Picked up supplies from the market and shops then went for lunch as there was heavy rain. We ate in the local friendly and cheap cafe where the 5 of us ate and had a large soda for about 3 quid.
Picked up the remaining items after lunch and the rain had subsided. I managed to provide some entertainment for the locals as I tried to cross the street which had now become a river. There was a big cheer as I made it back sucessfully.
Tried to see the DO1 and police chief in the government offices compound (they werent there) after almost rolling the landcruiser on a bank trying to bypass a badly flooded part of the road. The bank started to collapse but thankfully the tyres regained their grip before we slipped off sideways into the flooded section of the road. I honestly thought we were going in.
Thats about it for now..Writing this in the dark with the mosquitoes and midges loving my bright screen and my face lit by the light.. Forgot to say in the last update the Turkana encoutered a Bandit patrol outside Ngaremara and killed two of them with the rest running away. They are also believed to have left the area in the last few days but I have been unable to confirm this with any official sources yet.