Most of the missionaries at RVA plan a once-a-year vacation which is taken at one of the three break times scheduled. Rift Valley Academy is a year around school; three terms of 13 weeks and 3 vacation times of approximately 4 weeks each. People on staff tend to fall into categories as to what type of vacationers they are: campers, coast visitors, wild animal safari lovers, etc. Jeff and Joyellen fall into two of these categories - campers and coast visitors. They only choose one to do each year. This year a trip to the east coast of Kenya was on the docket for the break between 1st and 2nd term. Voila! Since that is the time we are here that means we are on a "Road Trip to Malindi".
We awoke at 4:30 a.m. Tuesday, the 10th, and were on the road by 5:15 along with the Dubber family: Todd, Kylie, Cassidy, Ella, and Titus. By leaving this early we hoped to avoid the crippling traffic of Nairobi. I was quite surprised at the amount of vehicular activity we did encounter at such an early hour. A lot of trucks (lorries) and buses were rolling along in addition to autos and SUVs. We got through Nairobi and soon were on the Mombasa Road. This road is the main supply line between the port of Mombasa and Nairobi. Truck traffic is unbelievable. At one point, forward progress came to a complete stop. Trucks as far as the eye could see were stopped. (Pictured above.)
Drivers exited their vehicles in an attempt to see what was the cause of the stoppage. Unfortunately, we were involved in this snarl. Where is a CB radio when you need one? Aye, Good Buddy? Drivers attempted to signal people in the opposing lane to stop and provide information as to the cause of the delay. No luck. The vehicles zipped along. Some even honked in irritation that someone would even consider interrupting their journey. Soon word spread down the line like a hot rumour that traffic was beginning to move. Truckers sprang to their steel behemoths and fired up engines. Soon we began to inch forward.
Tantalisingly, our forward progress increased in momentum. Just as we settled ourselves in for a good drive, we began to slow once more. Slower, slower, ...stopped. Oh, no, not again. But this time the reason for the stoppage was all too obvious. We had reached the sight of the cause for the original delay. A serious truck accident. Not an infrequent occurrence on the Mombasa Road. A truck was over on its side looking like a dead dinosaur. Pictured above. Notice the windscreen kicked out on the driver's side.
Since traffic drives on the left in Kenya, most vehicles are right hand drive. The driver in this accident found his door against the ground and had no choice but to kick out his windscreen in order to exit the vehicle. This was not the lone accident we witnessed. We passed at least three others on the way to our destination.
Now, the Mombasa Road has vastly improved over the course of the 12 years we've been coming to Kenya. The carriage way even is divided in a couple of places. Yet, the main course of the road remains two lane which is at least tarmac. This makes for relatively comfortable travel. However, the trip to Malindi from Kijabe is a long one. Therefore, one must take a "short cut" in an effort to bypass the congestion of Mombasa. Short cut means: "leave the relatively level tarmac and proceed along a bone jarring, metal rattling, vehicle bouncing test track for Land Rovers." See picture above. And this was a good part of the road!
Short cuts do have their advantages. They can save time. Jeff insists this Kilifi short cut does so. The rest of us are not so sure. They provide a change of scenery. This short cut did just that. We passed some beautiful trees and flowers; saw quaint rural villages; waved to many friendly people; and hardly saw another vehicle. They can supply some interesting sights. One example of this is pictured above. At first glance this is a couple of guys riding down a dirt road on a motorcycle. However, more careful observation revealed that there were THREE people on this two wheeled conveyance! Believe it or not.
After what seemed like a long time for a "short cut", we finally arrived at the road to Kilifi/Malindi. We were off the dirt and back onto the tarmac. Although this tarmac was not quite as smooth as the majority of the Mombasa Road. Now, though most of the roads in Kenya are not as nice as those in the US (Michigan roads excepted) local authorities do attempt to make repairs, now and then. Pictured above is a road repair crew making "improvements?" to a section of the road on which we were traveling. Notice the lack of any mechanized equipment. I'm not really sure what they were doing here.
They may have been constructing speed bumps. Those annoying lumps in the road that force one to slow down from a comfortable pace and creep over a road-wide bump with a lurching, bouncing motion which gives the term "whip lash" a whole new meaning. These vexatious bumps in the road are usually placed in locations of heavy pedestrian traffic; places where local businesses want to slow down traffic; and neighborhoods where residents want to control traffic speeds. However, sometimes they appear on the road for no apparent, logical reason. One must drive observantly, especially at night to avoid hitting one of these potentially moon launching pavement protuberances.
Having successfully negotiated the dreaded speed bumps and the thick foot and wheeled traffic of Malindi, the Hazards and Dubbers arrived safely at our vacation destination, the Elena House, around dinner time. The house is enclosed within a gated, walled compound. Pictured at right is the gate which is chained and locked when closed. This is normal housing arrangements in affluent Kenyan neighborhoods. We were greeted by the head of the household staff, Alex, who in turn introduced us to his assistants, Jackson and Francis. The young lady who did house cleaning and laundry, Faith, we would meet on the morrow. Faith was the university aged daughter of Alex.
Alex and staff helped us unload our luggage. We roamed the grounds and perused the various rooms available for our lodging. After rooms were chosen, we unpacked and began to make ourselves at home. One eye-catching feature (and there were many) of Elena house was the salt water pool. Large and deep, this oasis from the heat of the day proved to be the most popular feature by both adults and kids alike. Even though we were all quite tired after our 13 hour road trip, we jump into the pool to cool off.
After a relatively good night's sleep; I say "relatively" because the true comfort of sleep was directly proportional to whether one slept in an air conditioned room or not. Grandma and I did not. We didn't take advantage of our status, but, rather, decided to take one for the team. Pictured at right is the first of our several delicious breakfasts prepared for us by the staff. We supplied the food and they followed our menu plans. At this breakfast a challenge was issued between the Dubbers and Hazards. The winner
would be determined at the beach later that morning. The challenge was to ... well, you'll have to wait until the next post; for there is definitely ... more to come.
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