LAKE BARINGO TO NAIROBI 483KM

Route: Lake Baringo - Tangulbe - Churo - Mugie - Rumuruti - Ongobit - Nyeri - Mt. Kenya 353km. 9hrs. Ten next day to Nairobi. 10km 2 hrs.

Not much to do at Lake Baringo unless you are a birder, apparently they come from all over the world to view the exotic species of birds in the area. All I kept on seeing were Turtle doves. Hardly slept a wink cause the damn hippo's were feeding right by my tent all night and then one mother was roaring all gad dang night protecting her baby female . Am sick of these hippo's at night , cause what happens if he backs up on me , or trips and falls on me, I don't think hippo's trip but when you are lying there near them all kind of stupid things go through your head. Was only two nights ago at Jinja, I was kept up by some bloody couple doing the ' nasty ' and she was squealing like Linda Lovelace and groaning like a pig for ages , and then it started up again at 4am , friggin unbelievable !

The roads were terrible, really rocky and you could not go fast , Chinese are building roads here as well, so it was slow going all day and was in the middle of nowhere most the way. Then got onto a tar road which took me up to and up Mt. Kenya . Stayed about half way up in the park , but it was cloudy and wet . At least I was the only one there and no hippo's. Had another delightful dehydrated meal and then it was time to sleep again. Left the following day to Nairobi , only 130 km away , a great ride down the mountain till the first village where the insanity driving begins and the endless speed bumps. Then onto a highway into Nairobi to Jungle Junction where most overlanders stay or store their vehicles. Arrived at 11am hoping to get my chain replaced and leave the following day. My tyre which only has 7000 km on , needs replacing I noticed , so wanted to have that done but did not have enough cash so had to have money transferred etc.etc.

Got a new chain and sprockets and the money did not come in time so I left this morning for Arusha , set my GPS and off I went. After some horrible roads and a hour and a half I was back where I started ! Damn GPS took me in a big circle , so went to the bank and the money had arrived so I went back to Jungle Junction and had a new tyre put on. Then had to pitch my tent again and wait for tomorrow and try again , what a dilbert . The last Heidenau tyre I did 11K miles on , so am disappointed with this one , but Chris here said I was riding it with too much air and that's why it wore so quick ???? Am sure the gravel roads don't help either , will be monitoring tyre pressure closely from now on.

JINJA TO SIPI FALLS. 2 45KM. 5HRS

Route : Jinja - Ganga - Kibuku - Male - Sipi Falls. Crows Nest Camp , very basic facilities.

 Tar all the way nothing to exciting , except the pass heading up to the falls is a scenic climb of 3600ft and the camp overlooks the falls in the distance.

SIPI TO LAKE BARINGO, KENYA. 432km. 13hrs.

Left early and the Suam Pass climbed even more up to 7500ft and winds it's way around Mount Elgon in spectacular fashion and was one of the more memorable rides , not just because it took 13 hours. You look down on the valley below and the road has everything, switchbacks , tight turns , rock climbing , and just a great road for a bike and couldn't believe taxi's were even on it , it would be absolute hell and scary in a car. Every turn you had a different view of the lush green hillsides, that are farmed to the top and bottom of the mountain. The people are really friendly and of course always want money , was a great road to leave Uganda , what a beautiful green country. About 10km from the end , in disbelief a huge truck with a 45ft container was heading right at me , off course flashing his brights ,just in case I didn't see him, I guess . I don't know how he could ever have made it over the pass and it's not like you can turn around , it is a one lane knarly dirt road.

The border took 20 minutes for both , and Kenya all I needed was my Carnet and no other payments. I went to Kitale to draw some money and met a cyclist at the store , Nino Trunz (www.grindimwind.ch ) who has cycled from Switzerland for the last fourteen months and is heading to Cape Town . Anyhow he told me a route I should take which I did to Lake Baringo. Since my wife forgot to pack my Kenyan map , it was not easy just with the gps. I didn't realize how far it was , but an incredible journey down into The Rift Valley. The drop had to be about 4000 ft and took about    30 km and then along the floor and then climbed up again onto another plateau and then down again to the lake. By now it was dark and I arrived at 8 pm to Roberts Camp on the lake. Was a pretty epic ride just wish I had done it in two days except one long one. If she had have only packed that map I would have been able to plan better. Had some goat curry and rice and a few Tusker beers to celebrate a great day.

MURCHISON FALLS TO JINJA. 2 45KM. 7HRS.

Route: Murchison Falls , Red Chilli Camp - Masindi - Kibangya - Wobulenzi then east to Kyunga , south to Jinja. Nile River Camp.

 On the bike at at 6:10am still dark then went to see the falls from the top. Well worth the 12 km detour , the rest of the 70km of the park road was in excellent condition and could do 120 on it.
 Then it was back to tar road also in very good condition all the way to Wobulenzi where I turned east and drove through village after village on a track and was slow going. Then back on to a terrible pot holed tar road to Jinja.
 Arrived in time to wash my gear and had the bike washed , so am looking good and smelling good.
Next day went rafting down the Nile , what a joke that was.Had two Americans , four Indians ( not the American kind unfortunately, cause they know how to row ! ) and two Africans , me being one . The raft was 18 years old , had 51 patches on the floor , the life jackets were same age . After hours we finally got going and the Indians were worthless and I had to encourage them along , I mean how hard is it to row in sync ? The American girl rely lit into them , cause they hardly ever rowed and they didn't even know how to. Had some grade 5 rapids was great , until the fat worthless Indian, who by the way could not swim either, fell off his seat into the back ,stood up and the whole back section of the floor tore open, all the way around. Off course the African ties it up , just unbelievable, then the Indians left us after lunch and we continued on , a total of 27km , was a great float other than the equipment. They are building a dam downstream , so there will be no more rafting in a couple of years.
 The camp site is great , high up overlooking the Nile with great ablution blocks. My stupid top box needed to be fixed again and it was a mistake having one and my chain needs tightening every second day , so am going to have to get a new one in Nairobi.