Dawn, or thereabouts.....we were woken by noises outside in the carpark. It sounded like drums of water being rolled/dragged about. Oh well, we are in a carpark in an African hotel - they have their work to do, we lay there dozing, half awake. Sudenly there was a "splosh" as water seemed to hit the side of the truck, then another, then another. Someone was throwing water at us! Almost as quickly we heard the sounds of wiping - someone was cleaning the truck! We hadn't asked for this, nor did we know anything about it. We just laid there and laughed quietly - only in Africa! Seems the hotel offers a car wash included in the room rates! Only ours is a bit bigger - and a lot dirtier having just crossed the Mara! After a while we got up, went outside and had a look - three guys were washing all the cars - the truck was gleaming - and amazingly they had actaully scrubbed all of the mud out of the tyre treads - they had been caked full - now they were gleaming - and the car park was a river of mud slowly washing away! We gave the guys a good tip and went for breakfast - more television, but a very good buffet - even with pancakes! Back outside we found that the guys had now done their best to polish the truck, removing all last traces of the Mara mud! It looks very different - it hasn't been washed since Katima Mulilo in Namibia in August 2103!!!!!!
We took photos of the people at the hotel and their handiwork, had a good laugh with them all, the girls all wanted to see inside the "moving house" and were suitably impressed - one wanted to know how she could get one - Sue wasn't impressed with my answer!
Last night we formaulated our new plan - instead of doing a loop through the Serengeti we're off to Kakamega forest in Western Kenya, followed by Kericho in the tea growing hills, back to Naivasha, Nairobi, then down to the coast in Kenya via Tsavo. This will give us the "holiday" on the beach that we've had in mind for a couple of years. This must be plan number 87 or something similar!
On the way to Kakamega there appears to be a "pelicanry" marked on our (albeit very small scale) map - we'll try to pop in and see some birds then..... We worked out roughly where this should be, set the GPS and off we went towardss Kisumu on Lake Victoria.
At the juction towards the pelicanry in a small town we turned off the tar onto a small dirt road - not good going - very very potholed. After maybe 10km there was no sign of anything - not even any birds flying. We asked around - blank stares - no-one seems to know anything about it here - the map was probably last updated in the 1980s!!! Uturn and back to the tar.
The descent from the hills to the plain around Lake Victoria and Kisumu was long and scenic. At Kisumu we managed to get a glimpse of the lake, helped by a diversion where the main roundabout had been closed for radworks but no signs put up to tell you how to get anywhere. Sue directed us around the town using the Lonely Planet town map - I think this is the very first time that any map in the Lonely Planet has proved useful! Kisumu is, not surprisingly, big and smelly. What else to say - it's a port - and a major fishing centre. The road from Kisumu to Kakamega is being rebuilt - some sections are fabuluos, soem old and potholed, but the lasting impression was of the constant dversiojs around the roadworkings themselves - miles and miles of them. This seems to be the way roads are repaired everywhere in Africa.
The campsite in the National Park is fabulous - alovely glade in the rain forest. We saw red-tailed guenon (that's monkeys to you & me) plus two other types in the tree tops, their calls sound like they should be birds.
We took photos of the people at the hotel and their handiwork, had a good laugh with them all, the girls all wanted to see inside the "moving house" and were suitably impressed - one wanted to know how she could get one - Sue wasn't impressed with my answer!
Last night we formaulated our new plan - instead of doing a loop through the Serengeti we're off to Kakamega forest in Western Kenya, followed by Kericho in the tea growing hills, back to Naivasha, Nairobi, then down to the coast in Kenya via Tsavo. This will give us the "holiday" on the beach that we've had in mind for a couple of years. This must be plan number 87 or something similar!
On the way to Kakamega there appears to be a "pelicanry" marked on our (albeit very small scale) map - we'll try to pop in and see some birds then..... We worked out roughly where this should be, set the GPS and off we went towardss Kisumu on Lake Victoria.
At the juction towards the pelicanry in a small town we turned off the tar onto a small dirt road - not good going - very very potholed. After maybe 10km there was no sign of anything - not even any birds flying. We asked around - blank stares - no-one seems to know anything about it here - the map was probably last updated in the 1980s!!! Uturn and back to the tar.
The descent from the hills to the plain around Lake Victoria and Kisumu was long and scenic. At Kisumu we managed to get a glimpse of the lake, helped by a diversion where the main roundabout had been closed for radworks but no signs put up to tell you how to get anywhere. Sue directed us around the town using the Lonely Planet town map - I think this is the very first time that any map in the Lonely Planet has proved useful! Kisumu is, not surprisingly, big and smelly. What else to say - it's a port - and a major fishing centre. The road from Kisumu to Kakamega is being rebuilt - some sections are fabuluos, soem old and potholed, but the lasting impression was of the constant dversiojs around the roadworkings themselves - miles and miles of them. This seems to be the way roads are repaired everywhere in Africa.
The campsite in the National Park is fabulous - alovely glade in the rain forest. We saw red-tailed guenon (that's monkeys to you & me) plus two other types in the tree tops, their calls sound like they should be birds.