Driving Across Borders

The last border that I drove (or more accurately, was driven) across was from the U.S. to Canada. No forms needed to be filled out, no money paid, and no major questions about the content of the camper van that we were in, other than whether we had firewood (not firearms, firewood!). It took all of 2 minutes, well maybe 3 as I did get a stamp in my UK passport.
Crossing borders within Africa is somewhat different. I mostly cross borders in the air, but have done a few by road now. Last Tuesday was the first time that I’d driven myself from Kenya to Tanzania, and to be honest, I was a little anxious about this experience (or what it might be) beforehand. However, armed with instructions of the various offices to go to, plus a copy of my passport photo page, as advised by Nairobi friends who cross the border at Namanga quite frequently, I set off. The road down is beautiful, ie smooth! Amazing to have such a long stretch without needing to swerve repeatedly to avoid potholes. There were a few cows along the way crossing the road, that I needed to slow down for, and a few speed bumps in towns, but other than that, the driving part was smooth sailing. And the scenery stunning. Potholes did however appear once I got to Namanga town. I’d decided to get petrol there, except that there wasn’t any! Thankfully, not too big an issue, though it did turn out that the next petrol station (at least, that I noticed) was about 2 hours away.
First stop was before a barrier which I wasn’t sure if I was free to drive through or not. Here, I was assailed by guys trying to sell me vehicle insurance for Tanzania. I’d actually got this ahead of time, so didn’t need it. The price that they quoted when I asked, was less than I’d got in Nairobi, but then, a) was it a legitimate insurance company; and b) would the price have been the same had I not aready got the insurance…. I left them behind, and went into the first building, where I needed to write the particulars of my vehicle in a book. I’m still not overly sure why, as it turned out that this wasn’t the place to fill in the customs form. That came next. (Turned out on my return, that this was the police post.)
I drove through the barrier into what can only be described as a frontier town. Road lined with trucks, with multiple small businesses alongside it, including of course Customs and Immigration. The first of these was my next port of call. Here, I did get the customs form to fill in, which was then given an authorizing stamp. I was instructed to get a copy of it and of my passport (hence the small businesses along the way!). I enquired at one of the stalls, and was led down a back alley to a little office where an entrepreneur ran some sort of business, but on the side, did photocopies for people using his printer / copier. I’d been warned that I could be charged 100 times the usual rate for this (not exactly much choice, and where I’d usually go was a 2.5 hour drive back up the road!). So, I thought I’d done pretty well when he only charged me 10 times the usual rate!
At the Kenyan immigration hall, there were no Exit Declaration forms to fill out, which apparently didn’t make any difference. I’ve often wondered what happens to all these forms that dutifully get filled out every time I enter, and leave Kenya. Where do they all get filed? And if it doesn’t make any difference not having them, then why……? So, finger prints scanned and exit stamp in my passport, I drove the car onto the next bit, which is the Tanzanian side of things.
First stop was Immigration. They did have forms which needed filling in. Well, rather scrappy bits of paper really, asking for the usual details: Name; Passport number; Date and place of issue; Date and place of birth; Occupation; Address in Tanzania. After about 10 minutes, and $50 paid over for a visa, I was set to go.
Now to import my car into Tanzania. Another form to fill out relating to the car, with pretty much the same details that I’d stated on the Kenyan export form, a copy of which (plus copy of my passport) had to be handed over. (The skeptical side of me thinks that that requirement is just because they’re in cohoots with the guys doing the photocopying!).
And then, after about 40 minutes from start to finish, it was all done.
With my vehicle insurance (which no one had asked to see), export and import forms (stamped of course) in hand, I drove out of ‘No Man’s Land’ into Tanzania. I expected to be stopped at a barrier by someone to ensure that I had all the necessary stamps, visa and papers, but that didn’t happen. How easy would it be to bypass part of the system if you didn’t know what to do?! And what trouble could you get into later on if you did that?
And so, I entered Tanzania in my vehicle, the Kenyan plates clearly declaring to the world that I wasn’t from there, having only encountered helpful officals rather than the officious ones that I’d feared I might.

Looking back at the border area from the Tanzania side

Another vehicle on the road with me - evidently quite full!

Hazards on the road

Most of the jouney was through Maasailand

Coming back to the border on the way home

 

Christmas and Plums!

My Christmas dinner this year, eaten outside on the sandy banks of the Athi River in Tsavo East National Park, Kenya, was very un-traditional. We did get to pull Christmas crackers, and wear the obligatory paper crowns, but had a delicious meal of tilapia, potatoes, vegetables and salad in place of the more usual roast turkey (that said, I’ve not had turkey on Christmas Day for 3 years now!). And pudding (or dessert, for American readers (we had a number of conversations on this subject amongst our group of 3 Brits, 1 American and 1 Canadian on safari)) was no different, with mango crumble in place of the traditional Christmas pudding. However, a few days later, I made Plum Pudding (as Christmas Pudding can be called) when some friends came round to my apartment for dinner. However, this really did have plums in it! Mid to late December is when local plums become available in Nairobi, street sellers selling them to occupants of vehicles as they sit in Nairobi traffic, in long thin bags, as well as being on sale in grocery stores. Unlike English plums, these are small, but equally tasty and sweet (when ripe, at least).  I’ll eat about 6 at a go! The first time I saw them, I actually mistook them for cherry tomatoes, and got quite a surprise! Plums aren’t exactly what I'd expected to find in a country on the Equator! However, they’ve become a fruit that I now associate with Christmas. I’ve done quite well for plums in the last few months. The house that was my base in Horsham during my furlough, had a plum tree in the back garden. We had plums coming out of our ears for a few weeks there in August! Sorbet, crumble, stewed, on their own, …… And now, here are plums again!

Plum pudding in the preparation stage

Face to face with Hardships

Coming back to Kenya feels like moving from one world to another, very different, one. As if I wasn't already aware of this, it was brought home to me further yesterday in a conversation that I had with my househelp. Esther works for me 2 mornings a week, and following the departure of two of my colleagues for a year’s furlough, I’m now her sole employer. Her wage is not exactly a king’s ransom. Whilst a single lady, so with no family of her own to support, as the firstborn in the family, she is expected to provide for her parents.
And this is where her story becomes very sad. According to Esther, her family once had a tea plantation covering many acres. Now however, this has been substantially reduced, her father having lost the land, largely, presumably, on account of his drinking habit. As a result of imbibing some noxious brew, he has been in hospital for the last few months, in what sounds like a coma. Hospitalisation isn’t free, and the longer he’s there, the greater the bills are.
Esther is the firstborn of nine – six boys and three girls, so you’d think there’d be plenty of family support for her parents. However, her brothers have unfortunately followed in her father’s footsteps and are drunks, while her two sisters, who she’s not seen for 15 years, are prostitutes on the streets of Nairobi. So, who does the family look to for financial provision? Esther. Thankfully, her church has been very supportive, and had a harambee (whip-round), coming up with about £650 for the hospital bills. A niece and nephew are also in the mix, children of one of her sisters. They’ve been left with their grandparents. Who is expected to pay their school fees?.... And so it goes on.
It struck me how heavy the burden of responsibility sits on Esther’s shoulders. She who has her own health issues, and is in need of more work so that she can provide for herself, let alone everyone else. And yet, I know that she’s not alone, and that her story is replicated many times throughout this country and continent. I know that there are genuine hardships in the UK, but I don't think that anyone would argue that it is on a different scale here.

'First' Impressions

I’ve been back in Nairobi for 3 days after 5 months in the UK and US. A good time to make observations on things here, before they become ‘normal’ again. So, what are my first impressions?
• Dust and dirt. The streets are dirty, with lots of loose dirt and stones. Everything soon gets coated with fine brown dust.
• Various sounds:-
    o Dogs barking at night in my neighbourhood. One starts; others join in; it all builds up; and then, suddenly, it all stops, and peace returns.
    o The raucous calls of Hadada Ibis, flying overhead.
    o The thunderous sound of lorries bouncing down the pot-holed road.
    o Cockerels in the morning.
    o A thud in the tree outside my flat, as a Sykes Monkey leaps down from the roof into the branches.
• Potholes. People say they have them in the UK. They don’t!
• Road construction, and the resulting detours onto remarkably unsmooth, undulating, roughly hewn alternatives, making the drive to the shopping centre feel more like an off-road rally, than just nipping out to the Kenyan answer to Sainsburys or Tesco!
• Driving through red traffic lights, because it’s what you do – at least at some of the roundabouts. Knowing just which ones is an art form!

Boxes, boxes and more boxes

You have a house in the UK, but you don’t live there. You have a home in Nairobi, but periodically you need to return to the UK for several months, spending time communicating with supporters. What is the common denominator here? My answer would be boxes! Boxes containing household items that were left in the UK when I moved out to Kenya : Some in the loft of my house in Horsham; others containing more valuable items (and winter clothes) in my parents’ loft in Nottingham. And now, boxes in my flat in Nairobi in every nook and cranny I could find, and with a friend, containing personal items (clothing and toiletries) , non-perishable food, and ornaments etc that I’d be concerned about getting damaged if they were left in my department, with a variety of people using it while I’m away. Plus suitcases of clothes, gifts, toiletries, work materials and miscellaneous things that I’ve brought with me to the UK for the 5 months that I’m here.

Given the amount of travel I’ll be doing around the UK these next few months, I suspect that packing and unpacking is going to be even more a part of life here than it is when I’m in Kenya. Remembering which box everything is in, even including which country(!), is going to be challenging. As will be knowing what to leave where……..

As someone who likes to be unpacked and have a sense of being settled and of ‘home’, my response to all this is - Boxes?! Argh!

Things I’ll miss about Kenya…….and things I won’t!

In 12 days’ time, I fly to the UK where I’ll be based for the next 5 months, principally to put on my other hat of communications and marketing person, to reconnect with my supporters there, and hopefully build up some more financial support in order to come back to Nairobi in September. Having spent 8.5 of the last 9 years based in Kenya (I had a 7-month furlough in 2007), it’s a very strange thought to be upping sticks for that period of time (particularly as I’ll be continuing the work that I do here, just remotely). However, it will be good to see friends and family, and to see them hopefully more than just once during a trip home! I’ve been in the process this last week of packing up my flat, emptying out various cupboards and drawers, so that it’s available for others to sub-let while I’m gone. In all of this transition, I’ve been reflecting on what I will and won’t miss about life here, these next few months.

I will miss:
 The climate! In Nairobi, it’s always summer, be that a good English summer, or a bad English summer.
 People. Lots of wonderful people, some of whom, sadly, will have left for good by the time I come back.
 Nairobi Orchestra. 3 performances in the next couple of months!! My challenge is going to be keeping my practice up while I’m gone (and living a fairly nomadic lifestyle) so that I can have my regular place back when I return!
 The countryside. Stunning, and so varied.
 Bird and animal life. (Nothing quite like seeing giraffe at the side of the road, looking out at a Hartlaub turaco on a bird table when working at a friend’s house, or feeding the bushbabies that come to their garden every night!)
 Though inflation is high here (currently 16%), life is generally much more affordable than in the UK.
 Being able to eat outdoors all year round.

I won't miss:

* The dust and pollution.

* The traffic and others' driving. Gridlock rather too often, and people then thoughtlessly making it worse in their attempt to get ahead.

* Being stared at regularly.

* Security issues.

I know that I could come up with more, if I were to give it much thought. However, it is good to see that the first list is longer than the second, and that's probably a good place to stop!

 

The Park by the City

We’re coming to the end of a 2-week internal audit in our Finance department. It’s internal rather than external, which to me means that they’re here principally to help us, pointing out weaknesses in our internal controls etc. The Internal Audit system within SIL relies on volunteers, obviously with relevant skills and experience, giving of their time, and finances (they pay for their own flights) to come. I think they’re amazing! We have two people this time – Krista who works in the finance department with SIL in Papua New Guinea, and Bob who’s a CPA in Orlando, Florida.
However, this blog isn’t mean to be about the audit, though it was on account of the auditors that I made a long overdue trip into Nairobi National Park on Saturday (so that they’d see a bit more of Kenya than our office!). As I live on that side of Nairobi, it only took about 10 minutes or so to get there in the morning (it can be more like 45 minutes later on in the day!). As soon as you pass through the gates, you’re in a different world, away from the traffic and noise and pollution. Quite a tonic! It was exceedingly dry, the grass though reasonably high, a bleached brown colour. And we weren’t long before we saw our first animal – a giraffe eating acacia leaves, somehow managing to negotiate its tongue around the sharp, long thorns. And from thereon, we did so well with animal sightings. Masses of zebra, hartebeest and gazelles. Great herds of buffalo, their black shapes distinctive against the brown grass. And groups of giraffe, their necks at an acute angle to the ground. It seemed to be ostrich time, the males being particularly visible with their black and white feathers (the duller females blended into the landscape rather more!). The first treat was a group of 3 male lions lying 100m or so from the side of the road, barely visible were it not for the group of vehicles indicating that there was something there! Thankfully for us, they raised themselves up after a while, and whilst one evidently figured he’d had enough and sauntered off, the other two posed rather magnificently. Better still was coming across our own lion (plus at least one lioness, though she was somewhat obscured by vegetation) at the southernmost end of the park, with no other cars in sight. That’s always more gratifying! A rather grislier sight was a flock of particularly argumentative vultures tearing at, what appeared to be, a relatively fresh zebra carcass. The noise they made was quite something! It was obviously all a bit much for some, as they stood off at a distant, not joining in the fray, perhaps waiting to get their share when the noisy ones were done!

What a magnificent pose!

Our auditors enjoying a picnic lunch - rather close to where those lions had been earlier!!

The vultures' very noisy and argumentative lunch!

Wildebeest



Still some water at least in one of the rivers



The game of 'Who's going to get off the road first?'!

It had been quite a while since I’d last been in the park. In my first few years here, I went in regularly, making the most of what used to be an affordable annual pass. However, in just 6 years, that quadrupled in price, such that you need to go about 23 times to make it worthwhile (rather than just paying for each time separately). Partly because of that, I hardly go at all these days, which is a shame, as it really is very beautiful. I hope that the Kenya Wildlife Service and the government continue to ensure that these areas are protected from development, and that the corridors that the animals pass through are kept open (Nairobi is a migratory park). It is a huge asset to have on the city’s doorstep, and it was good to see a number of people making use of it on Saturday. Mind you, these days, some inhabitants of the park have moved, there having been many sightings of lions in a residential area nearby!!