Day 44 - Nairobi - End of Acacia trip

Day 44 (Acacia day 41 - April 29) – Nairobi
We got up this morning with about half the camp already having left. And I was raining. Nothing like packing tents and equipment when it has been raining all night. The funniest thing that happened that day was when an older lady (American, 50+) from a different truck stopped me to ask me a question. See I was carrying my tent in one hand and the poles and fly sheet in the other, struggling to make it to the truck and trying to move quickly. I was also impeded by the 3 or 4 inches of mud I was slogging through. She stopped me (and I couldn’t but my things down since I didn’t want them covered in mud) to ask me what the significance of the mask that is on the front of our truck was. While I was not trying to be flippant, I had had a big night with plenty of beverages and minimal sleep, so I am pretty sure my answer went something like “it’s an African mask… and we are in Africa…” To which several of her friends burst out laughing. I am sure she was thinking there as some deeper meaning and maybe it represented some spirit or god that protected people from whatever, but in reality – most of the masks and things are just carvings these days.

Then it was a long drive up to Nairobi. There was nothing really exciting on the way, another fun border crossing and lots of beautiful scenery. Once we got near Nairobi, the traffic picked up – considerably. It took ages to get across town to the hotel where we were being dropped off at. We had a bit of a farewell and a last drink. It’s always sad seeing friends go. Even though it was only 41 days, we spent most of the time (awake and asleep) around each other. It was a really fun trip and I met some great people.

After a bit, my friend Aitan (who is from Nairobi) came by and picked me up. I was going to stay with him for the next few nights before I head back through London.

Before I completely move on, I am sure there are many questions and things about overlanding. A few areas I know I have constantly talked to people about are – food, water, money, security, equipment, malaria, camping, internet and people (passengers, crew, and locals).

• Food – most of us thought we would lose weight on the truck… well I might have but eating on the truck was not like I would have expected. We carried a two burner gas stove and the guys (with our help) were more great. We ate things like spaghetti Bolognese, braais , chicken stirfry, pancakes , full English breakfast, steaks and goat. The food was always good and more than enough. By shopping locally en route we got lots of fresh fruit and vegetables too.

• Water – Our truck (not all companies have trucks like this) had a 250 liter water tank. This made it very easy. We filled up at known good water places, most cities were ok and several of the camps were ok but used borehole or wells. These were fin but the water had a heavy mineral taste but no issue with it. There were occasions when we were in between good water supplies so we all bought bottled water and this is easy to find and plentiful. So water was never really an issue.
• Money – Money can be tricky. I brought loads of USD in cash. However SA and Namibia basically use the same currency but everyone else has their own. If I had really thought through it a bit better, I would have bought GBPs because I was still constantly changing USD (that I had already changed from GBP) so probably lost a bit on the exchange. The crew was good at helping to give us an idea of how much we should change. However most of the bars and campsites took USD if you needed. One thing not to rely on too heavily is credit and ATM cards. There are places to take money out but sometimes they aren’t easy to find, especially as we are not in cities all the time. Also chip and pin cards are a slightly more security advance card than most of the banks in Africa are equipped for (there is only one I have found in Nairobi that will take mine). Credit cards are a whole other issue. Most of the stores don’t like them and there are often significant fees that go along with them. Also many of the optional activities and even campsites/hostels just don’t take them.
  
• Security – Security is a big issue all around Africa. All of our campsites were secure – having gates, fences and guards. This might seem unusual or a bit heavy but it made sense and was never intrusive. The truck also included secure locations for passenger and crew personal belongings (passports, cash…). In addition the lockers had latches that could be locked. I locked mine as I am carrying a laptop and things. The truck was also always locked when we were not near it. Our door handle broke en route but our crew fabricated a secure alternative out n the road so there were no problems.
  
• Equipment – As I noted we carried kitchen equipment, good tents with attachable rain flies and foam mattresses. We were lucky enough on our trip to have small numbers so we all got our own tent and multiple mattresses. There was also a first aid kit but we all carried small ones too. All of the equipment was good quality and we had very few problems.
  
• Malaria – Malaria is a big problem across Africa. We all took medicines (malarone, dxycyclone or larium). In addition using high DEET bug spray helps with the mosquitoes. Many of the crew from various trucks don’t actually take anything – there are side effects if you take the medicines long term (multiple years…). So if they get malaria, they opt for the treatment and deal with it… probably not pretty but it’s their best option. Most of the malaria medicines do have side effects but the nly one that I experienced and several others did were the dreams. They can give you very vivid often very weird dreams. I had some that included being a bounty hunter (arresting friends, driving my mom’s old car and finally getting an APB for myself…), a cowboy (yes, me a cowboy with the full chaps, hat and western gear, but we were riding baby rhinos…?), that several of my friends were on the trip with me and the next morning I was confused that I couldn’t find them in the morning (it was very, very vivid and believable…), I was a travelling mariachi looking for a magical guitar (think a cross between Indiana Jones and the Holy Grail and Desperado…??) and several conversations and things that seemed real but didn’t happen…
  
• Camping – Of the 40 or so nights, we spent 2 nights in Swakopmund and 1 in Windhoek that were in hostels and 3 nights (1 Stonetown – Karibu Inn and 2 in Kendwa Beach – Sunset Bungalows) in hostels/hotels. The other 34 or so nights we spent camping. The campsites ranged from full campsites with pools and bars to the odd bush camp. Camping was fun and really no big deal. All of them had toilets (although the bush camps were rudimentary) except in the Okavango Delta. Then it was more like regular camping. We often built camp fires and sometimes (especially for braais) we built cooking fires.
  
• Internet – Internet was not always available and in Africa – is typically slow and can be unreliable. It also isn’t cheap and can get up to a couple of dollars for 30 minutes or an hour. So sorry if I didn’t email, post or Skype regularly – it just wasn’t practical.
  
• People – Crew – our crew were awesome. We had a driver and a guide both from Kenya and a trainee guide from South Africa. They were full of useful information, very informative and fun to be around. They had both been working together for years and in the industry for several more years. They were great about knowing the historical and pertinent information as well a knowing where to go for what. They were both great cooks and even had to be emergency bush mechanics for the truck. They really were the heart of the trip and it was great to be with them. The passengers on our truck all got along well and were of a similar mind set. We met trucks that had people ranging from 18 – 66 years old and from all corners of the globe. Most people read a bit about overlanding and have decent expectations, but we heard anecdotal stories of people who just didn’t get it. Thankfully our group was great and everything was cool. The locals along the way were generally ok. Like many places there were always people trying to sell you things and whatever but most people were happy and it was ok.

Before I sign off of the Acacia blogs – It was a great trip and would like to thank Sam, Tony and Hendrik along with the other travelers but especially Jenna and Elsie who made the whole trip from Cape Town with me. Also Jenna, Elsie, Debs and Nikolas for letting m copy their photos to my laptop, many of which I have included herein…