short version.
If you like detail skip the short version and read the long version further
down.
Short Version:
After getting up at 4:30am to pray I ended up only go to mosque around
5:30am where I listend to a sermon. Aftewards I was invited to the home of a
Masai and spent some time being shown around the masai section of the
village and meeting his family. Simon and I then fetched a mechanic and
spare parts from the local catholic mission and after getting the landy
fixed we all head back to the mission for more work to be done. Then it was
on to the town of marsabit where more work was done on the landy. Once this
was done we made our way through Marsabit national park and stayed the night
in a local village.
Long Version:
The sound of the Azaan awoke my out of my uncomfortable state of
half-sleeping. Although I had been told the night before that the Fajr
prayer would only take place at around 5:30am I nevertheless got up. Walking
out into the cold I strolled across the main street in search of the mosque.
Unfortunately I could not find it and the only signs of life was an old
woman sitting by herself and muttering unitelligably. I had a quick look
around and decided to head back to bed.
I got up about 45min later to go to Fajr at the correct time. As I left the
room again, I saw the most beautifull moon eerily lighting up the siloutted
form of a cross on top of a church. I felt the strong need to photograph it,
and so, at the risk of waking my companions I went back inside to get my
camera and then got caught up in the photography almost missing fajr.
I was in such a rush that I did not see the thin-barbed wire chicken fence
surround the mosque and so ran into it at full Simon speed...owh. I
recovered quickly and entered the modest mosque. After fajr the iman gave a
kubat (sermon) with everyone around him in a semi circle, the full moon
watching through the windows and the single candle lamp casting a warm glow
across his face.
Exiting the mosque into daylight I was approached by a man called Eric who
took me to his home. He was excited and explained to me that the Maisi are
not one tribe but many. I got to meet his yound wife Christy and their 4
children, 2 children of about 5-6 yrs and 2 twins.. Their home consisted of
a framework of branches glad with reads, plastic, paper and anything else. I
spent some time with him walking around his village, viewing some of his
camels (the rest were with a minder looking for water) and visiting his
sisterinlaw and two brothers. It was interesting to see the difference in
dress style between his wife who dressed casual-modern and his sister-in-law
who wore very traditional beaded work.
After a photo session with the family Christy gave me some lovely beadwork
she had hand made and Francis gave be a hand carved camel bell (used to make
noise in order to find ones camel). I had no money to give so gave some
extra clothes I had from the that packpack I mentioned earlier. This was
gratefully appreciated.
On returning to the room at 6:45am I noticed no one was awake and since we
had to get the Landy fixed I woke everyone up. Simon C got dressed quickly
and drove through to the Catholic mission at Laisamis to pick up a a
mechanic and shock to fit the vehicle. Having arrived early we waited for
30min chatting with the children and a nun, a 60 something Italian who had
been in Kenya for some 35 yrs! After everything was arranged we picked up
the mechanic and went back to his house to pick up something. While we wait
Simon C we propositioned by local prositute and through sign language made
it very clear to Simon C what services she offered.
On returning the mechanic got to work, fitting the shock and correcting the
other one replaced the day before. We got to chat to the local anglican
bishop who was going through. He was also driving a Landy and he provide
valuable insight into driving these roads. We realised that our landy's tyre
pressure was way to high which meant that the shock were having to work
hard. His vehcicle also had double shocks fitted to each rear wheel.
To improve the road holding of the landy we followed his advice including
take as much of the roof rack distributing inside the Landy and and the
Landcruiser.
The local taxi from Nairobi was stopped in town on its way from Nairobi to
Mayole, the border town between Ethiopia and Kenya. These "taxi's" are
actually big trucks, the only thing that seems to be able make it through on
the road. Interestingly two guys from Durbanville were using it, the only
european travellers on it.
Finally around 11:30am we head back to the mission, the Landy's speed across
the rough roads having doubled! Taryn had earlier taped a South African flag
to the radio aerial of the Landy and it flew proudly as we moved across the
barren landscape of scrub and rugged hills.
At the mission we drove the vehicle up onto a ramp and found out that the
rear shocks were nearly finishes, the steering rack was loose and a number
of suspension bushes were broken or damaged. We decided to have them check
the landcruiser out just to be sure. They found that the diff breather was
off and put that back on and also managed to fix our aircon which was a most
welcome pleasure considering the temperatures of 35'c. Unfortunately due to
lack of spare parts only the steering rack could be fixed as it required a
simple weld.
We left around 2:30pm we were finally on our way again and around 3:30pm we
made it into the next town of Marmasit where were able to have new rear
shock put on, and some of the bushes replaced. The town was a nice contrast
with the rest of the area as it had trees and and greenery. Taryn was
excited as her grandfather had been here during WWII when fighting the
Italians.While we waited for the repairs to be done Deon compared hat with
local Gadaffi look alike and I exchanged money. All along the way I met
Muslims and having decided to wear my fezz, I got lots of friendly
greetings. In most towns there is a mosque
Finally at around 5 pm we were ready to go again. Like a Formula 1 car we
seemed to be pulling into the pitspot, filling up with petrol, fixing
problems and moving out as fast as possible.
As we drove out of town we passed a huge volcano crater on the left, a
tourist attraction of the town. Around 6pm we passed the skeletons of two
dead cows shortly before entering Marsabit National Park. The only
difference between the park and the rest of the countryside being the small
sign along the way. A little later against a backdrop of boulders and
leafless trees we passed a herd of camels being herder by a lone nomad.
Further on the landscape was reduced to a few scrawny scrubs with small
villages scatter here and there, made in the tradtional way, much like the
zulu half-sphere huts.
As the sunset we pulled into a more substantial village and asked about
accommodation at the Allahuwakilan Hotel. The gentleman serving noticing I
was muslims offered me water to make wudu and I walked across to the mosque
where they were about to pray Magrieb. I was given a number of dates by
another gentleman and after eating them quickly and drinking some water I
prayed with the rest of the muslims from the village. I was happy to see
that a lot of the women joined in the prayers (albeit behind a semi closed
wall). Walking back I saw another beautiful moon shining over the village.
The accommodation consisted of a compound with 3 beds per room and with
water being so scarce we bathed with buckets again. Supper was similar to
that of the previous village, consisting of camel (we think it was goat
actually), a veg soup (this time on the same plate) and a chiabit (except
this tasted like pancake!)
After supper I went back to mosque and then headed back to the compound.
gain I was super thirsty so I had half a litre of the most delicious mango
juice while snacking on some more homemade rusk.
After everyone went to bed I went through MAPA Protocol and did a dummy run
of the "homework" I would have to do every day..The Mapa homework consists
of downloading waypoints and tracks from the GPS, photos from the camera,
and putting the waypoint descriptions and numbers in a spreadsheet; all in a
specific manner. When I was too tired to continue I head to bed as I would
be the one waking everyone up in the morning.
No comments:
Post a Comment