OverlandSphere
Overland Travel, Expedition & Adventure Information for 4x4, motorcycle and truck overlanders
We found an alternative tar or asphalt road to the busy tourist road (route 6) running from Addis to the Moyale Kenya border via Dila. We decided not to take this road as I had experienced it 5 years ago and it was slow and only offered cheap motels/hotels and is littered with people the whole route. Instead we drove…
This piece of road must be one of the most famous drives in Africa. Mostly for the wrong reasons. Cars break down and people have to camp along the road as they can’t make it all the way to the next town before dark. Well, here is our experience. The road looks pretty bad leaving Marsabit. In Kenya you drive…
We have always read about how remote and difficult this route is. As usual, I think I will say, we find that this is quite exaggerated. Turkana is of course not a good place to have a break down, but there are other vehicles using the road. At least a couple of times per day. As long as you have…
From Malin’s slide show of rain, you have probably figured out that now is rainy season in East Africa. We knew of course, but decided that this would only make it more interesting. Our first stop after Zanzibar was Manfred’s place in Arusha where we had the Patrol stored, and from there, our idea was to cross into Kenya. Earlier…
It was about on day two that the bushes on our rear suspension failed. Long suffering, these rubber buffers prevent a metal on metal clash in the suspension components. Although this didn’t halt our progress, it made us wince every time we hit a medium to large bump, which happened about every three seconds. It did nothing for our confidence…
Driving north from South Africa in May 2012 we traveled in the dry season for 5 months. We did not have a drop of rain for at least three months in the middle, and it made life on the road nice and easy. As we have had a break and stored the Patrol for 6 months in Arusha, we are…
In choosing your route north from Nairobi to Ethiopia you have two options. On one hand, there is a vague route via Lake Turkana, taking you over the road ‘hardly ever trodden,’ and travelling close to 1000km without fuel stops nor another vehicle in sight. On the other, the infamous Marsabit-Moyale ‘road’ is claimed by many as literally the worst…
Bumper to bumper traffic welcomed us into the Nairobi, East Africa’s hub. And we were quintessential country kids who finally arrived at “the big city,” marveling at the 24-hr stores, cosmopolitan fare, and skyscrapers 10 stories high. One of our first days here, we delved into Nairobi’s wild side and paid a visit Nairobi’s Giraffe Center, a success story amongst…
The Masai warriors of south western Kenya are famous for their ability to go from a deep sleep to battle ready in a matter of seconds. Since this is a trait I am always claiming I share with the Masai, it was pretty essential that we go to visit their homeland in the Mara reserve, to see whether we had…
How best to get between Kenya and Ethiopia is a subject of constant debate amongst overlanders. The traditional route has been via Moyale and Marsabit in north eastern Kenya. The main advantage is that it’s a proper border, an actual road and is pretty direct. The disadvantages include a horrendous corrugated road surface and bandits – potentially needing to take…
Jungle Junction, Nairobi. Probably one of the most famous (hence popular, hence overcrowded) overland stop-overs in Africa. That’s where we are now. Nairobi is the last stop before the trek north where we can give Itchy a good ‘going over’. It’s also where we will have to obtain our visas for Ethiopia & Sudan,…
Again, easy border crossing into Kenya. Instead of going the Kisumu way, we decided on going to Eldoret. It was chilly and started to rain decently hard as we rolled in. Eldoret is kind of a messy city. The roads were a bit tight and bad and with water and silt it was not pretty. We rode around the whole…
Getting into Kenya was nothing too complicated except for being hounded by Masaai ladies. They kept on pushing their beaded jewelry on me saying it was a free gift from them to me. Saw this trick in Laos We rolled into Nairobi and met up with my Uncle Pili. My Nanaji’s parents (my great-grandparents) and his siblings moved to Kenya…
It took us five months and 25,000 kilometres to reach South-Africa. We travelled through some rough terrain, had our share of setbacks and met some very interesting people. In this three-part series we will take you back to some of the highlights of this journey, while we prepare for ‘the long way up’ along Africa’s west coast. ‘To the end…
Kilometres Driven: 10,159 Countries Visited: Kenya, Tanzania & Malawi Days on the road: 75 Days Camping: 70 Days of Rain: 2 National Parks Visited: 10 Favourite National Parks: Lake Nakuru, Kenya and Ruaha National Park, Tanzania Favourite Animal: Anna – Giraffes Russ – Elephants Favourite Animal Experience: Elephants ripping trees outside our roof tent, leopard drinking out of our water…
We left on an equally bad road towards Thompsons Falls as we were going to see the flamingoes at the lakes, only to find out that it was ridiculously priced to get into the parks, $80 per person $30 camping per person and then another $xxx for the vehicle. What an absolute rip-off, so we decided we would rather see…
We packed up and bid farewell to Lake Boringa. Someone we had met along our travels mentioned that Maralal was a nice place to visit so we headed out towards Maralal. The roads were rough and the scenery although pretty was not spectacular. The annual camel Derby is held in Maralal, and it was strange to ride along the dirt…
Posted from Nairobi, Nairobi, Kenya. We left and continued on our way towards Victoria Lake. We arrived at Lake Victoria did some shopping at the Nakumatt and then started looking for a campsite. As for the lake no one would ever say there is a lake there as it is covered hycinth. The first one was very dodgy and we…
OK, OK… I am now getting emails from people checking that we are OK as they haven’t seen a blog for a while, so it must be time to write again. I am very sorry (but secretly delighted!) if anyone was worried, but no need to panic… I have just been lazy! In actual fact we have been stationary for…
Posted from Nairobi, Nairobi, Kenya.…
Posted from Nairobi, Nairobi, Kenya.…
Posted from Nairobi, Nairobi, Kenya. We left Red Elephant Lodge after breakfast and headed for Mombasa. We arrived at noon and were happy to get there early as we could enjoy putting camp up in the light, only to hit Saturday traffic and what a nightmare. There were miles and miles of trucks. A passing motorist said to Larry that…
Tuesday 23rd to Tuesday 30thOctober 2012. Nairobi, Timau, Maralal, South Horr, Loyangalani, Iloret. Tuesday morning we set out first thing to get ourselves ready to head north. The first task on our list was to get ourselves stamped out of the country. Tom and Klaus had given us directions to find the helpful Assistant Director of Immigration, Mr Chege, so…
Na het heerlijke Onsea vertrekken we naar de Serengeti. We besluiten Ngorongoro links te laten liggen, te duur. Voor een nachtje kamperen en een bezoek aan de krater komen we uit aan 400USD. Toch wat veel om een dagje beestjes te kijken. iedereen die ernaar toe gaat vindt het prachtig, maar niet iedereen is te spreken over de hoeveelheid volk.…
Posted from Nairobi, Nairobi, Kenya. We left Nairobi and headed towards Mombasa what a nightmare of a road. The trucks and cars drive absolutely hectic and you need to have your wits about you in order just to stay on the road. It is about 600km from Nairobi to the coast and we knew from the onset that we would…
Posted from Nairobi, Nairobi, Kenya. We set up camp at Jungle Junction and wondered where everyone was as there were just 4 wheel drives and motorcycle all over the place. The only person sitting around was Burt, he was reading a book and came over to say hi. The nice thing about JJ’s is this is the meeting place of…
Posted from Nairobi, Nairobi, Kenya. We had a fare amount of Tanzanian Shillings left so just outside Arusha we filled up with Diesel and bought some goodies at a shop near the filling station. The cashier was so thankful that we had choosen her little shop to spend the last of our shillings. She was so helpful and walked around…
. . . you park your Hilux near a bunch of Maasai kids. In Olkirimatian, in Kenya’s South Rift Valley.…
Tuesday 9th to Wednesday 10th October 2012. Naivasha, Nakuru. The next morning giant marabou stalked about the lawn. Mick befriended a nice waiter called John and bargained us all an excellent price on the buffet breakfast. We were treated to a fry up with a selection of fruits. We even had omelettes made by the friendly Jacob, who was trained…
Saturday 6th to Monday 8th October 2012. Nairobi. At the Kenyan side of the border we met a crowd of other muzungu and local travellers. We filled in brief immigration cards then joined the queues. At the counter the officer gave us additional visa forms to take away and complete. The tourist visas cost us US$50 each and gave us…