Free camping always makes me a little nervous, but here I have to confess to being even more so. Whether it was my imagination running wild, but I am convinced that I heard someone pacing up and down outside the tent at about midnight. I distinctly remember the sound of them running away when I stirred. Every sound of rocks sliding down the quarry walls had me convinced we were surrounded by animals. All the time I was just hoping I didn't need the toilet! Debs obviously was so exhausted that she slept through!
With morning came no Masai staring at us and no sign of any animals, except a pair of large birds nesting on the rock face which probably accounted for the falling rocks during the night. I really must get a grip, because finding camp grounds in these huge countries is not always going to be possible!
Having packed up quickly we rejoined the road and immediately started to struggle. The road we were on didn't seem that hilly, but we just couldn't seem to get going. What didn't help was the fact that all of the locals we encountered only seemed interested in asking us for money. This is clearly one of the downsides of cycle touring, everyone seems to associate us with the tourists racing past in their buses and 4X4's. They seem convinced that it is our responsibility to give them the money that they don't get from the other tourists. Despite the fact that unlike most people, we are spending money in the local community.
It would be unfair to say that everyone we met along the way was the same, but it was certainly quite a large proportion. When some children started throwing stones at us, while an adult woman who was with them watched on, we started to despair. Another lad who was nearby did gesture at them to stop, to which we shouted our gratitude, only to have him ask us for money. This is all in stark contrast to our earlier experience in Tanzania.
Eventually the road started to level out and our progress improved, despite one of the stiffest headwinds we have yet encountered. Fortunately the demands for money stopped as well and we had a bit of a return to the friendly greetings we had received before.
In a bit of a cheeky moment a young Masai on a bike drafted us both on a hill to avoid the now even stronger headwind. When Debs started to drop back he overtook her and latched onto my back wheel until I pulled over to wait for Debs. He gave me a wave, shouted thanks and headed on his way.
The rest of the journey to the camp-site was pretty straightforward, the wind never dropped and the dust it brought was fairly unpleasant but we arrived outside almost by accident. We hadn't been expecting to get to the site so soon, it was just as well that we saw the sign or we would have ridden straight past.
It may be a bit out of the city but our first impressions of Sakina camp-site, are that we will be quite happy here. Our host Robert is great and the food and drinks are all really reasonable. Later this evening we should be meeting with a guide from an affiliated safari company to discuss the possibility of a 4/5 day safari. It is going to be fairly expensive, but we had always planned to do at least one while we were in Africa.
With a little help from the camp-site chef Regina, we took a matata (minibus) into the city and she took us to an ATM where we could use our Mastercards (no fees, hoorah!). The journey back was a little more fraught as we were travelling solo and the bus was packed, but we managed to get them to stop in roughly the right place. At least we now know what we are doing, as the walk to town from the camp-site is a long one. Plus at only about 25p for a return journey on the minibus, it seems silly to walk.
Dinner this evening was good and there was plenty of food. Shortly after we had eaten the manager Benjamin from 'Arunga Expeditions and Safaris' arrived and we decided to book a 4 day 3 night safari to the Serengeti and Ngorongoro crater. Debs had earlier put her travel consultant cap on and phoned several companies to check their itineraries and prices. The daily price of $170 per day that we had been quoted, had seemed reasonable and all reviews of the company that we had found on the internet had been positive. The safari is leaving the day after tomorrow and currently we will be a party of four/four and a half, Toad is obviously coming! All we have to do now is find a bank that will let us take enough money out to pay for the trip!
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