19th March 1986 : Kenya Coast Bound
Our coastal jaunt began today, so we headed into town to shop, and cash more money, and buy a huge sack of wholemeal bread, before we left the city.
Let me introduce myself so you're not embarking on this nostalgic journey with a total stranger.
I'm Melanie Ball, a university science degree drop-out, widely published travel writer (an accidental career borne of my African journey), author of three bushwalking guidebooks (Top Walks in Victoria, Top Walks in Tasmania & Top Walks in Australia), and hat decorator under the name Appliquez Moi. (That's me with the sun-bleached hair and west African fabric sarong. I don't know the baby chimp's name because we weren't formally introduced.)
From infancy my parents read to me and my sisters — C.S. Lewis’s Narnia series on long drives to Queensland for summer holidays, Paddington Bear in bed with Mum on Sunday mornings— and encouraged us to read to escape, to learn, to laugh. No book was off limits and all three of us are life-long voracious readers.
Two very different books profoundly influenced the teenaged me: Wilbur Smith’s When The Lion Feeds, the first of his multiple adventure novels set (mostly) in colonial southern Africa, and Jane Goodall’s In The Shadow of Man, detailing her ground-breaking study of wild chimpanzees in Tanzania. (Jane Goodall's recent death, in her sleep, aged 91, while on a talking tour, made me sad but also made me re-examine, remember and celebrate the extraordinary life and works of the woman who David Attenborough called "the conscience of conservation".) Together and separately, those two books ignited in me a romantic fascination for Africa and determination to go there, a dream that I finally realised at the age of 26, when I joined an Exodus Expeditions London to Johannesburg overland adventure. I had reached London by overlanding with Exodus from Kathmandu to London (11 weeks of ups - close encounters with rhinoceroses in Nepal, sunrise on the Taj Mahal, the wonders of Istanbul - and lows - five weeks of Delhi Belly that, surprisingly but thankfully, left me with an iron gut), and explored Egypt for several weeks, but my 17 months away from home were predominantly about finally experiencing the extraordinary continent that is Africa.
When my passport (containing multiple visas) was stolen from my daypack on the London Tube the day before the tour departed, my dream was all but dashed. But the passport was newly issued in London and, faced with my near-hysterics, the efficient and compassionate Australian Embassy staff issued me a new passport in one hour!
And so, the adventure of my life began.
P.S. I have edited excerpts for poor grammar and to protect the innocent and the guilty.
P.P.S. Most photos in this blog are scans of prints - and I didn't take many before reaching Morocco.
18th March 1986 : Out of Africa at the Drive-In
Woke to a gloomy morning that threatened a repetition of yesterday’s downpour. So rugged up for trip to Amex, post office to check parcel prices, and another meet up at the Thorn Tree.
17th March 1986 : Art, Food, and Hedgehogs
After breakfast, and the return of Bob and Karen to the truck, I walked into town with Vicki. Got caught in rain wandering the streets to the Australian Embassy where we learned that they could do nothing to help us with new pages for our passports. Did take the chance, though, to read a couple of back editions of The Age newspaper from home.
16th March 1986 : Maasai on Show
Ate a late breakfast and then sat by the pool writing to Mum & Dad before boarding Stanley. We drove into town to shop and then hit the road to Mayer’s Maasai Ranch, a journey that took us well out of the city and down into the Rift Valley.
15th March 1986 : Carnivores and Cricket
Woke up in a scene reminiscent of the Grampians (an isolated series of mountain ranges in western Victoria, Australia), so like home it took me back there.
14th March 1986 : Comings and Goings in Masai Country
Woke up to a beautiful orange sky and went to the loo behind a prickly bush among grazing Thomsons gazelles.
13th March 1986 : Animal Indulgence
Quick breakfast, in a hurry after delayed start, with everyone pitching in so we could start game spotting.
12th March 1986 : “Love, Peace & Unity” & Bad Roads
Border morning. Under quiet surveillance from Tanzanian officials once it was discovered we hadn’t changed any money officially. Wondered what reaction we’d get to lockers full of Tanzanian foods. But the men were pleasant and efficient, and their truck search very casual. They asked to see Julie's luggage and when she presented her day pack they backed away, apparently believing Vicki’s explanation that her luggage was stolen. We then spent quite a while at the Kenya border but although we had to fill in our first official money declarations we weren't hassled or searched.
11th March 1986 : Go East Young Man (and Women)
Woke to a sky of bright orange and the sound of tribal drums.
10th March 1986 : Phone Calls Home
Left my torn trousers and collapsed Clarke's school sandals, both having lasted 23,500 km, in the paddock for any of the locals who brought their dogs to watch us eat breakfast - two fried eggs for me.
9th March 1986 : Lake Victoria I Presume
Villagers ringed us at breakfast, including two redheads with pale skins; all were dressed in a sad assortment of rags and aid clothing – over the last few days in Burundi and Tanzania we've seen some of the poorest dressed people of the whole journey.
8th March 1986 : Coming Home
Cooked pancakes overlooking a mountain panorama in preparation for a long day of driving, with stops for water and to wash - I had a shower in the road from the ladder with a couple of cycling locals stopping to watch.