After staying 3 weeks in one place, we had the urge again to hit the road. Now it was time to drive home. We had the Ethiopian and Sudanese visas in the pocket, all that remained was Egypt and Israel which are available on the border. This meant our visa safari, running from embassy to embassy, was over.
We got our passports and Carnet stamped out in Nairobi as there is no border crossing where we are going. Many overlanders choose to drive past Lake Turkana to cross the border to Ethiopia, as it’s much more scenic and to avoid the other complicated border crossing.
First on our trip was Lake Naivasha, to spot some wildlife. We didn’t really have an idea where we would be able to see the lake, so we entered a random driveway up to the lake. It ended up to be a private luxury resort, so we felt a bit out of place. As it was low season, we were stilled welcomed into the resort. Wild animals walking around, grass perfectly cut and giant trees covering the land with shade. One of the guards gave us a private tour of the place and showed us the hippos relaxing in the swamp. Only 100 meters away, were they enjoying their mud bath sleep. To breathe they surface every few minutes or so and give a little grunt to tell other animals not to disturb their sleep. We had lunch on the resort terrain (out of the back of the car, we didn’t even dare ask for prices) and moved on northwards to the equator.
We got our passports and Carnet stamped out in Nairobi as there is no border crossing where we are going. Many overlanders choose to drive past Lake Turkana to cross the border to Ethiopia, as it’s much more scenic and to avoid the other complicated border crossing.
First on our trip was Lake Naivasha, to spot some wildlife. We didn’t really have an idea where we would be able to see the lake, so we entered a random driveway up to the lake. It ended up to be a private luxury resort, so we felt a bit out of place. As it was low season, we were stilled welcomed into the resort. Wild animals walking around, grass perfectly cut and giant trees covering the land with shade. One of the guards gave us a private tour of the place and showed us the hippos relaxing in the swamp. Only 100 meters away, were they enjoying their mud bath sleep. To breathe they surface every few minutes or so and give a little grunt to tell other animals not to disturb their sleep. We had lunch on the resort terrain (out of the back of the car, we didn’t even dare ask for prices) and moved on northwards to the equator.
Finally we see a sign for the equator! Even on the little road we were taking! It was a few hundred meters off from our GPS but nevertheless much better than the other side of Africa. We fully enjoyed this, by making plenty of pictures and buying several souvenirs from the stalls next to it.
Driving more North, the towns got smaller and the road got worse. For some reason the peoples mentality turned into a mix. Some would wave and smile at you as if you are the king and others would just keep an angry stare towards you shouting for money. English speaking people got scarcer, but the landscapes turned stunning. The fewer people the better for us to have a private lunch and wildcamp without people staring at you. Even better is using the world as your bathroom and not being disturbed. The wildlife started returning as well. We were able to spot wild giraffes and zebras on the way and they seemed to be in a very healthy condition too!
Once we got sight of Lake Turkana we were surprised by the amounts of vegetation. There was none! And yet there were still little villages next to the road relying on the fish of the lake or whatever passes by on the little gravel road.
Getting closer to the Ethiopian border, there is the Sibiloi National park blocking the road. To drive through we had to pay 50 US dollars each. The park itself is exactly like the surroundings containing none to few wildlife. We had no idea how the park sustained itself as there was absolutely nothing to see there, the road to the park was terrible and time consuming. Who would fly there to see nothing? There was a road going around the park, it’s a bit longer but worked out much cheaper for us. On the way we spotted a caravan of camels drinking at a well. There must have been at least a few hundred camels in the surroundings waiting to fuel up for the next trip. The camel herders didn’t seem to like tourists and their cameras but I managed to sneak in a few pics here and there of this beautiful desert oasis.
Arriving at the border it was very unclear where it actually was. On the Ethiopian side there were a few lines across the road, but this being a desert it was easy to drive around. People were shouting a few things but we couldn’t understand what they meant, so we kept driving. In Omorate we finally hit some tarmac again. After about 600 kms and 3 days on bad gravel roads, a nice smoothe tarmacked road is starting to be all you can wish for. Doing the official paperwork in Omorate was straight forward, once the right officials showed up. 2 hours later we got what we wanted and were on the road again. Ethiopia here we are!