So I have been planning this activity that will take me to five administrative divisions of Isiolo district for two weeks, and when the day comes, I feel like finally, lets pack a bag and be on our way.
We have a few hitches before we embark on the journey and after heated arguments, we hit Thika road cruising at 100km per hour. All is well till we get to Nanyuki, from where we are to proceed to a division in Isiolo called Oldonyiro. Since none of us knows the way, we make a number of phone calls and after talking to the locals here and there, we are shown a dirt road out of the town that will lead us to the place. We drive for over one and half hours without seeing a human being or any households; at best we only encountered an angry elephant and jumping gazelles. It is at this point that a little bit of panic sets in - the driver asks if we are really on the right way, and the rest of us convince ourselves that were are, not wanting to have to go back the long journey, but also because we are not sure whether we are right by proceeding to God knows where!
Being the ‘supposed’ lead person here, every eye turns on me to make the gnawing decision, so I make a silent prayer to the Almighty and calmly tell the driver to proceed (after all, were have done almost half, we might as well do the other half going forward than backward). For those who don’t believe in God, I pity you, because I asked God for a sign and He gave me one – after fifteen minutes of driving, we come across a small centre and the local policeman assured us we are on the right way. (I know all you cynics are thinking we would have reached it anyway because it didn’t fall from the sky… but that’s you, and this is me who calls it faith.)
Alas! At this small centre guess what we find?? Cellphone NETWORK!!! I know it sounds crazy saying that in this 21st century, but guys… this is Africa. Need I remind you that on that long first part of the journey, we had no network yet we didn’t know where we were going? Additionally we encountered a group of five morans (or warriors if you like) later in the journey striding confidently ( with you know what), and this being Isiolo, you can guess what was running through our minds…. Yeah you guessed it. Anyway back to the network issue, the first thing we all did was try and tell people (family mostly) that we reached well and ta-da-di-da. Later we try and call our contact person in Oldonyiro to ask for further directions and he asks us where exactly we are! What??? We are in the middle of mountains and valleys with no structre in sight (even a manyatta) how do you describe where you are? Do you say we are near a large mountain with rocks on the side, dah! - they are all mountains looking alike. It’s not like in town whre you would say, we are near loita house.
To cut the long story short, we reach our destination by the grace of God, and wow the welcome was wonderful; makes you forget all that drama on the road.
