Brendan had been doing his best to try and get some time off work so that we could all go on a little road trip. Not wanting to travel too far we decided on the nearby Aberdares National Park, the park is a very hilly lush semi-rainforest with lots of steep valleys, leading up to relatively flat moorlands on which rise to just over 4000m. We had been watching the weather up for the last week and it had generally been very nice. Using some of Sandras parents contacts we had managed to secure a pretty luxury lodge for three nights at a 50% discounted rate - bonus!
On the morning of departure the weather had taken a real turn for the worse. It rained for most of our journey to the park gate, and at the office we struck another problem. Someone on the phone had given us duff information about the price of entry. They told us it was a one off payment of $30 USD for non-residents, but it turned out that it was $30 a day! - which is quite allot for someone on my collapsed budget.
We spent a good hour arguing our case, with some useful name dropping from Sandra, and negotiating from us both. I decided to claim being a student which only costs $10 a day (im a cheap skate I know!). Eventually the boss man came onto our side thinking a few phone calls were made, and we were allowed in.
The drive up to the lodge was on some pretty sketchy road which was very slippery in the fresh rain, but we made it without any real problems. The lodge was an impressive place with good although cloud obscured views of Mt Kenya, it had its own private watering hole, which had two elephants playing around in the water as we arrived. It was by far the most luxurious place I have stayed on this trip and I even had a massive double bed all to myself. We spent the first day relaxing and took a short game drive, it was interesting to see all the animals in such a different environment.
On day two we decided to check out a road which led up to the moorlands, we had to descend a steep grassy road which led to a river crossing. The flow was way too strong and so after messing around for a bit we decided to head back up the hill. The slightest drizzle had made the road very slippery and before long we were stuck in a mud bath near the bottom of the steep slope, which had a big drop into the river on one side and a solid embankment on the other. We tried a couple of times to roll down the hill and then speed back up it, each time we got stuck and it was apparent a quick fix wasn’t possible. So we set to collecting sticks and chipping away ‘murram’ (a kind of soft rock used in the local roads) from a nearby mound.
After well over an hours work of manual labour we had pratically rebuilt five metres of road. We stopped for a tea and then Brendan had another attempt with Sandra and myself watching on. He got to the top of our stoney section with no problem but then got well and truly stuck in the terrible mud. Rather than roll back to the start we chocked the car and tried to start it again in situ, It wasn’t going anywhere quickly. We agreed that it was time to search for outside help. Brendan went off in search of mobile phone reception, or failing that the Parks Sub HQ back near the lodge. It was a bit of a dangerous walk which involved climbing quite a few trees to dodge angry buffalo.
Meanwhile Sandra and I carried on road building, without the rolling start it was difficult to get going and it took us about two hours to travel three metres. Brendan returned having called for help and shortly after a WWF Land Rover appeared coming down the road. We had advised them not to come down the bad road but the gunho attitude prevailed. Straight away the Land Rover was stuck facing down the road which was only wide enough for one car. To compund matters even more, the driver tried to reverse out and ended up getting well and truly stuck in the side ditch wedged up against the embankent. There were now two cars stuck on the hill, a few half hearted efforts to push the cars out didn’t really work, and the lack of communication meant someone nearly lost their legs, but fortunately came away unharmed.
The man in charge sent his men out for more help and some extra equipment. We sat around and watched as the sun slowly set and our hopes of getting the car out before nightfall were dashed. It was decided that we should walk back to the lodge and the KWS (Kenya Wildlife Service) would provide some guards to protect the cars from locals who were watching from behind a fence high on the other side of the valley.
We started off on the 5km uphill walk back to the lodge, already quite tired from the manual labour, and the persistent rain just made it worse. Everyone was a little bit jumpy as it would be quite easy for a lonely Buffalo or Elephant to take a dislike to us, and in the dark it would be on top of us before we knew it, apparently the parks resident lions could also be a bit nasty. Halfway up we were joined by some armed guards who were branding their rusty AK’s in a jovial manner and not really filling anyone with confidence, but they escorted us the rest of the way.
The walk went without event until the final few hundred meters up to the lodge. Having its own salty waterhole the lodge is a haven for animals, which is great except for when you have to walk by the side of it. We saw one elephant walking up the road ahead of us, the guards made a few noises and got ready to fire a warning shot if neccesary but fortunately it walked off into the trees. We saw another massive Bull Elephant silhoutted at the top of the hill, but it let us pass underneath and very tired and relieved yet quite excited we got back inside.
The next day would be an interesting one as we would somehow have to get both cars out of the predicament, and the rain in the night wasn’t going to help. We were just happy to be able to take a hot shower and get a good nights sleep.
