Tsavo West NP

The road to Tsavo West National park. I had heard several stories about this road. It was said that this area was not very safe and a „security“ should be taken with. I tried to find out what kind of the events were the reason to consider this road an unsafe one and the answer was that at the beginning of 90`s there had been some problems. Nice. Twenty years have passed and still a guide is needed.

Anyway at first I could peacefully drive on without any accompanist and take pictures of cloud-free Kilimanjaro.



Kilimanjaro early in the morning.

Most of the pictures of this post are about nature, because no „action“ took place during these few days. And particulary I didn`t look for them either.



Guinea fowls crossing the road.

But one day all good will come to an end and and for long I didn`t manage to drive on alone in my own speed. In the next village a rope was pulled over the road and behind the road a local mini-bus was waiting. And it was explained that further on a convoy was necessary. This conwaoy meant that I had a passanger with „machine gun“, his English was quite good. And it was his job to drive this road once a day.

At the beginning the road was quite drivable but the end of it went out of hand again. So the speed was 20 kilometres per hour.



A little bit more than 200 year old Shetani lava flow - 8 km long and 1,6 km wide and 5 meters thick.



Tsavo West National park was much more mountainous and forested than Amboseli.







Downhill.





Mzima Springs – reaching here I thought that it is a clever idea to get fresh and pure spring water. And most important - cool water. As during the hot day everything in the car had turned warm. So just in case before the walk I put 2 empty plastic bottles into my backpack. From this house it is possible to watch underwater life.



The road to the spings



Warning. Just in case. That nobody can tell later not knowing that there are crocodiles.



One more



From that little house underwater life could be watched. Fish and other life forms.



But after having had a closer look it became clear that this time no drinking water will be taken from here.




A view from the surface.



Next – some settlers of the rainforest.













The road can come to an end also this way.



As someday a bridge was here but now it could be crossed with dry feet.



Next overnight place – Public Campsite in the park. The taps were in several places and there was even the shower but not a single drop of water came from the pipe. Not from the tap neither from the shower. And there was nobody there either to ask. And the nearest populated place was of about some kilometres away. And while driving back and forth the dark African night will take over.

But as it was not quite dark I had an idea to go and check myself how the water reaches the taps. And this checking was easy because the pipes were on the ground. No reason to dig them in the ground as there are no minus degrees. Anyway the water pipe disappeared into the bushes.

And a couple of metres further this kind of an construction caught my eye.






You turn the tap and listen - the water seems to start to flow and the problem is solved. Then back to the camp site to turn off the taps that have been left flowingby some tourists. As the water should not be wasted.

So is the way of life here.



One more morning guest.



A picnic place in the mountains.





Tiwi Beach – a place to stop by the Indian Ocean. About twenty miles south Mombasa.

To be continued...