Thread: An African adventure

the weather was clearing up now and we decided to stretch our legs at the Equator, which consisted of a few shacks selling trinkets and a sign that read"you are now on the Equator" I thought they would have at least had a starbucks!


a couple of locals up to take a look at the funny looking white men


we chatted to the local women for a bit had a look round and set off again armed to the teeth with wood carvings, treasure boxes and necklaces ready for anything


The road was still pretty good at this point, a few pot holes here and there but not too bad, the land around us turned red and the lush landscapes were replaced by clay and cactus plants. The photos are quite deceptive, the green you see is trees and thorny bushes


we arrived in Eldoret around midday and stopped for a bite to eat and to re-fuel.

Eldoret looked very much like a wild west town with shops made from leaning bits of tin together with dirt roads, lots of goats and people around,

we had some lunch in the restaurant at the local hotel(i only call it a restaurant and hotel cause thats what it said on the sign) Don't know what I ate but I know it didn't taste like any meat I have eaten before.

great stuff mate! (i'd green but i've shelled out too many in the last 24 hours)

Good start...like you I always enjoy these travel reports...

We stocked up in Eldoret and split into 2 trucks as this was the difficult part of the journey and the end of terra firma.

the dirt track cut its way through the bush and brought us to this dryed up river bed

David told us this was pretty dangerous and that flash floods happen regular and have torn down the bridge and swept trucks away
the bridge got washed away a couple of years ago and was never repaired, looks like it could have been a pretty prosporous area at some point, quite a lot of dwellings around the bridge

After we crossed the river the roads got really bad and we were basically driving over a mountain, our trusty steed


The road was pretty much like this for the next 3 hours, rough rocks and dirt

after being tossed about a pickup for a few hours we came over the crest of the mountain and were faced with a view i don't think i will ever forget, in the distance we could see our destination, barpello village on the edge of the Rift Valley, photo's and video really don't do it justice.



next part tomorrow when we have a look at Pokot life.............................

absolutely beautiful.

After a night of scary jungle noises we got up for our first look around Barpello,
this is the view that greeted us


the hi tech piece of equipment on the left is a solar oven, a wooden box with 2 sheets of glass on top, stick you dinner in there in the morning and it slow cooks all day


Our first visit for the day was to Barpello primary school, a Government run school with 303 students fro the age of 5 to 15(late starters).

This place is very run down and in need of some attention

This is the old kitchen that blew down in a storm


this is a makeshift kitchen to feed all the students when food is available


Primary school can be pretty exausting




there were 3 main buildings that made up the school housing 7 classrooms and a staff room, the wind was lifting the tin roof and making a lot of noise






There have been less than 30 white people to have ever visited this area because it is so isolated, we were quite the attraction(freakshow)

Mate I'm off there next week, although off to the coast. Beat me to it.

Great stuff. Always love a traveller's tale

As this is the jungle some of the kids have to travel a long way to come to school, so a lot of the kids board.

25 boys sleep and cook for themselves in this small room


A tiny suitcase for the term


Teachers in the staff room



Our visit was big news for the Kids and they had lined up some entertainment that they had been practicing for a couple of weeks.

we all gathered round

some of the parents




Some didn't like to come too close


the kids came out and showed us a traditional dance, it was similar to a haka. they wore bells on their ankles, stamped their feet and chanted, amazing thing to see.
the guy in the white led them



This lasted for about 45 minutes, then it was our turn to entertain them. we had a guitar, violin, tin whistle and a bodhran and played them some irish jigs and reels, they hadn't seen instruments like these before so they were wide eyed at the sight of them.


I noticed these 2 kids trying to sneak up for a look, I found out later that they were painted up like this because someone in their family was or had been sick


these kids were very well mannered and keen to learn, something you don't see where I am from that often. they don't have much, well anything really but thats the way they have always been so don't know any different. their smiles were very infectious


well I got my eyes opened that morning


we waved good bye and pushed on...........................

I have some video that is quite interesting, can videos be enbedded in this part of the forum, ans how do you do it??