From the West to the East

Ahead of us lie 826km across Kenya. The best and cheapest solution: the car. This would take us a whopping 14 hours without breaks, delays and the like. By plane it would be 1 ½ hours. But how did this come about?

When I was in Austria, we kept talking about what we were going to do in the future. After the plan to come to Austria was unfortunately not possible for my partner, we looked for options that would work for both of us in the long term. My partner needed a new environment and so the idea came up that we could move to Mombasa. I was immediately enthusiastic, because let's be honest: who wouldn't want to live by the beautiful turquoise Indian Ocean?

The two weeks after my arrival in Kenya were well organized. Handing over the apartment (absolutely uncomplicated), loading the furniture (it went to my partner's family), organizing the vehicle, preparing the cat and calculating Alina's days off. Then it finally started on Tuesday, 11.2.25. My partner, always a bit laid back on the road, was suddenly under absolute stress. After my lesson, we set off at 10 a.m. sharp to reach our destination of Nairobi and, if possible, a little further.

Of course, we had our cat and all our belongings with us. Everything fitted perfectly into one car. Zawadi, our little cat (Zawadi means gift in Kiswahili), wasn't thrilled at first and was running around in the car. Eventually I put her back in her basket and after a short meow she slept for most of the journey.

We made our first stop in Naivasha, 6-7 hours from Kisumu. We stopped at a petrol station. Zawadi had lots of first time experiences that day, the petrol station was definitely her most stressful. I had her on a leash and tried to walk a few steps with her, but by this time she had already learned that the car was her safe haven. So it was straight back into the car.

I loved the looks on the employees' faces! They must have thought this white girl had a bird! Standing at a petrol station with a cat on a lead 😉. But I stopped caring about the stares a long time ago, because I was allowed to accept a long time ago that I would attract attention to myself ... But that's changing now, more on that in Daily Life.

We actually managed to drive 423 km that day and stopped in a town shortly after Nairobi. The problem: after Nairobi, towards Mombasa, the country is barely populated and there are larger towns every few 60-100 km. Another problem: we have a CAT! So I asked my partner to start looking for hotels as soon as possible and then just hope that one would take us.

How lucky are we again? The first hotel promptly took us, with a cat! The lady said it was no problem at all, she just recommended that we take a larger room. We then paid €11 for one night, two people and a cat. Zawadi explored the room and immediately felt at home. That was also the point at which she got used to being on a lead and went for a little walk with me - up and down the corridor 😉.

The next day we set off at 8:30 a.m., as we now had a long and exhausting drive ahead of us. It was just straight ahead on the highway to Mombasa. But we were not going to be bored.

After an extremely tasty hot chocolate, samosas, dumplings with meat and muffins, all of which we got at an inconspicuous rest stop, we set off. We refueled the car, because petrol stations were also becoming rare. Zawadi was absolutely nervous that day as we passed truck after truck. Remember, it's a highway, at the same time it's single lane and you speed past each other at 100km, also it's the main connection from the sea (Mombasa) to inland and on to Uganda, Congo or Rwandaa. I gave her two sedative globules at the first petrol station. They worked! As it was so hot, she slept on the floor behind my seat for the whole journey.

Our route took us through a national park Tsavo is the largest national park in Kenya and the main route goes through the park for a distance of two hours. Wow, and what did we get to see? The famous Tsavo elephants! They are colored red because the earth there is red! I actually had to look twice to see if they were real or fake elephants! We saw two herds and a few isolated ones.

Well, and then we were stopped by the police! Not just once, but twice. The first time we were stopped in the national park. I was so grateful that Zawadi stayed calmly on the ground behind me and watched the spectacle in peace. The policeman accused my partner of overtaking in a place where it wasn't allowed. He actually did, but that was 5km ago and the police couldn't prove it with the best will in the world. The point was that he drove over a solid line, which everyone does here at the same time! They saw the Muzungu and took their chance, because at the back of the trunk the policeman confessed that all they really wanted was money for lunch.

Don't be angry with me, at the same time, if he had communicated this from the beginning, I would have really liked to just give it to him, but I don't think it's right to look for reasons and explanations with a “Police Law Book”.

So we drove on after paying 500 Kenyan shillings (€3.70) and 40km before Mombasa we were stopped again for the same reason. Here I was quite angry though, because firstly yes, it's true, he overtook again in a place where he wasn't allowed to, at the same time there were still three cars ahead of us, all overtaking in the same place, and no one was stopped except us! One was a coach, the other a van and the third a safari car! Now we paid 1,500 Kenyan shillings (11€). The policeman said exactly the same as the one before and we really felt like fools.

Well, after 8 hours of driving we arrived tired and exhausted at the AirBnb in Mombasa and the next day our search for a new home was to begin, but more on that next time.

My highlights of the trip: at least 200 zebras between Nakuru and Naivasha, six giraffes at sunset after Nairobi and 30 red elephants in Tsavo National Park. And another thing: I was allowed to drive here because I have an international driver's license. At the same time, my partner drove the entire route due to the volume of traffic and also because I was looking after our cat.