This is typical life, I decided this is it this weekend I’ll finish the article because the week had been very tasking. My househelp knocks my bedroom door, its Sunday 0648hrs. “Carol nataka kuenda off leo na sina fare”- I want to have an off day today and I don’t have bus-fare **insert all the curse words you got for being woken up on your sleep in day and the disorganization in knowing your tasks won’t be achieved** This one even one day after payday wants a salary advance forget her ceremonial off-days and when you ask her to take off days she refuses. That was last weekend. Welcome to our world of Why We Ride.
Why We Ride. Two parents, Two different families, Two bikes, on the road in a January
Week one had been the week I got home after 0700hrs after a long day and found tones of homework waiting for my help. Friday I left work past 0730hrs, my body ached and ailed, I got home and found a blackout I cheered for I knew the gang would now go to bed and I won’t have to endure staying up because its movie night with the kids. Yippee! If you are a parent and don’t appreciate these moments then you are special.
Journey to Rusinga Island. Meet-up time 0900hrs. Shit I hadn’t fueled, greased the chain nor done bike check as I’d been running errands all week for last minute back to school requirements as my kids schools had opened that week and the coming week it was back to my grind. Home petrol station is out of fuel. Half tank will do to Narok. I do an average 32km per litre on Gisli (KTM 390 adventure) I don’t know how coz manufacturer says 29km. Race to meet up point am 10mins late but it’s fine because Abdi texted he’d be 20mins late 30mins ago. 1038hrs Abdi arrives, another tale of a parent and a household head. If you haven’t yet figured, Why We Ride? It’s a much needed break as a parent to just be. We Ride, It’s a break from the job grinds. Professor still carried his laptop to catch-up on some COB end week report before international time close. As for my students keep interrupting my ride relax music with calls, as they realized they hadn’t met their timeline goals and school opens Monday.
Arrival time after 14KM off-tarmac stretch was about 1830hrs at Rusinga Island Lodge. The craziness along the way, Kisii town. It’s a one-way road with potholes to avoid. That notwithstanding there are very bold Bodaboda riders who are everywhere like the locust invasion with their crazy behavior patterns. One rode up next to me, “Hii pikipiki yako ni pesa ngapi?”- How much is this motorbike. Damn am trying to balance the bike in very slow traffic and avoid hitting the potholes and bodabodas at the same time I almost yell back, shut the fuck up! I keep silent. Then the scary comes over, “Eee ina hata TV!” he yells. This one has a TV, he is referring to the dashboard system. All the while I respond quickly thinking it will make him loss interest fast enough so that he doesn’t ram into me in target fixation. Nope, wrong move. He faces away and announces to everyone,” Huyu ni mama anaendesha!” –It is a woman riding! The bodaboda attention is freaky now, the car behind us now keeps distance as the swarm around me grows. On my dash I see Abdi’s call display as he is wondering where he lost me on a straight line street.
A journey of 841km. The traffic police. Same stop I had been stopped when I last used that road March 2020. I don’t know whether dumb questions are part of training and to them all biker ladies are the same as they can’t relate. This time I wasn’t asked to prove am a woman after he recklessly jumped into the road to make sure we obeyed their order to stop. The questions followed, “Naona umerudi…huyu ni nani kwako?…Hii pikipiki ni pesa ngapi? If they are on the road they should at least know how to interpret the various classes on the road license. I had to explain an A2 license is for motorcycle. At Sotik stop we had earlier agreed to move non-stop without the every 100km break (necessary for me not professor) and increase average speed to ensure we arrive before nightfall.
<<—-Sotik water break point
Around The Island
Rusinga Island Lodge. Beautiful high-end hotel, Serves meals African portion, huge serving! Dinner, I didn’t touch the ugali, the tilapia fish was humongous. Breakfast was again lots and lots, I couldn’t finish even my breakfast, it was drizzling but we decided to go on an island hike to help with digestion. We visited the Tom Mboya Mausoleum. The mausoleum embodies true friendship (when your best friend dies 30years after you and his dying wish is to be buried beside you), loyalty (even The Pope acknowledges the humble, he was the one that joined Tom&Pamela Mboya in Holy matrimony), and patriotism. We had hoped that by the time we got back the rains will have stopped and we do a boat ride to Bird’s Island, waterbirds’ breeding ground. It didn’t happen. In our next plan. See Professor’s write up. So I was gifted a Rusinga Birds Guide Book by the staff, a guidebook is a birding enthusiast best charm gift trust me of course after a binoculars. Am searching looking for a replacement for my binoculars, hint my birthday is next month.
Camping & Tips
- Security of camp site. Unless the camp site is fenced and accessible only to you. Take care of your personal effects. Motorbikes draw even more attention so you are likely to lose stuff if you aren’t careful. Do not just opt for a public campsite because it’s cheaper, is it safe? Plan ahead and prepare
- Bring extra padding. You need a soft landing after a long day. The other factor is losing body heat to the ground when you sleep.
- Drainage system of the campsite in case of downpours. Be slightly inclined. Water won’t pool at your tent
- Have a ground sheet for your tent even after clearing the ground of debris. It water-proofs your tent from ground moisture and in case it rains.
- Leave No Trace-LNT Principle: pick your trash (Pack it In-Pack it Out), respect other campsite users; loud music, noise is a no no, the pet that becomes nuisance to everyone please please guys left civilization for a reason now you bring in your dog that wakes guys up at 5-6ish and they also disturb the wildlife around the area; respect wildlife and plants do not disturb their habitat or carry them away as souvenir (weee first night we had hippos around our campsite, the fear kept night loo trip to zero)
- Check the weather forecast to make sure you pack appropriately, nothing is as miserable as shivering in a tent: warm/light clothes, light/heavy sleeping bag, hot water bottle
- Have camp shoes. A pair that is both comfort to walk around with and shower.
- Don’t forget lighting: headlamp & a campsite lamp. Solar would be great but carry batteries and extra ones.
- A light pre-cooked meal/snack for just in case you get to your location and you are too tired to cook or there is no restaurant around or the downpour won’t allow the comfort of a lengthy meal
- Learn how to pitch your tent before the trip. Saves time and minimizes chances of damaging your tent by pitching inappropriately
- Bigger tent is better: 2man tent means its comfortable for one person only, 3man tent means two pax, …. You’ll need space for your gear and to move around.
- Pack your tent entertainment: a book, earphones to watch a movie, or your kindle, games to share, etc
- Power back up plan to charge your devices: phones, Bluetooth headsets, etc. Anyone know where I can buy a solar power bank in Kenya?
- Wet wipes saver: no showers or river & lake or ocean to dive into? Cool you can still maintain hygiene especially feet hygiene, groin area (pssst women) and armpits. Even your face will appreciate the freshness that comes after all the road dust. Women we do number two, this personal rule saved me from tick-borne disease one time in Ngorongoro in the evening clean up I found a tick attached to my pubic. Ngorongoro Conservancy Area has both wildlife and livestock co-existing together, so it might have been a buffalo tick.
- A tent trash bag. There will be camp sites without litter bins or the back and forth trips to the litter bin.
- Clothes: even if you are a minimalist when packing. Just one set of clothes, a sleeping tshirt, pants & socks (I can’t sleep without socks). It will keep your sleeping bag/gear clean & stench free for this is not something one washes after every single use.
Biodiversity
Why we ride? Some ride to cover terrain and distance. Some to absorb every aspect of the journey. The Story of Victoria Nyanza. Luo folklore say that in the distant past there lived a giant called Lolwe. He was so huge that whenever he went outside to urinate, great ponds and pools were formed. One night Lolwe urinated so torrentially that when the people awoke next morning, they found a pool of such vastness that its farthest shores were lost in the mist. That is how Lake Nyanza as known by the locals came to be. Lake Nyanza is Lake Victoria.
Biodiversity. Kenya’s water portion of Lake Victoria is only 6% compared to Tanzania 51% and Uganda 43%, but Kenya’s portion has the highest number of taxa of macroinvertebrates at 62%! As we crossed the Mbita-Rusinga bridge I couldn’t help appreciate its significance in balancing our ecosystem which the causeway had destroyed. So why are macroinvertebrates important? They are a good indicator of water quality showing the cumulative indicator of water pollution. Macroinvertebrates need the shelter and food these habitats provide and tend to congregate in areas that provide the best shelter, the most food, and the most dissolved oxygen. I enjoy the inner child moments just arranging the shells on the beach. In the morning I had done a wade, the water was very clean and tempting though not for long as my mind still remembered I don’t want to be bogged down with more medication if I contracted bilharzia which is rampant in this region.
Patient Abdi became ‘the bird charmer’ as I tried to do my thing as we learnt from each other on various topics. Its a gem to ride with someone who has the patience to bird and learn. This trip was a great joy and piece of mind. See the gallery of some of the birds species captured tried capturing in poor lighting with a Canon camera.
If heaven is a sound then it is the sound of nature! Wake up to the the lake roar, the different birds chirping and a hippo across the fence grunting, lets just say it was an orgasmic feeling.
The 0430hrs drama. It had been raining and thunderstorms in the lake all night. Abdi gets a ‘Motorbike-Mud Nightmare’ and wakes us with a start. Well the BMW GS aka the hippo got a dramatic exit again just like the entry, a 3-men effort saved the morning. Rainfall is very important to Lake Victoria as it accounts for 80% of its water recharge as the lakes only provide 20%.
A worthwhile trip
After tales of what happens in the mountains from the meager pay porters are paid, to the altitude illness, Abdi asked me so why do people still go to the mountains after all these? I reversed the question to him, Why do people still ride?
“People refer to a giraffe as a ‘motorbike’ because the money that one gets from the sale of its meat is enough to buy a motorbike,” reported a Landscape ecologist. The sick version of motorbikes and conservation in the communities. I ride to bring awareness about biodiversity.
Take Five with the Wild Med 