22nd of February, 2018.
Hitchhiking in Kenya: Tsavo (a place of slaughter)
Apart from the fact that the truck can not go over 70, everything is fine. It takes me more time to get to Tsavo than I wanted, but at least I get here.
Aadam and his friend are nice. They teach me a little of Swahili and pay me lunch and a bottle of water.
When we finally get where it supposed to be the entrance of the park, according to my calculations, I think that it is strange that the Man Eaters Camp it would be located on the right and not on the left as I had seen in the map before. Aadam’s friend asks around and people confirm as this being the place. Because of that, he takes a boda-boda, puts my backpack on it and pay the driver. I say goodbye with a lot of thanks to my friends and they keep their ways to Mombasa. Not that the boda-boda did on purpose, but the entrance it was actually about two hundred metres. I would’ve never taken a motorbike to bring me in such short distance.
At the entrance of the Park, I talk with a ranger and I get very sad for being right: the camp it is forty kilometres ahead and yes, it is to the left. The gate also is at right as this one, OK, but the camp it is on the left side.
Very disappointed for having to take another lift, when I could’ve simply keep going with my friends, I ask the boda-boda a ride back to the road where I would start to hitchhike again.
In the beginning, I am just making signs to the cars because I want to get in there faster. But the trucks keep making “what are you doing” signs for me until one of them stops. I tell them where I am going and they take me.
The driver is also going to Mombasa but he is giving a lift to a young man who would stay just a few kilometres before me.
They are also nice and friendly and get worried about me when I tell them I might make wild camping around the Park.
On our way we see elephants for three times. The first two they were kind of close but the driver could not stop the truck. The last one, when he finally could and I finally took my camera, they were far and in a difficult place to took pictures. Now they are just in my memory. Not grey as I always imagined but the Kenyan orange / red land, which covered all their bodies.
When I finally reach the right gate I am confused again. Luckily, a nice and simple guard, instead of a ranger, approach to help me. He tells me that it is the right place and the Man Eaters Camp it is just around five kilometres walking from there. Of course the camp is just a lodge in the area where they used to sleep during the bridge construction. The guard tells me that the cave where the lot of bones were found it is in the right side and that is far. To go there, I would need to pay for the Park and for a ranger. We talk for a while and he strong advises me not going walking to the camp or even to the original bridge because the wild life could be dangerous. I thanked all his help and, before I leave, I say something like let’s pretend I was never here, OK?
When I take the road it is twenty minutes to six. The sun will set around seven o’clock. I have to reach the camping site, take pictures, explain my situation and then make my camping (if they allow me), or leave and look for a hidden place. I finally decide for not going to the Man Eaters Camp at all. The reasons are the following: a) the fact that I thought it would be nice to make camping near the road and have a chance to see more elephants in the early morning; b) the already mentioned fact that the camp is just something created in modern times, with a “nice” name, in the area where they used to camp; C) and finally, the fact that I passed by the original bridge while going there, and taking some pictures delayed me even more. So what’s the plan? I will camp under the original bridge. Then, everything would be settle and I could spend a whole night beside the bridge. Just so you know, this bridge is the one from the movie The Ghost and the Darkness, from 1996, which has a great importance in my life plus it is a great movie! The meaning of the word Tsavo, in the title of the post, I’ve got from this movie.
I decide to make a thorn fence around the tent and put some leaves around to disguise. Just in case. That’s another thing I got from the movie. It takes me more time than I imagined, because I am being so careful to not cut my fingers because of the pain, but also because I do not want any tiny smell of blood attracting animals. In the end, the fence is not that big or strong.
It is so hot and I am dirty and sweating as never before. I have just two small cakes, which would be my dinner and breakfast, and my water is probably tap water which I asked to the nice guard in the second gate. I take out my clothes, put my mattress on the floor and try to sleep. I haven’t even eaten. Of course it takes me a long time to be able to take a nap but when it happens, I am woken by my fence moving a lot. I already have a plan in my mind in case the worse happen: I would put first the boots, then the hoodie which Amrah gave to me in Rabat (stronger in the chest); then I would tide the other hoodie in the left arm and my plaid shirt in the right one, everything to protect me from the bites and claws. Swiss knife on hands and a piece of wood inside the tent and I was ready to fight for my life. I am really confused about what I should and could do: should I just hurt the animal a little bit and hope it would run away? Or should I admit I am in nature, in a serious situation of life and death, so kill it would be acceptable? If I had to do it, should I go to the Park and explain the situation? Should I leave the place and the animal? Or should I throw it on the river, to clean my path and then leave the place?
I know you might be thinking I am crazy. You are right, I am. But that has nothing to do with this kind of situation. And if you ever find yourself under the same one, you will remember me.
Nothing touched the tent.
I do not remember at what part of the night I ate one cake. But I think it was after waking up with the old train passing in the original bridge, which made me also fear for my life, thinking that the bridge would crash and I would have a ridiculous death after all, by a train / bridge crash and not a wild animal. Aidan Hartley, in his book The Zanzibar Chest, would call this “late night hour stupid fear”.
But if I was so terrified, why had I chosen a water source to make my camping? Even after have seen some fresh hippos’ paw prints earlier in the other side of the river? Because even being a water source, it is too close to the road and the noisy railway. And because I wanted to be near to the original bridge as I already told you.
Well, as you can already imagine, I survived. No more surprises at night and I survived.
In the morning, I could not even leave my tent as soon as I wanted because it is too dark to check out. When I finally did, there is nothing. I looked for the paw prints and found nothing but a single one, which was small with claws and could be from a feline. Perhaps was just a cat…? I was stupid enough to not take a picture.
On the road, no elephants. I decide to try only sign for cars for the first half an hour. Just after five minutes, a pick-up stops. After explaining my situation, the guy got all confused and could not understand. For some reason, I am not trusting him entirely, so I am just saying something like it is OK sir, if you do not feel comfortable you can go. Somebody else will stop. To what he answers that now he is already concerned about me and decided to give me a lift. He is not just going to Mombasa, but to a building right next to where I am going.
Sammy is a professional driver from a county near Nairobi and he is going to pick up his boss. Being the same age as me, and married with two kids, he is surprised and pride of my journey.
During the way, he tells me a little about Kenya and in two hours he is dropping me two blocks away from the Tulia’s House Backpackers in Mombasa, my next volunteer work place.
10 Years Around the World 