Driving in Africa

I was writing recently about how I don't think I am appreciating the 'norm' in my life any more. Which, for the most part is true.
I do however never forget how much I love to drive here.

I am not being sarcastic.

Where I live in Nairobi, traffic is really not a problem. I drive around in my Surf like I have somewhere to go. Winding through the valleys, with the sun (more often than not) is shining and I think..I am so lucky.

I love it. I love the old battered trucks and the dust in my hair. (Again...not being sarcastic!). It's fun. I feel I am being adventurous and I feel like it is part of being in Africa. I can pretend, for that time, that I am rushing from the farm to see how my new house is coming on...the builders are just taking soooo long!! (Yada yada yada!)

Hey-we all like adventure...until you get stuck in the mud!

Ah well, I learnt from the good old Prado days...and bought a spade...which I now keep in my boot...you never know.

I think of the flat highways in Kuwait, where I drove at 120km per hour, in the slow lane. Eeeeeek! I used to drive a small Peugeot (say it-Peugeot...is there an 'r'? Jo...no). I think I may not fit in one again. I might just have to plant a tree or two here, to offset my carbon footprint...just so I can get a 4x4!

The other night at a party, a friend was telling her 'worst day in her life' story. Which although might not sound that bad to some, sounded pretty traumatic. It was the day of her driving test...in Nairobi. Now, I have friends who have been to the government building and $100 later have walked out with their papers...never having to sit in a car. But this friend wanted to do it properly. She arrived at the test centre at 6 am ,when requested, arriving before the instructors. She then had to do a lot of waiting around, lining up in queues, playing on her blackberry, until it was time to get in the car...with the 3 other candidates. She didn't leave until 8.30pm, but at least she did have legal documents in her hand...unlike some unlucky candidates. To me, the day sounded awful (doing it in the UK...more thank once...was bad enough!)...and I think I may have either walked out, cried or killed some unlucky person.

But, now, like me, she enjoys her drives in the valleys with her music turned up loud!

This is what you get by not having UN plates

Getting waved to the side of the road by two policemen shouldn't really be anything to worry about, when you know you haven't done anything wrong.

But you do. I did. I smiled and asked what the problem was, as the two policemen waved there machine guns around. They asked me to come further off the road. I was thankful that it was quite a busy street and just smiled. I checked they were wearing there pin numbers, they were. so apparently they were on duty.

They said I was on my mobile. Mmm. No. I wasn't. (I really wasn't.)
I ended up flattering the policeman with the breathe smelling of booze, thanking him that he is trying to do a good job.

He hadn't been drinking he said. Well I wasn't using my phone, I said. Have a good day. He needs my mobile he says, to check the log. I understand, I will help you and show you my log. Or, if you would like I'll be happy to drive to the nearest station to show them.

Goodbye.

Just happy to leave, with my mobile and money still in my purse.

Really-there is nothing for it, but go for a glass of wine, who cares if I'm still in my running gear.

Then I think,bugger, I should have taken down their pin numbers. Then I think, what's the point. Sad, isn't it?

Like the fact, that (even though I don't get road rage) I have taken to use my camera (on my phone..I promise I wasn't doing this when the police stopped me!) to take photos of bad drivers. Why? Am I going to go to the police about some woman that nearly drove into me near school. No, but it makes me feel better!

YOU CAN'T DRIVE!

Aaaaah-that's it! All better now.

Maybe I should just wear my costume...my Robin one, more often!

(PS- I know this is not unusual. (Not the Batman thing.) My friend got pulled over 5 times on the road from Mombasa to Nairobi when we travelled in convoy in October. He didn't have a liscense so ended up paying a small fortune in bribes, which we all found quite funny at the time. But I really didn't do anything wrong...)

NOT a fuel shortage

So, what happens when petrol prices in Nairobi go down? A petrol shortage, obviously!

Not quite a shortage. An artificial one. A shortage for me, but not for the oil companies who are (accused of) hoarding it. Dealers are storing it all up, refusing to fill up my tank.

Thanks!

Long lines at the stations, causing blocked roads. Stuck in 'the jam', the arrow on my dial drops further. Four wasted tries, hand waving, being told 'not today mama'. I did make it to work, dang and blast, but I wasn't sure where else I would make it to. I spent the day fretting. Drivers from school being sent off on a search. The mobile is brought to life with news of fuel. Another wasted journey, the precious liquid is gone by the time the Surf is there. I told my class to send out the search party if I didn't make it in tomorrow...but they got excited at the thought of a pirate doing supply teaching (where does it come from!? a story to be written tomorrow perhaps, I maybe should find a wig and a hook!) and my dilemma was quickly forgotten about.

On the positive side...it made going to the supermarket a breeze. I did not swear once in Nakumatt today...I know holy shit pretty good! Nobody is there...they must be in the queue at the petrol station! 

Inside I'm Screaming

Some days you just shrug your shoulders and say T.I.A (This is Africa). Other days you get so much achieved, like last weekend that you forget how hard it can be. This afternoon wasn't quite like that.

It has been so hot the past couple of days and with no air conditioning and a broken fan, the classroom is a sweat box. By the time 3.15 rolled around I had a red face, wet thighs and a pile of marking.

I broke my one-job-per-day rule and thought I could go food shopping, visit MTN (AGAIN!) and then swim laps! How many of those do you think I got done? One, it is always one, haven't I learnt that yet!?

This was my second visit to try the mobile shop to get my now not-so-new gadget set up for the modern world. It apparently can receive e-mails, if I need this or not is not the point, the point is that it was still not working.  After an hour in the shop, at a point when I didn't know if I was going to cry or storm out (but really...I would have had to go back another day...!) the chap that was fixing my phone, in between gossiping with the pretty (ish) girl next to him (who did not pick up my evil 'he-is-busy-with-me' eyes, selling airtime and picking his nose, handed back (yeesss....yuck...with those same fingers!!) a fully functional mobile! I never even mentioned the nose-picking, just wiped the buttons and happily walked out of the shop...

into ...traffic!

This week the traffic seems particularly bad...is it just the heat that makes me think this!? I am sure I said to myself that my next 'home' would be somewhere that I could cycle to work and around town. I am sure I did. I don't think there are cycle lanes in Nairobi!

Saying that, just as I was reaching the 0.7km mark from my house (or 30 minutes away by car) a boda-boda (motorbike) passed me with a passenger carrying...a... boda-boda. That made me smile! It zoomed (!) passed the traffic at such a speed that I didn't manage to get my mobile (it has a camera too you know!!) out of its case in time, so you will just have to imagine it.

I am learning with time, how to manage these frustrations  and I am passing on more little jobs to my man-helper (I usually just call him my 'man', as finding a suitable label for a male cleaner/helper/weighing scales (another story)/finder of all lost things is hard; I don't have 'staff', I have only a 'man'...anyhow); he now goes to the post office for me and gets my fruit and veg from the market. In my spare time I am teaching him how to teach!!!


I know that these are small frustrations. I have a friend going through tough times at the moment and I am not comparing these silly woes with theirs...still... I hope it rains tonight, that may help keep the state of zen and calm in my life.

City Life

In the world of 'Robyn', today has been a very good day!

A very productive day at work, both in teaching and as head tour-guide operator for RUT; Robyn's Ugandan Trips!!  Having seen the positive feedback that my friend, Tania, got from her photos, I feel I have found my first employee - as Marketing Manager.

Today's other highlights; renewing my car insurance. I panicked at how long this might take; waiting in an office down-town, to be told I had the wrong paper work or such-and-such wasn't here etc. But no! All it took was a phone call, a ride on a boda to avoid being stuck in traffic, a lot of money and two minutes in the office! Amazingly civilized!

I then went to the bank (I avoid this- it goes at the end of every 'to do' list) to cash in some extra money that the school gave me. Well, I had earned  it- but had forgotten about it, nice all the same. As I went through the enclosed time-capsule that is the door (one door opens, step in, the other door opens,  enter the bank) and passed the guard with the machine gun(not kidding - not the usual rusty AK47, but a deadly and intimidating silver machine gun, held by a guard with his shoe laces undone...scary!!) my cool began to  heat-up. But-yet again, I was pleasantly surprised-  no stress today!

Kampala, I don't give you enough credit!

So-home in time to make pea and pesto soup, time for a long scrub (boda-boda hair is not attractive!) and time to write a blog!

The long and winding road..duh, duuuh,duhh.

I am a bit of a scatter brain at the moment. I have just not settled back into my work routine yet and I'm wishing I was still in the bush, searching for lions.

My first guest, in my new role as safari guide, is now safely back in the Western world, although I think this took a while; she seemed to spend more time on the ground with the "the world's favourite airline" than in my car (the aptly named Gorgonzola- a bit beastly) whilst on safari! And we did spend many hours on the road; thank goodness my friend and I had 15 years to catch-up on.

There is never a dull moment on a self-drive safari. And we started off well; getting stuck in mud behind three school buses and two safari trucks, fearing we would be camping by the road-side. By day two we were pros. Not once were we lost or dazed, although the driver (yours truly) was often slightly confused.  Only on our return to the city did we  read all that we SHOULD have read before setting out on a self-drive safari...I'm sure that if we read it first we would have decided to fly!

Being able to enjoy morning coffee on the roof of your car whilst admiring the elephants and giraffes is a safari highlight, but we still managed to stretch our legs during the road trip. Horse riding in plains with Ugandan kobs;  sipping on Bombay Saphire whilst getting up close and personal with the hippos; tracking for the chimps; getting boda-bodas around the town; swimming in the crater lakes and rafting down the River Nile.

My first guest, Tania, has promised to write a glowing reference for my next blog, but I know that now my safari skills are being developed (and my photos are soon to be posted), friends and family will be knocking on my door.

A few snapshots of the long and winding road...and some of our adventures along the way!



Sunday driver!



Stretching our legs to check out the hippos -
we liked them...over there!





The red roads of Uganda






Oh-it looks so romantic...until a hippo bashes into you!
Gin...straight up!

  


Watch out Nicole Kidman!




We stopped for a break in the bush, where we then ate the
Ugandan Kob we spotted. Yum!




Our warm-up before the chimp tracking- a visit to a
local tea plantation. Hard work!





We had a quiet time at Ndali lodge, so visited the coffee
and vanilla plantation for a tour.





Time for a swim in the crater lake!