Along the Road to Kericho, Part One

Tuesday, August 30, 2005

On our long afternoon drive today, I passed the time writing in my journal, studying the field guide to animals and birds in the truck's reference "library", and letting the breeze blow in my hair as I knelt on the seat to look out the window.

The roads were much better in this part of Kenya than in the areas around Nairobi and Naivasha, and our truck travelled as fast as this kind of vehicle is allowed (about 80 km/hr). Compared to the hours of sidling around potentially truck-crippling potholes and jolting up and down in our seats with every bump like we experienced the other day , it feels like we're flying along.

I needed to sit on one of the side seats to write, keeping a good grip on my notebook as the wind blowing through was powerful. The people sitting along the back bench of the bus felt like they were in a wind-tunnel. There are technically plastic tarpulins that can be rolled down to cover the open sides in case of bad weather, but that would block our view. We were happier to just let our hair blow around.

We slowed down though to pass through many little settlements today, roadside shanty-towns composed of ramshackle buildings made of brightly painted wood or corrugated tin.

It was hot today and very dusty. On the truck we were glad of a cooler rattling around on the back shelf full of drinks purchased earlier.

The favourite seems to be Tusker beer, a tall bottle with a black and yellow label with an elephant logo on it. It seems that the brand was ironically named for the animal that killed the company's founder.

This afternoon we passed a building advertisng Tusker prominently, and to complete the advert here is a picture of Jen and Andy slaking their thirst with the local favourite.

I'm not generally a beer drinker myself, but I much prefer Tusker to Coca-Cola or Fanta which are the other choices other than water from the truck tanks.