endless safari

Monday was a journey from hell! I left my friend’s house in Nairobi and we caught a matatu into town. I then got a taxi to my bus stop in River Road. Unfortunately my driver didn’t know where the stop was so I was given a grand tour of River Road, in nose to tail traffic. I’m not a big fan of River Road or Tom Mboya Street as I was robbed there a few years ago so I got onto the matatu to Nairobi as soon as possible. We inched our way out of town and I asked myself for the zillionith time why the Kenyan government don’t have some strategic plan of dealing with traffic issues in Nairobi! The jam is just painful at times. Finally out of the city and the mat decides to take an alternative route to Naivasha - the back road via Mai Mahiu….which is much longer. It’s very scenic as you drive along the edge of a large valley….but I fail to appreciate it’s beauty as most of the time I’m clinging onto my seat in the vehicule….terrified of toppling over the edge and whispering prayers for safety under my breath as the matatu zips around corners at quite frankly unsafe speeds as we teeter on the edge of the drop into the valley. My nerves aren’t helped by us passing a lorry which has gone off the road and rolled down the drop into the valley. A tighter grip ensues…although this is obviously ridiculous as my gripping the car isn’t going to stop any accidents!