Kenya is a no go!!!

Well,
It's been in the back of our minds and so after rolling into camp in Khartoum and getting the presentaion of the sectional winners out of the way Henry Gold took the floor and announced that we were not going to be able to ride through Kenya!!

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...BUT THAT'S THE SECTION I CAME FOR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Very gloomy faces, lots of shuffling from the riders but not a total shock reaction as we had been getting the odd comment thrown out to us a few days earlier. However, to hear Henry actually say we are not going through Kenya was tough.My heart just dropped and so add it to the rib thing..I was heading for a funk of all funks! Third time a charm? Universal law..am I meant to go through Kenya? I could not believe it!!

Following the escalation of the situation in Kenya a decision had to be made and so they are flying the riders over Kenya. The situation on the ground has dropped to a very unsafe level and the Rift Valley, where we were to ride through is the area which is having the most problems and it has been deemed unsafe for all tourists. The United Nations has a rating scale and the Northern Kenya portion of the section from Moyale to Marsabit has a scale of 3 which means that only essential travel is advised. That same portion of the section is also where the tour usually has a heavy police escort to keep us protected from the bandits traveling over the Somali and Uganda borders. With the violence in the south I'm not too sure if there was going to be police escorts available so all in all TDA decided Kenya was out for 2008.

So the plan is to ride to the Ethiopian and Kenyan border as per usual from Addis and then load Doris, Priscilla and The Bitch with red boxes and bikes. They will go overland - Wimpey is all for blasting through Kenya at break neck speed but I think they are going to take them around Kenya - somehow.... who knows as yet..it will all depend on what the situation is like when we get there on Feb 28th. As for the riders we will be bused back to Addis splitting the trip into 2 days by staying at one of the many lakes in Ethiopia and then TDA is going to either charter a flight out of Addis to Arusha or allow the riders to go where ever they want for 2 weeks making sure they turn up in Arusha to start the next section as planned. So the rest days have been spent on the internet figuring out flights and what to do to kill time. It can't be avoided as everybody is also affected by the long arms of the travel insurance companies. What happens if you travel to Kenya? Does it make your policy null and void if you enter Kenya? If you injury yourself while in Kenya does the injury become a 'pre-existing condition' once you leave Kenya? All sorts of risks and not really worth it.

I spent yesterday doing absolutely nothing but lazing around and recovering. I spent this morning at the Bristish Airways office trying to sort my flight out. I'm not going on to Arusha but I'm also not flying our of Nairobi and so am in the middle of negotiating a reroute out of Addis. Tomorrow we head for the Sudanese border and 4 days of Desert campS and then it's beer for the beer drinkers at the Ethiopian border and then a quick change of tires and two hard riding days with serious altitude, off road if it's the same as last year and climbing to the cool city/town of Gondar and a well deserved rest day.

I'm sure the conversation in camp tomorrow evening will be all about where are you going and what are you going to be doing for 14 days or so. It certainly will be interesting and I'm sure there will also be a fair dose of bitching and moaning as well. It is what it is and hey it's Africa and it's one big adventure!!
Wish you all could be here with me, maybe not the riding but certainly enjoying this hotel...hot showers, great food (other than bread and peanut butter and stew.....) and if you time it right ...get on the internet at 7.30pm and they hand you home made ice cream in little punets...you have to love this Greek family who have owned the Arcopole since the 50's!!George the owner is a legend and he and his family run a tight ship.

OK,hope you are all keeping out of trouble, next post will be in 7 days time from Gondar, Ethiopia and I hopefully will be in a good state after the shock to the body of having to climb for my supper!
Love ya
Janet - not going to Kenya.....
P.S. Henry just walked past the desk and told me I can do the section at no cost next year..well I've actually paid for it this year so it's not really at no cost...but what a little ray of sunshine. Maybe I'll be the only one ever to come back three times..now there's a thought!!
Gotta go...