Baboons, zebras and a bumpy ride — our first taste of Kenya

Chronicle sports writer Matt joins Oldham Athletic Community Trust’s 25th anniversary trip to Kenya.
CRUNCH! The unmistakable sound of car nose hitting car bumper interrupted a scenic and at times severely risky route from Nairobi Airport, Kenya, to our 10-day base of Nakuru, the country’s fourth-largest town.

When you see the way traffic in this land weaves in and out of itself, usually avoiding collisions by millimetres, an occasional bump perhaps has to be expected.

What was unusual was the source of our accident, which woke many of the eight-strong Oldham Athletic Community Trust party — a man riding, very slowly and uphill, a primitive cart powered by two small donkeys.

With no overtaking room, a 40-mph journey quickly became a 0-mph one. As a convoy of vehicles braked heavily, the one behind ours did so a fraction too late.

This is Kenya, we keep being told. And so, after the superficial damage to the back bumper was assessed and settled with a handful of Kenyan Shilling notes, we were off again.

The van would have been in a far worse state had, half-an-hour later, our driver not shown serious skills in navigating through fog as thick as lentil soup on a perilous mountain pass.

The volunteer group also had more relaxing sights – baboons and zebras at the side of a long, straight road that took three hours to cross.


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