Traverse 06 | Page 18

chaotic or challenging, even though we were pushed onto the shoulder of the road by many crazy bus drivers who completely ignore the presence of a motorcycle or often even a car when they decide to overtake a slower car or a truck in front of them. Humming the melodies from the soundtrack of Disney’s “The Lion King” in our helmet intercoms, we rode through the ever-changing Kenyan landscape, from the vast savannahs decorated with the iconic flat-top acacia trees, through the small village roads of bright red soil (which turns into the most slippery mud you can find on our planet when wet, or disintegrates into deep sand if left dry long enough), to the beautifully wind- ing paved roads on the dreamy lush green hills covered with forests and tea plantations. We camped on the hillside of the second highest moun- tain in Africa - Mt. Kenya. Shared our campground on the coast of Lake Baringo with a lovely family of big fat hippos, who came out of the water to graze right next to our tent at night, and we learned the hard way that all our stuff must not be left scattered TRAVERSE 18 around our motorcycles while set- ting up a camp, beca use the infamous playful Vervet monkeys would dig into it in no time! The border crossing between Ken- ya and Uganda, and frankly between all the African countries we’ve visited so far, was easy and relaxed. We were expecting something more like the tu- multuous crossings of Central Amer- ica where one had to go on a quest in the heat of 40 degrees centigrade to find the right person in an erratic crowd of people outside the customs office, busy with various activities