Journey to Marigat

I want to say a big "welcome and thank you" to my newest blog followers: Chicken Underwear, Barbara Rosenweig, Jack and Donetta.

When I last left off on my Kenyan safari, I was just wrapping up the tour in the Nakuru National Park. Now I want to take you north, to Marigat, Kenya.  My memory is getting a little fuzzy but I believe it took about 5 hours to drive from Nakuru to Marigat with one stop at the equator.

You can see the Kenyan sky is quite cloudy in some areas. It looks like it might rain.  Yet in other areas it was quite blue. It was a very hot day that day and it was nice to sit in a large and comfortable van by an open window to catch the breeze created by the speed of driving.

This photo is taken on the site of the new visitors centre at the equatorial line in Kenya.

Here I pose for a photo.

I tried to get as many flags in one photo as possible.  My flag is in the foreground, I couldn't capture it if I wanted the big globe and the Kenyan flag in the photo too.

Marigat is a small town in the Rift Valley and it is known for its extremely hot and dry weather. There are no major hotels at this small town but there are places to lodge and to eat.  There are also banks and shops in the town.  Marigat, is the last main stopover for tourists before you drive on to a couple of well-established spa resorts located about 20 km away at Lake Borgoria to the southeast and Lake Boringo to the north.   I will feature the resorts in future blog posts.

Marigat also seems to be the hub of market activity for the surrounding villages.  There are many people living in small villages for miles and miles around.  Most of them are pastoralists and they go to  Marigat to buy things or to conduct their business.  I'm sure many villagers never even make it to Marigat and make do with what they have wherever they live. In my next post about my Kenyan safari I will take you to such a place.

The next few photos give you an idea what the terrain is like on the drive from Nakuru into Marigat. 

Seeing goats on, or along the highway, is a fairly typical sight.

The next two photos are taken on the highway just outside the town of Marigat.  It was market day and there were scores of people walking on the highway going to and from the market.

Although Marigat is a very dry place there is an Perkerra Irrigation Project in place.  I've read that this is responsible for the rapid growth of this still small but bustling town.  While we were driving on to a particular village we drove past a lot of the irrigated lands.

Here is downtown Marigat. It is full of matutus (small van buses) and people trying to get to their homes in far flung villages and towns. Everywhere too there are jeeps and 4x4s with people trying to fasten down their purchases and get a ride as close to their homes as possible as regular vehicles cannot make the journey.  Many of the people making the purchases have small stalls/stores in their little villages to service the other residents.

I'm always fascinated by the street scenes in Kenya.  This young girl was trying to sell me a bag of produce.

 

Women line the main highway to sell produce.  This kind of market place activity is quite common everywhere you go in Kenya. Usually the women purchase produce in bulk and then sell it at a small mark up to try and make a living each day  They work long hours and sit in the hot sun all the day long.  It is so hot and dusty in this place that I couldn't imagine me doing this. I needed cold water every so often.

We had lunch at this establishment that has a balcony overlooking the main highway and the activity down below.

Some people don't come to eat or drink. They just come to relax and watch people down below.

Our stopover at Marigat is not long. We only have lunch, use the facilities and buy water for the long journey ahead.  We are on our way to an outlying village and it will take hours over bumpy and dusty roads to get there. I have been there once before and am anxious to see it again.

In case you've missed other posts in this series, please do check them out. You can find some links at the bottom of this post.  Also check out my stories about little Kigen, the young boy who needs medical help. Please keep him in your prayers.

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