Failed challengers wait for the "train of shame"

September 2, 2005

Tina, Steve, Laura, and I went to town to buy supplies for the challenge. We met our guide in the afternoon and walked to the Kajiado stage where we met Jason, Carla, and Daniel. We all stayed at John’s site that night with most of the other hikers – John, Mark, Steph, Cheryl, and Zane. It was a rough night’s sleep for me. John’s site is pretty cold, and I was sleeping next to 2 open windows draped in a kikoy. We started hiking around 7am. John had arranged for us to stay at an ecolodge about 30 km away.

It was obvious from the start who were the slow walkers and who were the fast walkers. I was in the back with Tina and Laura. Luckily, the first day was straightforward. We followed the railroad tracks for the first half and a dirt road for the second. The weather was kind –overcast and cool – until about noon. But the railroad tracks were rocky, and since we weren’t sure of the distance we each carried about 6 liters of water. The pack I was using is my dad’s. He’s 6’4”. I’m not. So a lot of the weight was on my shoulders. Several hikers had nothing but shoulder packs.

The blisters started forming early and by afternoon Tina and I were living up to our old lady names – Velda and Mabel. The last two hours were excruciating and slow. We got to the lodge about 3:30. The others had arrived 30 minutes earlier. Laura, Tina, and I were in a lot of pain and hesitant to hike again. But the area was so isolated we weren’t sure we had a choice.

I had a knot on my shoulder that was clearly visible to the naked eye, 5 blisters, and several hot spots.

The camp was beautiful – small solar-powered cabins with clean rooms, an observation deck, and high-pressure showers heated by solar. It’s such a weird place in the middle of nowhere, and they almost never have guests aside form the occasional anthropology student doing work in the area.

Our guide had never been to Kajiado, so Steve consulted some local people on the next day’s hike to Magadi. He came back with two options. The first was to hike an hour to the nearest town and take the soda ash train to Magadi. The second was to hike to Magadi on the shortcuts the Maasai use, which was estimated by different people to be somewhere between 5 hours and two days. You may recall my complaints about Magadi’s stifling heat as well. It was a no-brainer for me. Seven of us decided to take the train, and 5 crazy people decided to hike. We were in bed by 9 and up at 4 the next morning. We weren’t exactly sure when the train would come, but we were told it would be early, and it only come 3 times a week, so we didn’t want to miss it. The hikers wanted to start early too to beat the heat.

We all left together. Around 7am, we got to the train tracks, and the hikers turned off to find the shortcut.

Around 8am, we saw the train coming and jumped up to catch it. Unfortunately, it was still going to Kajiado to add cars and return. We had a long wait ahead of us. We sat in the town and entertained ourselves with discussions on the theory of relativity and a detailed explanation of the rules of cricket with drawings in the sand. Steph appeared a little too friendly to one of the local children and before we knew it there were 5 of them hanging all over us.

After 6 ½ hours of waiting, the train finally came. We were worried the hikers might actually beat us to Magadi. The ride was 3 hours. We got to Steve’s house around 5, and the hikers arrived an hour later. They had walked for 12 hours and looked beaten and filthy. They were covered in a layer of black dirt.

I was amazed they made it at all. We think they walked between 50 and 60 km (31-36miles). And as much as they were aching, some were considering walking again the next day – another 25km in Magadi heat. They were lucky that day – it was mostly overcast and cool. But when the sun came out it was murder.

I myself had increased the number of blisters on my feet to 13 in our short walk to the train tracks. So there was no thought of hiking the next day either. In the end, we all decided we needed a day off. We rested in Magadi and took an afternoon bus to Enta Sopia, Steve’s bush site.

Enta Sopia is an isolated town at the foot of the Loita Hills. Only one bus goes back and forth once a day except Sundays. Because transportation is limited and there are no police stops, the bus doesn’t observe the current matatu laws. It fits in anyone and everyone who needs a lift. Luckily, Steve knows one of the conductors, so he was able to secure all of us seats for the ride there and back. But having a seat doesn’t mean much when there are 50 others shoved in with children, parcels, and sometimes livestock. I was lucky enough to get a window seat on the way there. It was supposed to be an hour drive, but we were letting people off and on every 2 minutes, and it took us nearly 3 hours to reach the town.

Steve stays at a lodge there whenever he’s in town for work and has a good relationship with the family. In fact, the guide we’d hired was one of mama’s sons. Her other son, Moses, had prepared a feast for our arrival. They’d slaughtered a goat and laid out rice, chapati, beans, potatoes, cabbage, and fresh fruits.

In the morning, we were finally feeling well enough to walk again. The goal was a waterfall that Steve and Moses told us was about an hour away. They neglected to mention it was straight up the side of a mountain. Again, Laura, Tina, and I fell behind. Moses was our guide, and he walked with us in the back.

At one point, we asked Moses to take a picture. He said, “I don’t know how to use a camera.” I figured he was joking, but Tina took him seriously and started giving him directions. Finally, he said, “I’m kidding. I’m an engineer.” Not just any engineer. Aeronautical in fact. He did his practicals in Manchester, England and worked in Russia for 5 years. Now he’s trying to find work in Kenya, but is so far doing helicopter mechanics for free. When he wanted to raise money for his university tuition, he walked from Mombasa to Nairobi. Unfortunately, the money was stolen by someone at the bank, and it took him years to recover it. After hearing all of his stories, Laura, Tina, and I were ready to fight for him! But he does have a flaw – an apparent drinking problem. At least, that’s what we assumed since he reeked of alcohol.

The one-hour hike to the waterfall took three hours. But it was worth it. We all went for a dip. There was a rock in the pool you could jump from into the falls. The water was FREEZING, but it made our aching muscles feel better.

In the morning, we took the bus to Nairobi via Magadi. We had to board at 5:45 am. Again, the bus was overcrowded and miserable. My aisle seat afforded me very intimate contact with the back-ends of women and the swords of the Maasai.