28 March to 2 April 2023

After a second night at Penguin House in Nanyuki we head on out – heading south now towards the capital.

It is an easy drive and with long stretches of dual carriageway. Our destination for today is another overlanding stalwart: Jungle Junction or “JJ’s” as it is affectionately referred to. As we get closer to Nairobi we put JJ’s into Google maps and let it guide us in.  As we approach the city the traffic thickens and the highway widens, adding lanes. Much of it is on a raised overpass and we check out the dense traffic and buildings below us. It is a huge sprawling city. Next thing we come to a decision point: express way or not – Google wants us to take it and we do. We stop at the toll booth – our car registration number and vehicle class comes up in lights – it’s very impressive! The guy in the booth starts chatting to us, the usual where are you from, what do you think of Kenya? Where are you going? Once he establishes that we’ll be for here a while he tries to sell us an eTag. A born salesman!

In the end we pay the toll on exiting the expressway – presumably based on your vehicle class and distance travelled.  I can’t remember what that toll fee was, but it was very modest. It was enough though, to deter a lot of the traffic, and we zoomed along the raised expressway with very little other traffic.

We find JJ’s easily, nestled in Langata, next to the leafy upmarket suburb of Karen, and settle in. JJ’s has a campsite  – in essence a flat grassed paddock, but also offers rooms. Pulling into the campsite I can’t believe my eyes – here are the pink busses, or Rossa Bussarna. I last saw these in 1996 in Tiwi Beach – the gathering point for loads of young Swedes (horny, a bit pissed and very sunburnt) at the starting point for a Kenya to Cape Town overland trip. It was party central. I WhatsApp a shot to Sharon and Gwynn to say we’ve found their lair!

Later on in our stay, I get talking to Chris, the owner of JJ’s, about the pink busses and these trips aimed at young back-packers. Chris tells me the company stores these here when not in use, but these busses are too run down to travel far Down South and mainly ply their trade from Nairobi to routes in Rwanda and Uganda. He agrees that these kinds of tours are no longer as popular / prevalent as they were during their hey day in the ‘80’s and early 90’s. I’d heard similar things from Nicky Ghaui at Kisolanza in Tanzania, and later again from Harry, the Dutch owner of Lukasa in Lusaka.  All suggest a range of reasons: the cost of Africa travel generally, a pressured and debt-burdened Gen Z with little disposable income for such things, the pull of other destinations offering better value for money (Thailand, Vietnam and the rest of SE Asia in particular), a price war among operators which meant a very trimmed down offering by some (e.g. one over-stretched driver -guide where once there would have been a driver, relief driver, cook, camp manager and guide) …some feel this tainted the whole budget overlanding industry as a low quality offering.  It’s a pity I think. That said, said subsequent Googling tells me the January 2024 leg of the Rossa Bussarna Kenya to Cape Town is fully booked!

Our time spent in Nairobi is spent sorting admin: getting some repairs done, getting our gas bottles refilled (there are depots in Nairobi that can refill SA bottles, Jungle Junction can arrange to have this done), tracking down propane refills for our JetBoil (a small camping stove like hikers use – we use it to boil water for tea and coffee) doing a stock up and sort out, getting laundry done etc.  And oh, yes doing some of that other stuff, what is it called again? Oh yes, some work. Remember that?

As regards repairs, the air strut on one of the canopy doors has busted. To be honest they were always too big (or wrongly placed I think) so I ask Chris if he can help. (He has a full workshop here at JJ’s so you can get your vehicle serviced here too). Parts are ordered and delivered and the following day I chew the fat with him whilst he works on fitting the new struts. We get talking about all kinds of things. His first love is motorbikes and that is his original training. At one stage he had a BMW dealership in Joburg. He is German but Kenya is now definitely home and he and his wife Diana run a tight ship here at JJ’s.  He’s quite the romantic and talk turns to the things in life that make the world turn: love … dogs …women (not necessarily in that order). He tells the story of Mara, a stray dog that followed him for weeks through the DRC and eventually learnt to ride on the back of his bike. I am completely charmed!

Fitting the struts turns out to be a bit of a ‘boat job’.  A what? I ask. A boat job, Chris explains, is one that should take 10 – 15 min but takes much longer, hours in fact. He has no idea of the origin of the term. Anyway I leave the man in peace – turns into a really fiddly job to get the pressure / tautness right on the struts.

We spend longer than anticipated at JJ’s. Sure we had to work, and it was a good place to do that, with nice quiet corners with table and chairs inside the main house where you can settle down to work in peace. But also it’s just such a super-chilled place to be. I imagine one could get stuck here.

There are a couple of other campers at JJ’s. One lot is a young Dutch couple with two little girls who they are home-schooling along the way. They are driving a big VW transporter type rig and are at the end of a long trip. Next they are off to the coast where they will ship their rig home out of Mombasa. They are having a clear out and we score a small french press, a fistful of Ugandan shillings and their Bradt guide to Malawi 😊

Moaning about the quality of ‘industrial’ bread here in Kenya (it seems to break up and go mouldy really quickly), our Dutch neighbours explain the delights of BROODT, a Dutch bakery with a number of outlets in Nairobi. We pay it a visit – wonderful breads and pastries. I buy a stash of rolls to freeze.

One day we decide we it’s time for some sight-seeing so we visit the Karen Blixen museum in, well, Karen. Whilst I knew before this trip of Karen, i.e. that it was an upmarket suburb in Nairobi, I’d never make the connection with Karen Blixen. Well obviously, I mean how dof could I be. But of course – the suburb is on land that was part of the original farm owned by here and is named for her.

I’ve read a fair number of rather rude and dismissive comments on the Karen Blixen museum, saying it’s just full of props from the movie Out of Africa. Well, we thought it was charming and the old house has been well restored and many of the original furnishings donated back.

The entrance fee includes a guide and whilst the spiel is a bit rote, it adds to the experience rather than detracts. Explaining the kitchen equipment he points to the butter paddles. And here are the butter paddles, he says. We ask the young guide if he knows what these are used for…he hesitates like it’s a trick question. Nope. So we explain – they are for shaping butter into smart balls for serving we say. Not sure believed us. Got Deb and I talking about this again…so many parallels growing up ….our mothers both trained as nurses in London in the 50’s, both started married life in Africa (my mom in Zambia, Deb’s in SA) – both had a certain way of doing things – both delegated the task of making dinner party butter balls to their daughters  – a chore we both hated. Deb used paddles, I had a scraping curly thing that made spirals, and you had to work quickly before it all softened into a formless mess…

Anyway the grounds and house are beautiful. From here you can see the Ngong Hills (we learn from our guide that Ngong means knuckles in Swahili – and they look exactly like that, just with wind turbines on top – a nod to modern Kenya).

In the gift shop I buy a couple of postcards, including one of Karen Blixen’s painting of her servant Abdullah Ahmed. There is a (very good) copy of it hanging in the house together with copies of her other paintings. It is the picture in this blog header (a shot of the now rather crumpled postcard that now lives on my study pinboard at home).

We visit the Karen farmers market (weekends only) on Chris’s recommendation. It’s good fun, great food (killer pork noodle soup from a Thai family’s stand), live music, fab organic veg and a chance to pick up a few different things compared to standard supermarket fare. For Joburg readers – it’s a bit like the organic market at Bryanston’s Micheal Mount Waldorf. Just younger (and hipper).

Karen itself is a beautiful suburb, with tall hardwood trees and some very grand homes with big forested gardens, and speedbumps, and signs to drive slowly and watch out for children and dogs and horses. I could live here, I sigh. Deb looks at me sideways….you can’t afford to live here!

Next stop: To the Mara

NOTES FOR TRAVELLERS:

• Jungle Junction (JJ’s) – an overlanding favourite for good reason
  • Easy to find on Google Maps or iOverlander
  • Good central location
  • Camping KSH 1 250 pp, Laundry 400KSH for a big bag (these will have gone up in 2024, but to give an indication)
  • Also offer rooms
  • Honesty bar, also offer meals but we didn’t eat there
  • Owner Chris very helpful, readily shares info on things to do, routes , bureaucracy etc. But I don’t think he suffers fools gladly as evidenced by many of the divisive comments on iOverlander
  • Can store your vehicle here (out in open or containerized) – seems very secure (guard at gate, property fully walled, night watchman)
  • They will organise gas refills for SA bottles. Charge a bit of a premium but then this also saves you a schlep though Nairobi traffic. Don’t have a note of exact cost, but it wasn’t outrageous.
• Shopping: lots of malls nearby. We went to both the Hub as well as the newer Waterfront mall in Karen (preferred the latter – less crowded and more spacious parking bays). Broodt was great for long lasting rye and sourdough and rolls for freezer. The one easiest to access is on Magadi  Road Karen. At the Total Petrol Station. I found propane refills for the JetBoil (brand Cadac) at Going Outdoor Limited– it’s an outdoor / camping shop in the nearby Galleria centre
• Karen Blixen museum: KSK 1 200 each (includes guide)