I was in Meru doing some work, and when it was done, it hit me; this was the farthest north I had come on the A2.
So instead of returning south to Nairobi, I disembarked from the shuttle and dashed to the Isiolo-bound buses, having already set my mind to go to Moyale, which is the farthest town north on the A2 in Kenya.
Using public transport has its inconveniences, and by the time I got to Isiolo, the Moyale-bound buses had already left; in case you are wondering, they start their journey in Nairobi, so Isiolo is just a stopover.
Moyale is slightly over 500km fom Isiolo, and only 3 buses ply that route; Moyale Raha, Moyale Liner and Moyale Star. When the roads get better, maybe we will have more options.
Back to Isiolo.
If you miss the bus to Moyale and still wish to head north, you can do one of two things; spend the night and catch the bus the day after, or take a Toyota Landcruiser (pick up with seats at the back, a canvas to shelter us) to Marsabit and hope to connect from there.
I wanted to keep moving, so I took a Landcruiser to Marsabit, more than 200km away. It cost me a thousand and I partially understood why it was so expensive after Merille, which is coincidentally where Marsabit county, Kenya’s biggest county, begins.
The tarmac ends here, and then you go on and on, and on, on rough roads, diversions, and even more rough roads. But fortunately, we are on these rough roads because the A2 is being built, and I think in maybe 3-4 years, the whole stretch will be built, because there are more than 4 contractors involved on the road, predominantly Chinese, but a Turkish company is also involved; they build beautiful bridges, according to a passenger I was travelling with.
There’s an ocassional reprieve where we are allowed to use completed sections of the highway, and we got to Marsabit sometime past four or five.
I had hoped to get ahead of a bus as we sped to Marsabit but the plan didnt pan out, and it seemed that I would have to spend the night ni Marsabit and hope to catch a bus the next day.
Luckily for me, a school bus from Moyale had ferried students to Marsabit for some talent show, and we caught it just in time. We, because I made an acquaintance with some other guy keen to get to Moyale on the same day.
We hopped on, enjoyed the tarmac for many good kilometers and then it was a rough road all the way to Moyale.
Turns out the guy is a policeman. I crashed at the police line, roamed around Moyale Kenya, and went to Moyale Ethiopia.
They check for Ebola btw.
Passport control in Ethiopia nearly chased me away, but I got an entry stamp; haven’t taken the exit stamp yet, I am thinking I should go to their Embassy here in Nairobi and resolve that.
I satisfied my Moyale curiosity and came back to Nairobi.
Here are a few photos from the journey.
And Here’s a map of the Meru-Moyale Route.
God willing I’ll be in Baringo in January.
I’d love to hear from you in the comments section below.