Driving in Kenya

Before I left Canada I was informed that the most likely cause of injury or death to people volunteering in foreign countries are car accidents. Having now spent a summer in Kenya, I can understand how that can be the case.

 

On the first day in Kenya I was informed that, aside from the airport and a few rare places, motor vehicles and not pedestrians have the right-of-way. Also, though wearing a seatbelt is the law, many vehicles don’t have any.

 

Driving here is done on the left side of the road just as it is in Britain. Some of the roads are paved and in Nairobi the highway is four lanes across on both sides. In our area, the main roads may be paved but it is often easier to drive on the dirt shoulder because of all the pot-holes. Often our drivers use drive in the oncoming lane because that side of the road it better. So most of the time, we are weaving left and right, bouncing around like popping popcorn.

 

What looks like a dirt trail here is actually the road we were driving on shortly before taking this picture.

 

 

There are a few different options for traveling on the roads, the simplest and riskiest being walking. Since we travel to numerous farms in a day, this was not a method we used often. However, walking over to the little market to pick up a few things turn out just fin every time.

 

The next lever up is getting a ride on a boda boda, also known as a dirt bike. These are likely the most versatile vehicles out here as they can handle the one lane bumping dirk and mud roads very well. Just imagine a typical dirt bike a teenager might have. Now add on two or three people, building supplies, goats, and milk crates stacked 4 to 6 high going 80 km/h; you start to get an idea of how they are used. Basically almost everything can be transported by boda boda. Only once did I get to ride one this summer. Before anyone back home becomes worried, we traveled a short distance at low speed but at least now I can say that my first time on a motorcycle was in Kenya!

 

 

Most of our time here we traveled by taxi. We had two drivers, Ephrim and Jeremia, both of which are great drivers though it did take a few weeks to get used to Kenyan driving. Their cars are station wagons which made carrying all of our supplies to the farm much easier. For the most part, the vehicles handled the winding roads very well though it did take some pushing at times when going up muddy hillsides. Luckily for us, we didn’t have to push nearly as often as the students did last year though we do have a few memorable moments that’s for sure.

 

After that, your options for travel include mutatus which are kind of a cross between a minivan and a bus that are commonly used for going to a neighbouring town. There are also large travel busses that are for long distance travel or used by some boarding schools.

 

This is the cow transportation vehicle!