26. And the irony of it all…

…is that we were happy to do this trip with trucks that could pull US out! This is the story of a border crossing unlike any others: the lake Turkana route.

So together with two trucks we set off in the morning to start our adventure. While we are driving quite easily Kosta says “Hmmm, I am almost a bit disappointed. I thought this would be harder, you know, more adventurous, like at the start of the Arba Minch National Park.” Five minutes later we turn the engine off to start and get the Dutch truck out of the mud. LOL To pull a 9.5 ton truck out of there is not something we can do with our cruiser but Jochem is able to help with his blue monster. So he tries to make his way to the front of Kees’ truck… and gets stuck himself. Yes, at that point we know, this is going to be a fun trip! LOL

We will not bore you with the repetition of moments of digging, looking for stones and branches, putting the sand ladders, trying to drive the trucks out, getting stuck again (or not be able to move an inch) and restarting the whole process. Or bore you with my finger stuck between the jack-up and the truck (auch, auch, auch), Jacobeens finger between the sand ladders and the many many cuts in our hands and feet. We will mention the little earth quake we had in the middle of the night (my first thought was that somebody was climbing on the car LOL) and the fish truck that blocked our way through. To make a tiring but great adventure short: 3 days of digging, being dirty and exhausted, and in a total of about a week we managed to get the two trucks out of every mud hole and reach the end of the lake. A highlight of this trip was definitely reaching the tarmac again near Isiolo, and this after days of shaking in the car. You can not imagine how annoying that gets after a while. Under the section of Isiolo in Lonely Planet you will read this: ‘Isiolo marks the tarmac’s northern terminus and the start of the corrugated dirt and gravel, which will shake the guts out of you and your vehicle.’ Trust us, this is not an overstatement! LOL

To give you an idea of what this incredible trip looked like, take a look at the pix and enjoy the fact that you were not the one digging! LOL And oh yes, for the record Kosta and I only got stuck once.

First time digging – Jochems truck gets stuck 5 minutes later but gets the Dutch truck eventually out

Stuck again that day

The troops are coming

Stuck (and yes, this is still the same day) while wanting to help a Kenyan truck out

The Cruiser pulls the Isuzu truck out

Football team

Building a ramp to get out of the river bed

All 3 ready to go. All making it without problems

Trying to get fish truck out that blocks our way. Not working. We give it a rest for the day.

Stuck in the river bed. While trying to avoid the fish truck, Jochem decided to go through the river bed… in retrospect not the best idea LOL

Second truck stuck while trying to get to the other

And not to bore you with what feels like hundreds of moments of being stuck, I can tell you that two days of digging at the river bed, two days of building rocky roads have made it possible to pull Jochem out of there. The next day we made another road that got both trucks out of that mess. Sweat, blood and tears of 6 adults and 5 children have done what seemed to be mission impossible: getting out a 7 and a 9 ton truck. That my friends is teamwork!

The tools

The next days we can enjoy the scenery, no more shovels to be taken:

Driving through the national park (for only 3 hours) where the roads are better costs 20 dollars a person. We only paid once. Try to find me LOL