I recently got the opportunity to travel to Marsabit County (a region in northern Kenya). It’s a bit of a long story but I promise I will explain everything in my final post. So please stick around.

Our journey on day one was meant to start off at 6 am…HAH! Fat chance thanks to African time, we were leaving Nairobi at around half past 8…possibly half past 9. Armed with a map and a booklet with info about our final destination (which is a whole 3 days travel via road) I was pretty excited. I had no idea what to expect so that sort of made everything so much better. I’m much more accepting of bad situations when I have no expectations so I was pretty much ready for whatever.

The National Museum provided us with a tourist map of Kenya and a brochure 

I was trying to catch up with my sleep during the first part of the journey but after our first stop in Karatina, I was lively enough to take some photos of Mt Kenya as we drove along the Nyeri-Nanyuki Road.

Views of Mt. Kenya from the highway (Pardon the quality of picture, taken while vehicle is in motion)

Our next stop was in Isiolo for lunch – I was too hungry to take any photos … hopefully next time.

After lunch our next stop was to be Marsabit town (our final destination for the day). A bit past Isiolo you will pass by Archer’s Post. Look out for Mt. Ololokwe to your right (it’s featured in the Niko Na Safaricom ad)

View of Mt.Ololokwe as we were driving along the A2 to Marsabit town

We passed by several villages (towns) before getting to Marsabit. The most memorable one is Merille. This is because the tarmac ends there. The untarmacked  is not at all bad, the dry climate helps keep it in reasonable condition.

We got to Marsabit town by around 6pm, the town of Marsabit is an outpost of urban civilization in the vast desert of northern Kenya.

It wasn’t what I had always had in mind. When I think of Northern Kenya I just think of hot dusty dry places. Yes it was dusty, but not as hot and as dry as I had expected. The town is surrounded by hills and is pretty cool in the evenings.

Main Street in Marsabit Town

Our first stop was at the County Government offices for some official business. The best part of that stop was the cold sodas that they gave us; the next best thing at the offices was the sign below.

Interesting sign at Marsabit County Offices

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Just so you know, they ‘abhor’ corruption.

The accommodation was … let’s just say it wasn’t good – if you are looking for accommodation in Marsabit town I would not recommend JeyJey Centre. The only good thing about the JeyJey Centre (where we spent the night) was at least my bed had a mosquito net.

The JeyJey Centre

Once I settled in my room, my friend and I decided to take a walk around town. We just followed the main street then took a detour when we saw the church.

 The main bank

Marsabit town is like a typical small town. There are no matatus operating within the town and the main mode of transport is motorcycle taxis commonly known as bodaboda.

Of all the buildings I saw in the town, the Catholic Church definitely stood out.

View of church from the gate

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Right opposite the gate of the church another funny sign …

Ubwa Kali sign (beware fierce dog)

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We took a walk into the church compound

Marsabit Catholic Church

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Plaque at the front of the church

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Church Hall with the basketball court in the foreground

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After taking a couple of photos of the church we eventually decided to walk back to JeyJey centre. We didn’t need to ask for any directions since the ‘hotel’ was off the main street. It is pretty hard to get lost within the town even with a bad sense of direction like mine.

Marsabit Town at dusk

The next stop will be the Marsabit National Park.

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Post by R.M