To say I had an uncomfortable nights sleep is an understatement. Laying like a mummy for most of the night is a great way to get no sleep whatsoever so in an attempt to find a comfortable more favoured foetal position a lot of groaning and grunting ensued. My fully functional right arm was used to position my completely helpless left arm into a semi comfortable position and ease the piercing muscle pains.
I woke up to find the bruising had begun and my arm was wrapped in purple near the shoulder. My room had no mirrors so i did my investigation with the aid of videos and photos. I'm still praying its just bruising, the swelling had sub-sided a little but my shoulder still looked slightly deformed.
I decided to spend the majority of the morning mummified and as I had a loaf of bread, jam and 2 litres of water I didn't need to leave my room at all. At around 1pm I couldn't do it any longer, solitary confinement was not necessary and as just as I've done in the past, I wasn't going to let illness or injury stop me from doing what I wanted to do.
I set off for a walk in the direction of the national park. I knew I wouldn't be allowed to just walk into the park to pet the lions but I thought I could find a hilltop for a good photo at least. As I wandered through the local rundown streets that line the outskirts of the park a man called out to me, "hello sir, are you lost?" How can I answer that? How are you lost if you don't know where you're going? If you don't know your surroundings that well are you lost? If thats the case, I've spent the last 5 months on my bike lost, i started getting lost the second i left Southampton. "No, I'm good thankyou"
I found myself on a grassy track in between two lines of fencing. I didn't brake anything to get there and I knew exactly where I was. The town was north of me and the lions and rhinos were south of me. I walked south past a field of buffalo as you do and as I carried on in the direction of the lake I spotted a cheeky little Thomson's gazelle. I didn't quite manage to get my camera out in time but I was happy with my first taste of getting to the wild animals.
I knew my expedition wouldn't last long as the lake is a long way from where I was and I wasn't going to find a vehicle and pay to enter the park with Tanzania and Botswana on my to do list. My alone time was up when I saw a tractor stop at the end of my track as they saw me. "Hello sir, how are you? You do understand that you can't walk here don't you?" "Really?" I could tell they were a good bunch of guys so i played the naive tourist card. We had a laugh and they gave me a ride back to the town. I was happy enough with my very small glimpse of what is yet to come and I was happy to add a tractor on my ever growing list of "rides."
After that I decided to walk across the other side of town to where the Norwegians lived. If they weren't in then my plan was to leave a note on their door with my phone number and we could go from there. As my arm was still in a sling and very painful their very kind offer of a place to stay was a godsend and a chance to recover in safety and comfort.
I found their place straight away, a nice bungalow in a gated community just outside the town. I knocked on the door and they were in, perfect! They showed me around, showed me my room and we sat and chatted at the table for a few hours. We got along great guns almost instantaneously and come 5 o'clock Torbjoern pipes up with, "right, we are going out for dinner in the best restaurant in town, our treat and you're coming!" Myself and his girlfriend Malin were equally as happy an that was that.
A short Tuktuk ride to Guilianis later and I was experiencing a rarity to date, a decent restaurant in Kenya. The service was still average though but the food and the drink was excellent, almost as good as the company. I was loving it, my body was more broken than ever and my arm would shoot rockets of pain into my neck every now and then but I didn't care. I was really enjoying myself and despite the Norwegians not being local, my ride has always been about acts of unbelievable kindness whether that be from locals or just any strangers that I've met en route.
In this case I should probably thank Beirdre, a random walk through the market and my beard envy of Torbjeorn's beautiful face shrubbery. The next thing I know, a day later we've progressed from a nice meal at Guilianis and moved onto a bar where Kenyan's finest Tusker malt is flowing down quicker than Victoria falls.
Three muzumbo's in a bar in Kenya with two of them heavily bearded sounds like the start of a terrible joke but it was the fascination and talking point of many locals. Torbjeorn took up the position of Jesus instantly which left me being Moses or one of his disciples. Malin was Mary and together we gave the locals a very amusing night. Torbjeorn has jesus-like patience and the particularly drunk locals were attracted to him much to Malin's and my amusement.
A great night that escalated into a few more drinks than intended as they were given to us by the locals meant that I returned back to my hotel a bit later than expected. A really great day to take the disappointment and annoyance of my injury away.
Another assessment on my shoulder and wrist is due tomorrow but one thing is for sure, I'm very blessed to have met the Norwegians and I can see the next few days being enjoyable whether I have a definite break or just very painful bruising.
Hakuna Matata!
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