Road Trip

Early in the morning on Boxing Day, we 5 Parkers and our friend Jenny (the music teacher at Esther and Ben's school) set off on an exciting 2-day Road Trip in the Parker Mobile, headed for the Brackenhurst Conference in Nairobi.
It felt like setting off on an epic journey as we packed the car with holiday luggage, nappies, baby food, picnics, baby-bed, mossie nets, toys to keep little ones occupied- and of course, the smaller items such as hand-gel for those necessary road-side stops (and loo roll of course!!). Our route would not be taking us via any handy Costa Coffee or Motorway Service Stations or M+S Food shops, so everything we needed for the 2 days had to be packed and arranged before we hit the road.
In total, our reliable and excellent driver, Andrew, reports that we drove 1,600 km (1000 miles) on our round trip, up to Nairobi and back to Dodoma. It was a long ride, with 4 days in the car overall to drive up and return home, but we enjoyed it. The children travelled really well and it was fun to have Jenny with us for the journey up north. Here are some of the photos...

Boxing Day- and it is mid-morning: time to stop to feed Joel, make a cuppa and get some exercise by this pretty little lake:

 The children managed well in their car seats for most of the 4 days of driving:

 Some roads were in good condition and we whizzed along...

 ... stopping every now and then for pedestrians:

 Other roads were not so great- somewhat bumpy!

 And sometimes the road simply disappeared! Arriving here, we had to ask where the road had gone- and then followed an hour and a half of off-tar diversions...

 ...which was a bit of a bone-shaker of a ride, but fascinating for Ben, as he loved all the diggers and dumpers busy constructing a new tar road to link Dodoma to northern Tanzania:

 On Boxing Day, we arrived in Arusha after a 9 hour drive. We stayed in a Guest House situated on the same compound as the home of our MAF Arusha friends, so we enjoyed some tea/coffee with them in the evening, followed by a fabulous Norwegian-style breakfast (fresh bread, cheeses, cold meats- delicious!) with them at their home the next morning.
After our fab breakfast, we hopped back in the car and drove to a coffee plantation lodge in Arusha, to meet up for mid-morning coffee with our friends from St Michael's in London. It was wonderful to see Rena and Jon and their boys and the children had fun with a brief swim in the pool at the lodge- a good start for Esther and Ben, to burn off some energy before being contained in the car again for today's 6 hour journey across the border and up to Nairobi.

 A couple of hours later, we crossed into Kenya!

 There were some interesting sights on the road- just like Tanzania:

 We arrived in Narobi that evening and stayed in another Guest House, before heading off to the Brackenhurst Conference the following day...

Four days later, it was time to take up another Road Trip- but this time we were headed home to Dodoma.
On Sunday, we left Brackenhurst after the morning tea-break and drove away from Nairobi, out of Kenya and back to Tanzania:

 We were excited to have AMAZING views of Kilimanjaro for about an hour of the drive either side of the border. Andrew often flies near Kilimanjaro but tells me that it is rare to get a day when the cloud lifts enough to be able to see the summit so clearly. On the way up to Nairobi we had not even been able to see the mountain at all, never mind the summit, so we made the most of the beautifully clear day and enjoyed the views of Africa's highest mountain:

A short while later, the stunning views of Kilimanjaro were replaced by stunning views of Mount Meru.

  Since it is rainy season in Tanzania, we saw Tanzania at its best, with beautiful green scenery most of our trip- it was so refreshing to see such fantastic views and to enjoy the green while the grasses and bushes are still flourishing. There were plenty of other interesting sights and views to enjoy en-route, such as seeing the Masai in their coloured robes, or "shuka", buying and selling at the side of the roads:

 We even saw a baptism in a river on New Year's Day:

 There were frequent stops along the way and we were sometimes joined by the locals, whether that was curious children, friendly villagers- or wild donkeys!

 Joel did well to manage the long drives, but he also got his own little road stops to fill up on babyfood and milk, while we grabbed a moment to make tea- a refreshing change after munching sandwiches in the car while speeding along the highways, in order to save time!

 Joel's babyfood was not the only essential to pack into our car. I also travelled armed with a sewing kit, which proved very useful in Guest Houses along the way to repair gaping holes in mossie nets!

 And finally, wherever we may roam, there are always reminders of my roots along the way, to keep me in mind of our family and friends in distant England!