Fri 13…..Aimed for the 10:00 bus on the mainland so there was no hurry to leave Lamu. A leisurely b’fast and boat taxi to Mokowe. The Tawakal bus was very spacious with lots of leg room. The whole trip took an extra 45 mins at least because we went a route I’d never been before…via Mpeketoni. That whole detour was on unmade road, so not quite as comfortable a ride as going to Lamu. No security hold ups. Mark dropped off at Malindi whilst I continued on to Kilifi. The trip took exactly 5 hours.
Was dropped off on the main road just before Kilifi bridge, so had a 10 min walk to the town centre. Just had to have a delicious mango juice along the way. Then checked into the Titanic. The manager kept his word and gave me the room at the slightly reduced rate of 1,000…excl b’fast.
I hopped on a boda boda to Saltys. Lovely place to relax with a couple of drinks, overlooking the beach and ocean. Back to Village dishes for a nice dinner, followed by a nightcap at de Coffee pub.
Was going to have a tea before departing the next morning but I was too early for Village Dishes. So I was on my way to Mombasa by 6:30. From Buxton to Mwembe tayari and by 9:00 I was on my way in Naekana to Taveta. Only annoying thing was that I dropped my cap on the filthiest.. very black.. drain water I’d ever seen. Bought some bottled water to rinse it off a bit. Otherwise a good trip…saw ostrich, giraffe and gazelles. Exactly 5 hours and we reached Taveta. Had a late lunch then picked up my keys from Mercy.
The next 2 and a half weeks were quiet. Just went about every day life. Walking around town…meeting friends…routine of going to the same place for my one meal per day. Maybe Mark was right, I do seem to have lost weight in my cheeks and my stomach is a bit flatter.
The only thing of note was a cycle ride to Chala to visit Dad’s grave. Soon after that Mercy sold the bike…she needed some cash for some house repairs. Oh, on the way back from Chala I carried provisions of sweet potatoes, chillies and greens for Mercy. The bag broke and I had to repack…but didn’t lose anything. Oh, and the other thing of note was that I had my first covid vaccine jab at the hospital. On the Tues they ran out of doses and I was late arriving at the hospital. All worked well on the Friday, after I had joined the ‘old’ people’s queue !!