Taveta

Thurs 19th.  The cereals were the highlight of the Kindoroko breakfast!! I checked out earlyish, by 08:30. I passed by the Airtel shop to thank the lady for suggesting I take out 16 minutes worth of Intl calls, because I nearly needed all of them. I went to Aroma and contacted Bluehost again; my credit card was still not unblocked…at which point I gave up and enjoyed my tea and headed to the dala dala stage for my ride to Holili (still only 2,000, or 60 pence).

A dala had just arrived so I was able to choose my seat..a single one by a window. I think we left at about 10:30. An hour and a quarter to Holili…good going as we only stopped for 5 minutes at Himo. Kibosho (owner of White House…where I stayed for 3 months in 2020 when stuck in Tz due to covid) called out to me. I hardly recognised him as he had lost so much weight; he looked very ill.


I walked down to the border. Spent the last of my loose change on a milk tea. The eTA printout was absolutely fine and I got my 3 months stamp in my passport. The only problem I had was when the xray machine supposedly detected metal in my rucksack; I had to empty the whole rucksack…that was a first. It occurred to me after I had repacked and was walking away, that perhaps it was the metal spokes/supports in my umbrella  ??

I caught a boda into Taveta and went straight to see Mercy. After a catch-up I went to my room. She and Joseph had done a good job of spraying and there were no signs of ‘termites’ building up the wall, or any other insects.
So, it was time to go walkabout. David (mahindi) wasn’t around…gone to see his family. Saw Rashidi briefly.

Had a rice and beans early dinner at Texas. Over to Rockland where I met up with Mruttu, but Joseph was refereeing a football match. Went to Matumu for a drink. Phil contacted me and wanted a chat. I realised my phone battery was very low and there was a power cut. I went to Challa Htl as they have a generator. Actually the power returned soon afterwards, and from after 8pm I talked to Phil for an hour and three quarters..!!  From Challa Htl to my room; I was definitely tired at that point.!!

Fri 20th. Over to Mercy in the morning for usual tea and chat. Went to Safaricom to figure out a way of phoning UK.  Nobody really had a clue, and in the end I figured if I just put money on airtime…but first I tested it with a quick call to Alan. I then phoned the NatWest Bank helpline. It worked. I put 1,000 or £6 on the phone and the 13 minutes call cost about £3. Worth every penny as they finally unblocked my credit card. Now, finally I could pay my domain renewal for my travel blog.


Ate Kiti moto at Mwangaza…delicious… ..added my mango chilli sauce..  It’s Good value at a quarter for 160bob…nearly one pound. Drew money out. Did a little washing.
Arranged to see Joseph but he was a no show. Not much happened the rest of the day.  A visit to Matumu bar and an evening tea later, then back to my room.

Sat 21st & Sun 22nd. Basically settling into Taveta lifestyle. Tea with Mercy. Walking around town. Temperature is comfortable with quite a lot of cloud cover.
Saturday is English Premier league day.      I caught some of the earlier match at Matumu bar and met Joseph at Utamaduni for the evening matches. I was pleased that out of the 6 or so matches they chose to show the Spurs match. And we won.  I shared a big bottle of County with Joseph but couldn’t help him finish it, so I left for my room.

On Sunday I had my late lunch at Japan’s; the rice and beans a bit nicer than at Texas. I watched the 4pm match and was supposed to meet Joseph to watch his team Arsenal play at 6:30pm. He called me at 06:45 and asked if I would buy him a drink. Maybe because I said ‘no’, I wasn’t buying anyone drinks, he didn’t turn up to watch the match  ?  Never mind, I enjoyed it.

Mon 23rd & Tues 24th. The routines are pretty much the same. I got my bike tyres pumped up. I went to Dar es Salaam for my chapati and beans; always served hot and particularly tasty.
Late afternoon visits to Rockland and met up with Mruttu.  Still no sign of Joseph. I bought a bag of tomatoes and 7 or 8 bananas as snacks for my room. Enjoying the tomatoes with some of my chilli sauce smeared on them.
On Monday I met up with friend Lucy at Kilimanjaro Bar on the other side of the airstrip. She came with her six month old son called Minton!!  Strange name choices sometimes; because we are friends she gave him a name similar to my surname  !!

On Tuesday I bumped into white Kenyan…Steve, who I had interesting chats with every now and again,  but unfortunately he’s moved to Mtito Andei and was only in Taveta to visit a friend.
And just for a change and to start to get used to the bike again, I cycled (only 10 mins) to the Drop Zone on the El Doro road for one beer.

Back to Rockland and met John Mruttu. Told him I planned to go to Holili for Kiti moto on Wednesday with Mercy, and he said he was hoping to go as well. I think I had the almost usual dinner of maharage na chapati…I was at Texas again in the evening for a tea and kaimati and to watch the nightlife around the matatu stage, before going back to my room.

Wed 25th. A fun day. Usual start to the day. After 10:00 I was supposed to meet friend Duncan at Bushra. I waited until 11:10, having a tea in the meantime, but then gave up waiting. I went to my room to prepare for going to Holili with Mercy. It turned out that Duncan had been delayed at Holili, but was able to meet him for 20 minutes after I had been sunning myself.

After 13:30 Mercy and I got the boda to the border. Managed to persuade both Ke & Tz not to stamp my passport…particularly useful on our return when we only had to stop for a few seconds before continuing to Taveta. Otherwise, we went to Dubai Village first for a couple, then walked down to Dubai Grocery to greet Mamka and order our kiti moto. Superb as always. I had 2 beers bought for me, so drank a bit more than I had planned.
I went to Rockland and then to Texas for my tea nightcap. No sign of Mruttu, but a great day out.

Thurs/Fri 26th & 27th. Usual morning tea with Mercy.
A bit worrying, that I had one small bottle of County at Rockland and I had no recollection of what happened later that evening. Seriously, just the one and not mixed with any other alcohol. Still not sure if there’s something fishy going on at Rockland with regards the spiking of drinks.
Joseph didn’t contact me, I think because I said I wouldn’t buy him drinks
Planning Kilifi & Nyali. Looks like an offer of 3 nights for the price of 2 at Pam Breeze. That was a very nice apartment behind the shopping centre with a fully equipped kitchen; would be happy to go there again.
Otherwise, usual walkabouts either side of washing my jeans and a sheet. I went to the depot and bought 3 x 750cl bottles of County. Had a nice long chat with Gachau..that was Friday. On Thursday I chatted with both Thumbi and Gachau outside the depot.

Sat & Sun 28th & 29th. The weather is still hot and sunny with a little cloud cover. Sunday morning I lay in the sun outside my room and had a good chat with next door neighbour Elijah…mainly about music, and I introduced him to some of my favourite reggae artists if the 70s/80s.
Having most of my meals lately at Texas.  Have been taking my Tz/Znz mango chilli sauce with me, but actually the Texas homemade chilli sauce is very hot and tasty.
Haven’t been to Rockland recently; been going to Utamaduni for the Premier league football. On Saturday I went to Kilimanjaro Bar with friend Lucy; again, somewhere different….then to Utamaduni.
In fact on Sunday we went to Kilimanjaro again and this time I saw and chatted with Mbogwa Force who was a very good friend to Dad. After that I satisfied my craving for a kiti moto and had dinner at Mwangaza. And then to Utamaduni a few minutes walk away to watch ManU vs Spurs. Joseph came to join me and we had a good catch up. I assumed he’d forgiven me ?!
In the meantime I read on FB that the dog sitting position in Mwambani had been filled, so I was definitely off to Kilifi on Tuesday.
Anyway, an earlyish night as I didn’t sleep that well the night before.

Mon 30th. Wow, what a busy last day in Taveta. After washing a sheet, pillow case and shirt first thing, I went down to Al Wahim at the stage and bought my ticket to Kilifi for 1,300bob or £8. Then en route to buying milk to take to Mercy, I put 15,000 on mpesa so I could pay George my rent until the end of the year. The usual tea and chat with Mercy, who managed to extract some extra money out of me towards her travel to Nakuru.

In the meantime I got a message from Duncan suggesting we meet at Bushra at 10:30. Of course I paid for the 2 teas and his samosa..!!! The other thing that happened was that I got a friend request from Victor who lives in Taveta and had read my KFR post re Lindi/Dar/Moshi/Tvt.   I accepted, and we met at Texas at 11:30 and had a really good chat.
I went back to my room to take in my washing, make my bed and relax. I bought a new pair of flip flops from Njoki. I took my rucksack and jeans to the fundi for a small stitching job. I said hello to Priscilla and went to Rockland for a pre dinner drink. Lucy was insistant we meet at my room, as it gave her an opportunity to squeeze some more money out of me.

Over to Mercy’s for a nice pilau dinner…the food was given to her by the Somali neighbour, and Mercy prepared a nice chilli sauce to go with it. I then went to Rockland to meet Joseph, and Mercy joined us a bit later. I paid for the drinks but put a cap of 1,000bob on the bar bill. Then over to Texas for a tea, and on to my room to do a little preparation for leaving to Kilifi the following day.