Highway experiences

After leaving Eldoret, we drove the about 140 km to Nakuru. Nakuru is a bigger city than Eldoret and has above 1 million inhabitants.

Before we went to Kenya this time, we had been told that now the roads in Kenya are good. That information was one main reason why we decided to rent a car. We soon realized, though, the the information was not true. The highways around the capital Nairobi and between Nairobi and Nakuru were quite good, though. The same was part of the distance between Nakuru and Eldoret.

Below, you can see some of the pictures we took while driving from Eldoret to Nakuru.

There are speed bumps many places  -  even on the highways. Many of the bumps can actually destroy the car if you do not drive very slowly. And some are not meant for ordinary low cars to pass....! We very much understand that they have road bumps. They try to reduce the number of people being killed every year in traffic. Now, the number is about 3000.

Our theory, though, is that several of the tragic accidents are caused by the bad road standard. Drivers search to find the best way to pass the bumps and the many pot holes, even if it means driving on the other side of the road. Even when cars coming ahead...!

But they also improve the road standard by constructing new roads. On the pictures below, you can see the diversion that they have made for people to drive while constructing the new road. It is not pleasant driving...!

There are many trucks driving from the port in Mombasa to bring goods to neighbouring countries in the west, like Uganda and Rwanda. The trucks drive on this road that goes through Nairobi, Nakuru and Eldoret. In the west bound lane you can see how the surface is being destroyed by the heavy trucks. The picture below is far from the worst example. Several places it is so bad that overtaking is dangerous.

When driving through a village, you see a lot of people selling fruits and vegetables  -  and even clothes and other products.

In the villages, there are even sales men and women at the road bumps. Drivers need to slow down so much, that sales men and women hope to sell their products to the drivers. See picture below.

We are getting closer to Nakuru and the road standard has improved. We are driving downhill. As you can see, there are two lanes uphill. Like we have in Norway. The difference between Kenya and Norway, though, is that downhill drivers consider that they are entitled to use to middle lane as much as the uphill drivers...! Quite many times, you are therefore forced to drive in the left lane even if your speed is not low. The worst thing, though, is when you face cars coming toward you in all three lanes.......!

We have reached Nakuru.

The petrol prices are high. Petrol costs about 115 shillings pr litre which is about 8.50 Norwegian kroner. It would be cheap in Norway, but it is expensive in Kenya.