Old Africa ..

 

I feel I have passed from the future of Africa into the past Africa when I arrived in Kenya

Uganda has a law, buda budas (motor cyclists), must use helmets; passengers didn’t need to and you could transport whatever or whoever you liked. Most obeyed the law it would appear rather than risk a fine.

Rwanda has a law that all motor cyclists must wear helmets and only one pillion rider allowed . Everyone obeyed because they believe in the law.

Plastic bags banned in both countries.

Kenya appears to have a law few worry about and weren’t concerned about being caught.
If even half the stories I have been told about the police force and government here are true, it is a sad state of affairs; ‘people’ have little confidence in either.

One example – we drove past a police recruitment drive : 1000 aspiring recruits were being put through their paces in a field alongside the main road. The only prerequisite is a ‘I have completed school certificate’ although an additional couple of thousand Kenyan shillings won’t go astray. Recently 42 new recruits after one month training, were sent to the Somali border and all were killed. It transpired that many of them had paid up
300 000 ks to the recruiters to be accepted.

It feels familiar; litter everywhere, streets dying, barbed wire and glass topped walls and for many a heart beat away from abject poverty, corruption normal in even small ways and there is a general sense of disengagement from The Country. And beautiful jacarandas.

We witnessed a hijacking on the main road in broad daylight right in front of us – won’t go into the details on fb ; but the sense of shock followed by helplessness then horror – Good Samaritans we were not 😢

And for all that I have been welcomed everywhere with smiles and a sense of good will – if also a shoulder shake of how it is. Wanted to buy a bird book – they had no change and no credit card machine today – and that’s it – broad smile but no sale.

The game parks seem to stand apart / poaching? Apparently nil ; new poaching units instructed to shoot to kill – apparently working ; zero poaching I am told although the Maasai Mara proved the exception.

The plastic water bottle : produced with enormous environmental footprint is found everywhere – I mean Everywhere. Alongside every road, in the game parks (particularly Masai Mara), in the rivers and even in the lakes 😢

How big a part the numbers game and climate plays , someone with real knowledge will tell us : Rwanda about 1/4 pop of Kenya. Rwanda and Uganda very fertile, Kenya noticeably less so.

Disclaimer : this is only my opinion based on a very short visit, observations and discussions with locals – it does not make it The Truth 😜