Download PDF here - DO IT NOW Magazine

If you’re heading north from Nairobi, Kenya, and your
aim is to get to Ethiopia you have two choices; the
Moyale Road or Tanganyinka Road. Both are through
desolate parts of the country that have been rejected by
locals and tourists alike, and are considered to be very
dangerous. If you don’t have a vehicle that can take the
many punches that Africa’s off-roading is guaranteed to
hand out, you have only one choice, the Moyale Road.
And this is where your fate will be to hitch a ride on
the back of a cattle truck. This was the one part of our
Trans-African trip that our 150 cc would not be able to
get us through, and even if the sandy roads and bandits
weren’t an issue, we still wouldn’t have enough petrol
to make it. Our fate was therefore sealed and we would
have to make this journey the same way as all the other
hitch-hikers.
36 • DO IT NOW Magazine | January 2013
First lift - Isiolo to Marsabit on the Liban Express
On the back of a cattle truck Kenya
Two days before our departure for Isiolo, a town in the
Eastern Province of Kenya, we had some fun with the bike,
giving it to a school for disabled children for the day and
allowing them to paint it. The result was a mess of wet paint
sticking to everything. The bike looked ridiculous to say the
least and we knew the dust from the road ahead would cling
to the still semi-wet paint and add to the chaos of colours.
We departed from the foothills of
Mount Kenya early in the morning,
hoping to find a lift and get going as
soon as possible. After 12 hours of
bargaining and waiting we are finally
on our way.�