Nairobi (from Jungle Junction) to Tumi (South Ethiopia) via Lake Turkana. One Toyota Land Cruiser HJ61, 27 years old, two people with plenty of food, water (70 liter) and diesel (full tank 75 liter plus 60 liter in three jerry cans). Further, we read several blogs on this route, and asked Chris (owner of Jungle Junction, Nairobi) on the road condition, all fine: a bit rocky, sandy not too dangerous in other words doable.
Day 1: From Jungle Junction to Roberts Camp, Lake Bargingo, 290 km
All the way tar road, only the last 20km a lot of pit holes. As of January next, the Kenya government will start with building a new tar road…so the locals say, Insha Allah! Roberts Camp is a nice place to camp, right at the lake, nice to stay for a day and walk around!

Day 2: From Roberts Camp to Malsasso Community Rest Camp (20 km north of Maralal), 190km.
From Roberts camp all the way to the Malsasso Community Rest Camp the road is really rocky and some steep parts. Beautiful view though along the way, yet it is a long drive with a road like this. The community camp has a panoramic view on the Rift Valley, stunning! Yet it is very windy so not much sleep as we were holding our roof top tent throughout the night!

Day 3: From Malsasso Community Rest Camp to Palm Shade Camp (Loiyangalani) at Lake Turkana, 218 km.
Wow the road is terrible (!) and yet really beautiful. Again very rocky, especially at Lake Turkana, volcano stones on the road, bumpy and again some steep parts. Loiyangalani has a Missionary post, where we asked them to fix our roof rack (due to the terrible road condition it broke). Once this was done (easy welding job) I noticed my diesel tank was leaking. Since it became dark we decided to have a look at it the next day.
Day 4, 5 and 6….
That tank became our nightmare. It must have been a combination of age (27 years old) and rocky, volcano roads but after three days spending time with the bush mechanics at this Missionary post we would finally leave for Sibiloi National Park. We paid 160 USD to the priest (rip off!!!) and bought additional fuel (diesel price 160 Kenya Shilling per liter) to top off our tank. During the reparation work we ‘lost’ 40 liters of diesel! Of course the bush mechanics spilled a bit (let’s say 5 liters) but the rest? Well you can do the math, yet we could not proof anything! So we felt relieved to leave this place after three days. Yet after just 40 km the tank was leaking again. No other choice but to return to the Missionary post, and have another look. The bush mechanic fixed it again yet this time we really lost confidence in the tank and the work. Examine the route further north to Ethiopia, and how remote this part of Africa is, we decided to go back to Jungle Junction and have the professional mechanics have a look at our tank. So after the leakage was ‘stopped’ we drove off towards Maralal. We made it, albeit loosing diesel along the way, and stayed at Yare Camel Club campsite, 237 km.

Day 7 From Maralal (Yare Camel Club campsite) to Nairobi (Jungle Junction), 357 km.
We felt positive, we made the right decision to go back. We had no confidence in the tank, the work done by those bush mechanics. But then, after 157km our car stopped, yet enough diesel in the tank, so it must have been a leak in the tank/tubes so instead of sucking diesel it sucks air (afterwards this theory turned out to be true). Luckily a police car (a new modern Land Cruiser) pulled over and towed us all the way to Nyahururu, approx. 60 km… and again the road was terrible: really rocky. As much as we appreciated the towing, it could have been smoother. My car suffered a lot and I lost a shock absorber along the way, the exhaust pipe became loose, as well as the side bars and the roof rack (not welded well at the Missionary post) plus couple of other small issues… All in all, my car was in terrible condition once we arrived in Nyahururu. In thin town we arranged a lorry to bring us back, so my car went on top of the lorry, and drove us in 5 hours (just 200 km) to Jungle Junction. After so much shit (bush mechanics, priest that ripped us off) , car trouble and facing really bad roads, we were very pleased to be back again at Jungle Junction. Still I need to go to Addis Ababa, but this time I will take the tar road all the way to the boarder of Ethiopia (Moyale).
Conclusion: the road is terrible yet if your car is in good shape I definitely recommend to follow this route (via Lake Turkana into Ethiopia) yet even then, try to do it with another car. The view is amazing, very diverse and it is why I came to Africa!

Hi Jurriaan,

Great story, and too bad about the car. Luckily you made it back to JJ's. I hope you'll be on the road again soon! Say hello to Chris for me!

Cheers, and travel safe,

Gee

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