Any overlanders in Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya around July?
 

Dear all,

Finally we are back on the road again. Well.... our car is finally on the boat to Port Sudan and will arrive (hopefully) on the 6th of July.

From there we will continue our journey to South Africa. Of course it would be great to share some experiences with other overlanders and it would be even more excited to explore Africa with others.

Are there any other overlanders who are around Sudan/Ethiopia/Kenya? We are going south and we would like to do Lake Turkana as well.
Or are there any overlanders who did this route recently? Any recommendations, is it safe etc?

Hope to see you soon in Africa!

Cheers,
Daan & Lotte

Hi Lotte

We've just come through the western shore of Lake Turkana as the
bridge over the omo river at omorate , Ethiopa is now complete ( though not officially open). We were able to cross it ( with a letter of permission from the county admin office in Omorate, just behind the immigration office), and cross the border to Kenya coming down the western shore. The road is initially hard to find, but isnt bad at all. We followed the track alongside the lake after checking in (but not completing kenya customs and immigration) at both the ethiopian army checkpoint, the kenyan army point about 8km later, AND the kenyan police checkpoint, where you complete a register.

We then wilcamped for two nights on the lakeshore, before spending two nights at the very pleasant Eliye Springs where there are a number of campsites and a resort. So far so good, and no diesel worries. From the springs to Lodwar was a sandy but ok track. Lodwar has supermarkets and reliable diesel.

Unfortunately the lodwar-kitale road is atrocious, easily the worst of our trip. The last remnants of tar useful only to cause damage the few times you get above 35km/h. There is 200km or so of this before an improvement after the Marich pass.

This route is great in that you have no fuel worries, excellent access to the lake, but the terrible Lodwar road may put you off, though it certainly makes sense if coming from or going to Uganda. We were able to complete immigration and customs in Eldoret.

Working on my GPX and gps points now that we're back in Nairobi. PIng if you need anything urgently.


Matthew de Gale
Hope Road Trip | digital de Gale family

Please find a rough GPX file for the route attached. It shows our confusion at the begining (not very useful - sorry!) and where we wild-camped (which may be...)

Matthew de Gale
Hope Road Trip | digital de Gale family

Cool route. Did you see any petrol on this route? Coke bottle dispensers included.

Proper petrol stations (and normally therefore diesel and petrol supplies) in Karat Konso, Woyda and Key Afer in Ethiopia ( none that we saw in Turmi or Omorate) and then agin petrol and diesel in Lodwar, Kenya, ABOUT 250-280KM apart depending on route There were barrels in kaloko about 70km before Lodwar, but cant confirm petrol or reliability