Criss Crossing Kenya using Local or budget transportation is time consuming & tough physically & mentally (if a traveller had any mental capacity)!

Let me try and give u the lay of the land for Kenya and Tanzania (which is directly south of Kenya). Nairobbery is basically in the center of Kenya. The village of Kanyawegi close to the city of Kisumu is in Western Kenya next to Lake Victoria. Maasai Mara is probably southwest of Nairobbery and southeast of Kisumu. It's on the Kenyan/Tanzanian border jointing the Serengeti Reserve in Tanzania. Then the Rift Valley consisting of Eldoret, Nakuru and Naivasha are kind of north and a bit east of Kisumu and northwest of Nairobbery!
Mombasa is on the east coast of Kenya along with the various beaches frequented by travellers to Kenya. Then Zanzibar is an island off the coast of Tanzania just south of Mombassa.
While the country of Uganda is west of Kenya also bordering Lake Victoria and about a 2 hrs west of Kisumu.

So what I had been doing since leaving Kanyawegi was take a matatu to Kampala the capital of Uganda. Then I couldn't hang a week to see the gorillas plus the $500 for a 1 day of viewing! The highlight of my trip to Kampala was riding the motorcycle taxis (boda boda's) which was one of biggest rush a person can get on a taxi (they drove fast and most everywhere but on the actual street). Then for the extra heavy rush I rode on one at night in the rain to get to the hostel from a bar. Two things helped or hindered my ride - a few beers and couldn't see where we were going. A person has to basically turn his life over to the boda boda driver! Sorry I mentioned this before but it was worth describing again.
Another highlight place in Uganda was Jinja the adrenalin capital of Africa as it was the town where the source of the Nile River is located. So they had a campsite overlooking the wide river with whitewater rafting, whitewater kayaking, bungee jumping, canoeing, mountain bike trips, etc. Not to mention the drinking and dancing in the bar at night!
Then lets see I headed back to Kanyawegi to pick up my stuff to leave the village. I managed to take a trip to Kit Makyai to see that rock formation again with Millie who had never seen the place and she was also leaving the village.

Then I left Kanyawegi for a 7 hrs bus ride to Nairobbery to catch up with a safari to Maasai Mara. I won't document my misfortunes on missing a couple of other tours there. Then I took a 7 hr bus ride to Maasai Mara southwest of Nairobbery! Afterwards I got dropped off at Naivasha between Nairobbery and Kanyawegi. I then took a 5 hr back west to Kisumu to pick up something I forgotten there. When I left Kisumu I hopped on a bus to Eldoret north east of Kisumu on a 4 hr bus ride. Then I took a short decent bus ride to Bongamo. Then I took a 9 hrs bus ride east to Nairobbery. I call the rides bus or coach but for North American readers we can maybe relate the coach as "stagecoach ride" on the roads of the old west.

But when I last left u I was in Eldoret with a couple problems! Well I sorted those out but missed out on going to Iton (think I spelled it Eton last time) which is the town where the World Class Kenyan althetes train for the marathon and olympics. Oh well they seem to be doing quite well without my personal tutorage! But it was a place I wanted to check out but maybe next time!
While I was in Eldoret I wanted to say hi and goodbye to Millie (my closest friend from volunteering at Kanyawegi). Unfortunately she was in Bongoma visiting her financee. So she suggested I come there as it's only a 1 1/2 hr matatu trip! Hell I could do that standing on my head so I headed there! Another thing that surprised me is the road was paved/tarmaced and relatively in good shape with no dust. I didn't know whether to enjoy it and expect more of the same or expect to hit potholes!
I hooked up with Millie and Edwin (her financee) and spent the day with them. Edwin is a real nice guy who is really laidback. He is probably the opposite of Millie who likes to talk and laugh. I had an enjoyable day with them as we headed to a nice resturant just outside of town as they serve goat meat which I've come to enjoy!
Edwin had some work to attend to so Millie and I headed to the internet / cyber cafe. It was so hot in the place that we decided to go for a walk. All the locals kept staring at us walking as they don't see a mzungu walking around with a Kenyan in that town. All the staring seemed strange to Millie but I didn't even notice it as I had 50 pairs of eyes staring at me everytime I went out doors in Kanyawegi. Heck I couldn't even go to relieve myself outdoors as it seemed big brother (usually small kids) was watching!
Well I said a fond farewell and wished them good luck in their future lives as I didn't know (but hope to return to Kenya again, ehallah) when I'd see them again as I became very close to the 2 of them.

Wow, I thought I had been on most of the bad bus rides in Kenya. But the ride from Bongoma to Eldoret to Nairobbery had to be one of the worse! The bus was a big coach but the road was equal to match! It was night so one couldn't see the road but feel the road. The driver didn't seem to account for the condition of the road or time of day. He must of had a time schedule that had to be met (hard to believe that was possible in Kenya). It was cool as it was high elevation. However the windows on the bus didn't close which caused me problems. I had only a tshirt and shorts on so it got cool with the windows open all night! I had a towel so I wrapped that around and tried to keep the window closed! However holding the windows closed was difficult as I was being tossed around and kept losing my hold! I could manage the cold but the dust coming in the window was what was killing me!
Some how I managed to get a couple hrs sleep just before we got to Nairobbery as the road got smoother, I got used to it or I got tired from fighting with the window!

When we got to Nairobbery I had to find the bus heading for Tanzania and Zanzibar. I found a bus going to Arusha just south east of Nairobbery in Tanzania at 8:30 am like in 2 hrs.
I took the 6 hr bus trip with frequent stops and the border crossing that went fairly smooth. My only potential problem was almost getting left behind at a rest stop. Also there wasn't glass in the window for my seat and unfortunately it rained so had to hold the curtain closed to keep from getting wet! Heck next time I'm taking the 3rd class bus which at least has glass in the window1

When I got to Arusha (I had been to Arusha when we climbed Mt Kilamanjara a couple months back) I found out the bus for the coast to Tanga left at 6 am the next morning. I decided to go to Tanga and catch a ferry to the island of Zanzibar. It showed in my lonely planet book that there was a ferry from Tanga to Zanzibar. The most popular route to Zanzibar was from Dar Salem the major city of Tanzania. However I didn't want to go to another big city and it was further south of Zanzibar. Also I wanted to stay north as I was also going to return to Tanga to go back to Kenya and Mombassa.

I've been getting used to staying in various small hotels mostly frequented by the locals as I haven't seen any foreigners either on the hotels or even the buses. I quite enjoy staying where the locals stay as they are very nice. I even had a few beers with them in the hotel's bar. It was an interesting evening.

Surprise surprise the bus leaving from Arusha to Tanga left on time at 6 am. Unfortunately it was like a matatu (local mini buses) as it was basically the milk run as it stopped at every village and pedistran along the way.

When I got to Tanga I found out that the ferry leaving to Zanzibar only goes once a week on Wed. Unfortunately it was Thur so I would have had to wait a week. So I would have to take a 6 hr bus trip to Dar Salam, stay over night and then catch the morning ferry to Zanzibar.

I also found out that there was an airplane that few to Zanzibar and Pemba (the sister island to Zanzibar). However I always like to go the cheap route but after travelling for 2 days from Bongoma, in western Kenya to reach Tanga, Tanzania on the coast I had a big decision to make. Spend another evening on a 6 hr bus trip and get to a major city late to look for a hotel.

Well I'm hungry and this internet site is costing me a lot. So check my next posting to see what I ended up doing! Lets see I think I'll get chapatti and chips - all starch but cheap eating! Yum, Yum!!!