The Cradle of Mankind Expedition II

07.00 Wake up and spend the morning taking it easy around campsite and soak in the sights, 11.00 Walk or drive to the Rock Slides for the ride of your life as you enjoy the cool, clear mountain spring water, sliding down smooth rocks using your bare bottoms. Carry swimming gear. 16.00 Come back to enjoy dinner. 18.00 Check your car before the long off-road journey to Loiyangalani the following morning (oil, coolant, clutch & brake fluids, suspension etc.) to avoid checking the car in the morning and be late in departing. Reserve fuel in jerry cans to be emptied into the vehicle in the evening.

06:30 Wake up, have breakfast, 8.00 Break camp and leave the campsite for Loiyangalani while enjoying views of Mt. Poi, rock climbers' heaven. 12.00 Pass through South Horr, 15.00 Stopover at Loiyangalani Wind Power Station for fuelling (including reserve jerry cans) and vehicle check-up. The sights of hundreds and hundreds of huge wind power turbines is a sight to behold. Two stops allowed. One for photos and the other for fuelling. Strictly 45 minutes only. Then pass-through acres and acres of bare rock-strewn, alien-like landscape with so many black lava rocks, boulders and stones as far as the eyes can see. (aka “the Devil’s Garden”). 17:30 Catch your first sight of the jade-coloured waters of awesome Lake Turkana (aka the Jade Sea) and South Island National Park in the middle of the lake, hopefully as the sun sets in a huge blazing yellow-red ball casting yellow light everywhere, a surreal experience. 16.30 Arrive in Loiyangalani at the Palm Shade Resort, weary, ecstatic, (for those without AC, dusty) and set camp under the cool shade of the Doum Palms of the Resort. Food and cold drinks are available for those who don’t want to cook, and at your cost.

08:00 After breakfast and while it’s still cool, take a walk or drive in the morning to the lake shores, swim, buy fish, visit the Loiyangalani Desert Museum, Marti Rock Art site and the El Molo Village. Come back and relax at the cool Doum Palms of the Resort. Car checks to be made in the evening before the tough journey to Sibiloi National Park of the following day. 19.00 Place an order for any packed food, and for breakfast for the trip to Sibiloi.

05:00 Wake up and pack in readiness for the surreal trip to Sibiloi National Park and Koobi Fora. 06.00 Break camp early in the morning while it’s still cool and leave the Palm Shade Resort for Sibiloi. We shall stop 30 minutes into the journey to catch sight of the golden Turkana sun rising from the top of Mt. Kulal, then proceed. Strictly 20 minutes only. We shall make another small stopover at the second Devil’s Garden at the top of a hill, with a plateau of millions of black lava rocks and boulders as far as the eye can see. Strictly 20 minutes only. Then proceed with the journey. 12.00 Arrive at the Karsa Gate of the Sibiloi National Park, entry formalities to be completed, then proceed to the Petrified Forest, then to our final destination, Koobi Fora to our campsite. We cross “millions of Luggas on our way to Koobi Fora. 14.00 Arrive at Koobi Fora, set up camp, visit the Koobi Fora Museum, check out the collection of ancient animals and other fossils at the Museum, enjoy the views of Lake Turkana (Koobi Fora is just next to the lake). 17.00 (IMPORTANT - IF we arrive in good time/early) we shall proceed to visit the sites where fossils of a giant elephant and tortoise and other interesting fossils that lived in the area millions of years ago. Come back and enjoy music, company of fellow travelers, swim on the lake, and have dinner, while patting yourself on the back for making it this far north. Koobi Fora is less than 100kms from the Kenya-Ethiopia border. 18.00 Vehicle checks to be done in the evening and packing of items not needed. Reserve fuel in jerry cans to be emptied into the vehicle in the evening.

06:00 Wake up, catch the sun rising from over Lake Turkana (Koobi Fora is almost surrounded by the lake) and pack in readiness for the journey back to Karsa Gate and on to North Horr and Chalbi Desert. Fuel up, final checks on the vehicles. 07.00 Break camp early in the morning while it’s still cool, bid Koobi Fora bye and leave for North Horr. Full speed to North Horr as we catch glimpses of Chalbi Desert with sand and gravel as far as eyes can see and very few or no plants and human beings. 12.00 Arrive at North Horr, an inhabited oasis in Chalbi Desert area. Stop for fuelling and provisions (last shopping centre before Kalacha) then proceed to Kalacha. We shall make a small detour to the famous North Horr Sand Dune (it’s just one medium-sized sand dune – Suguta Valley is the home of sand dunes having many sand dunes like Dubai). Strictly 1 and half hours only. Then proceed with the journey. 15.00 Arrive at the Kalacha oasis, another inhabited oasis in Chalbi Desert backyard and then proceed to our campsite, next to a spring where locals take their camels for water. There is a concrete swimming pool, built there with clean, blue water that is so refreshing after the heat of the long trip from Koobi Fora and Sibiloi. 16.00 Set up camp, a campfire, enjoy a swim and a bath to relax the tired muscles and fatigued eyes of the drivers who have had to give full concentration to the winding, rocky Sibiloi track and wipe off the dust of the journey south. 18.00 Vehicle checks to be done.

06:00 Wake up and pack in readiness for the journey back to the place we have all been waiting to visit, the Chalbi Desert, Kenya’s famous “desert” (Chalbi Desert is not a true desert but a faux desert that turns into a shallow salty lake when it rains and dries up to form a huge expanse of virtually empty land as far as eyes can see with white salty crust on top). 08.00 Final vehicle checks and fuelling from fuel jerrycans before hitting Chalbi Desert the following morning. 09.00 Convoy arrives at Chalbi Desert, stop over for photos, and jubilations for those who have always wanted to visit Chalbi Desert. 10.00 Cross the Chalbi Desert to the Rock Dune, an eerie, arrow-straight, wall-like land feature that stretches for 8 kms or more (everyone has their own measurements). Climb it (its about 10 feet high), take photos and enjoy the panoramic views of Chalbi Desert from the top. 12.00 Proceed across the track on Chalbi Desert to Maikona and fuel up (if anyone did not get enough fuel at North Horr), buy a few provision such as cold drinks, then proceed to Marsabit. 13.00 “Stumble” into the cool, green and misty Marsabit Town. Air up, and fuel. Buy provisions. 15.00 Proceed into Marsabit National Park, the former home of “Ahmed the Elephant” arguably the greatest documented Tusker to ever live in Kenya. The contrast of Marsabit and where you have come from is just something else. You will have to experience it to know what we mean. 14.00 Proceed to the campsite after enjoying a game drive up Mt. Marsabit, and park entry formalities. Set up camp, a bonfire will be lit, and drinks will flow as brothers and sisters exchange banter and congratulate each other for doing arguably the toughest expedition they have ever attempted and the toughest in Kenya. 18.00 Dinner and stories by the campfire.

07:00 Wake up, breakfast and pack in readiness for the journey back to home. 08.00 Convoy departs the Marsabit National Park and town for Nairobi while you reminisce the highlights of the trip, and marvel at how your Rhino made it to the toughest region in Kenya and back. Air up and fuel for those who had not fuelled the previous day while others buy provisions – for the trip back. 14.00 Quick stopover for lunch at Nanyuki, Cedar Mall. 30 minutes only. 16.00 Arrive in Nairobi.