i want to go to turkana - to see the jade blue sea - lake - it's a lake (but lake didn't rhyme). and i read somewhere that there are busses from eastleigh. and so i went to eastleigh to enquire.

i took the number 4 and roamed about until i found 'dayah express' on 7th street. i verified that it goes to lodwar, kakuma and then to lokichoggio. trips aren't regular, according to abdikathar osman abdille, the manager but when they do go, they leave at 7am. and return trips leave at 6 in the evening.

22 hours people. 22 hours of your life on a bus to get there.

we had lunch at tamar restaurant, formerly kbs garage (that's what it says on the receipt) and ordered fried goat with rice. the goat comes as large as 3 fists. so it's a good thing we only ordered one dish but with 2 portions of rice.

they offer fresh carrot, mango and watermelon juice. not forks or knives or serviettes unless you ask for them. the toilet is a latrine. and the service doesn't speak much english. there is no menu. they tell you the types of meat they make and then give you the option: fried? or boiled? for lack of words to describe the difference, they brought out the dishes, fried goat... boiled goat on plates that were more like platters.

the man on the opposite table ordered spaghetti and ate it with his hands. it came as plain pasta with a side bowl of sauce (which looked very much like the sauce we had with our goat). he poured it onto his pasta and then scooped it into his mouth.

we paid the 650/- (1 fried goat, 2 rice, 1 sprite, 1 carrot juice) at a counter behind which the woman serving us was counting stacks full of 1000 notes and the other two men with her, counting their own bundles.


there is a room separated by a sheer curtain for women and family. i wanted to look for a buibui/abayah/hijab/burqah because i was beginning to feel the need to be covered. the black satin ones were going from 2,500/-

we took the number 6 or 9 on the way back.

we passed a dumpsite, besieged with egrets and vultures, picking their way through - it was at once horrific and majestic. another one of those moments you wished your eyes could take stills.

the road became proper the closer we got to town. and it's only when you're on good road again that you realise that eastleigh had none.