Year in year out, Kenyan urbanites join the ‘annual migration’ to troop to their respective villages, holiday destinations at the coast and elsewhere in the country and abroad to enjoy the festive season with their families and friends.
The annual ritual in December leaves the urban areas like Nairobi, looking like a ghost town, as overloaded buses, matatus (mini buses), trains, and airlines make a killing by hiking the fares.
In the animal kingdom, the Maasai Mara Game Reserve, in Narok County, is world famous for the Great Wildebeest Migration where an estimated 1.5 million wildebeest from Serengeti National Park in Tanzania cross the Mara River at the end of the rainy season for pasture, usually in May and June. The spectacle is considered as: “The Seventh Wonder of the World.”
Our recent family Christmas trip to our farm in Fort Ternan, Kisumu County, reminded me of my first train ride to the coastal town of Mombasa in the 1970s when our parents decided to give my three siblings and I a treat. Back then, we had to board the jammed night train through the toilet window and stand almost all the way. But the excitement of the destination made us forget about the inconvenience.
For the love of money aka profits, many public service vehicle (PSV) drivers flout most of the traffic rules as they overload and step on the accelerator as if they are in The Safari Rally, at the expense of the safety and lives of their passengers in a bid to make as many trips to and from their destinations during the festive season.
Those who own vehicles or who can afford to hire, ensure that they are on the roads as early as they could, to beat traffic on the crowded and stressful roads during that time of the year.
Annual Pilgrimage
In 2021, most Kenyans heaved a sigh of relief on the eve of Christmas, after the government lifted travel restrictions, night curfew and other strict Covid-19 protocols. Indeed, Kenyans flocked out of the capital city like it was on fire! Those along the Nairobi-Mombasa Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) line booked The Madaraka Express early for the day and/or night trip, which were all full throughout the festive season.
SGR, as it is popularly known, had an express train to and from Nairobi to Mombasa, along the Indian Ocean, and an inter-country train, which made stops at major towns along the way like Athi River, Emali, Kibwezi, Mtito Andei, Voi, Miasenyi and Mariakani to drop and pick passengers. The fare to enjoy the scenic 578 Kilometre route is Kenya Shillings 1,000 and KShs3, 000 per person on the executive and first class coaches, respectively.
There were more reasons to celebrate after the Kenya Railways Corporation resumed its train service on the Nairobi-Kisumu railway line, formerly referred to as the “Lunatic Express,” which was built over a century ago by the British East African Imperial Company.
Train services on the line had stalled for over two decades. Following resumption of the service, fares were fixed at Kenya shillings 600 per person on the economy class and Kenya shillings 2, 000 for the first class, where one had the luxury of sharing a cabin with a friend or relative.
The Kenya-Railways-Corporation-runs a new weekly service on the metre gauge line from Nairobi at a maximum speed of 35 Kilometres per hour in contrast to the SGR-built by the Chinese which has a 120 Kilometre per hour maximum speed.
The Lunatic Express
I used the daylong train a month after its relaunch, in January 2022, and during the refreshing relaxing and breath-taking views of the countryside ‘discovered by the colonialists’ it reminded me of one of the longest trips I have ever had in my life. It was from our Fort Ternan river farm to Nairobi when my wife had to drive after I was partially blinded after touching my eyes with euphorbia juice. For the next five hours I was blindfolded and as a co-driver, I imagined the worst in case my eyes refused to open. But thanks to fresh milk and eye drops along the way, we arrived in Nairobi when I could see again, but with an effort.
Back to the day train ride from Nairobi to Kisumu. It departed Nairobi Railway Station in the Central Business District (CBD) at 6am and made brief stops along the way at the following stations: Kikuyu, Limuru, Longonot, Nakuru, Njoro, Elburgon, Molo, Mau Summit, Kipkelion, Fort Ternan, Muhoroni, Chemelil, Miwani and Kibos before ending the 260 Kilometre scenic and stress-free journey at 6pm in Kisumu, which was formerly known as Port Florence.
Kisumu city is on the shores of Lake Victoria; the biggest fresh water lake in Africa and the second biggest in the world. The only exception to the ‘Annual Migration,’ like the world famous ones in Maasai Mara in Narok County of wildebeests crossing from Tanzania’s Serengeti National Park, to Kenya for fresh pasture and water, was in 2020 when coronavirus pandemic came calling and the national government imposed travel restrictions, banned big gatherings and closed educational, religious and entertainment outlets throughout the country for several months.
On the advice of public health authorities, President Uhuru Kenyatta, had also imposed a night curfew, meaning that those travelling long distances could not make it to their destinations and back between 6am and 7pm, before the hours under curfew were later adjusted to begin from 10pm.
There was hue and cry from PSV operators, hoteliers along the highways, traders and hawkers across the country. The bereaved were not left out, they too were forced to reduce the number of mourners travelling and attending funerals as they observed the ban on overnight vigils, feasting at funerals and long speeches, especially by politicians. Things were not only tough but were really thick leading to loss of jobs, businesses and rise in domestic and gender-based violence, as reported by the police and local administrators.
Lockdowns and Curfews
Not everyone was unhappy about the new mandatory culture of wearing face masks, observing social distance, washing and sanitizing hands; and having security guards focus more on taking your temperature than frisking you.
The exception were the police, especially those on patrol and manning the numerous road blocks across the country to enforce the health regulations imposed by World Health Organisation (WHO) and the protocols directed by the government.
According to mainstream and social media reports, Covid-19 was a blessing in disguise for the law enforcers as most of them used the fear factor and the pandemic to literally smile all the way to the bank, thanks to bribes by those caught offside and violators who included the who-is-who in society like Nairobi Senator, Johnson Sakaja, several Members of Parliament (MPs) and Members of County Assemblies (MCAs).
Ordinary folks were not spared either. A former colleague and neighbor, Douglas Okwach, was arrested outside his Jamhuri II residence on a Sunday morning as he basked in the sun enjoying the newspapers and soothing gospel music and frog-matched to the nearby Jamhuri Police Post where he was locked up in a cell with others for failing to wear a face mask!
Police behaving badly
Asked why they had to remove him from his guarded courtyard, the plain clothes officers, who did not even bother to identify themselves, referred him and the victims to the presidential directive!
Two hours after the ordeal, my friend tasted freedom after he made to his contacts who knew those that call shots in the police service, the government and in the media houses. He literally saved his neck from being transferred to Kilimani police station, some five kilometres away, and locked up overnight before being taken and charged before a magistrate at Kibera Law Courts the following day.
Others who faced the wrath of the law enforcers were motorists and long distance truck drivers found on the roads after the curfew hours. The most comical was of bus and matatu passengers who tried to circumvent the cessation of travel directive by boarding vehicles to the border of the counties, alighting and then boarding boda-boda (motor bike taxis) to continue with their journey in the other counties.
When the night ban was lifted by the President mid last year, Taifa Leo, the Nation Media Group’s daily Kiswahili newspaper editors summed it up aptly with a headline saying: “Njaa Yauma Polisi Baada Kafyu Kuisha (Police in Hunger Pangs As Curfew is Lifted).”
Indeed, I have heard Kenyans cry out loud to the government as they did in 2020, like the famous flood victim in Ahero, in Kisumu County: “Serkal saidia (government, help us)!” The pleas came in when citizens were ordered not to travel to and from the most affected counties, for fear of spreading the killer virus, especially to the elderly who are the most vulnerable, that had been imported into the country from Wuhan, China, where it was first discovered in November 2019.
Best Christmas
But the festive season in 2022 went on smoothly without many cases reported of traffic accidents and other tragedies that had marred the celebratory mood. I started the dawn drive with my family on board from my Nairobi residence in a bid to beat the anticipated heavy traffic and headed to our farm in Fort Ternan, off the Kericho-Kisumu highway.
I used Ngong Road then diverted to the Southern bypass, driving all the way to Kikuyu town where we joined the Limuru Road. It is at this point that the traffic buildup of buses, matatus, private vehicles, long distance tankers and trailers started, all the way to Nakuru.
We witnessed Kenyan drivers bad driving habits along the way as some drove recklessly, others over speeded while others overlapped on the wrong side of the road.
The worst gridlock was at the junction to Kijabe town where impatient motorists threw the traffic rules to the wind and formed three extra lanes on both sides of the highway forcing us to spend over an hour waiting for the traffic police to restore law and order on the busy one-lane highway.
Another grid lock was near Kikopey town, overlooking the breath-taking Lake Elementaita, where hawk-eyed traffic officers manned both sides of the stretch to ensure there was no overlapping so that the traffic flowed freely on either side of the highway.
Villagers feared Nairobians
We made a brief stopover in Nakuru for grocery shopping and lunch before we resumed the trip, with fewer cars on the road as we headed to Mau Summit and turned west to join the Kericho-Kisumu highway, leaving the Eldoret-Kitale and Malaba-Bungoma motorists to proceed north.
Nakuru shopping malls and restaurants were overflowing with travelers and residents preparing for the festivities. I overheard some of the workers in the shopping mall and in the restaurants thanking God for allowing them to retain their jobs and having booming business to help their employers pay their salaries on time.
The same appreciation was expressed in the village when we arrived and spent three days resting and relaxing. One of them was overheard saying that: “Now that jo Nairobi (people from Nairobi) are here, we will say goodbye to omena (sardines) and Sukuma wiki (green vegetables).”
Another villager recalled how during the height of the pandemic, they had blacklisted jo Nairobi and were under strict instructions to report to local administrators anyone from the capital city, which was the country’s epicenter of coronavirus. The administrators would then vet the visitors Covid-19 status.
“The truth is that we feared anybody who had come from Nairobi whether they wore the mask or not and respected the safe-distance requirement! But we are glad that is behind us. Let’s celebrate Christmas together with joy and friendship!” said another.
After the festivities, the return trip was less stressful, thanks to the long weekend and festive week from Christmas to New Year’s Day where motorists and the public had a chance to spread out their return journeys to their respective destinations.
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