We packed up the Nairobi Airbnb and headed out on what we thought would be an easy 2 hour drive to Naivasha. That sentence you just read? That’s a literary trick called foreshadowing.

The first adventure was that Nick had found a midway stop: the Rift Valley Viewpoint. The Rift Valley is an interesting part of Africa, where the continent is literally splitting into two and where much of early evidence of humans were found. We faithfully set Google Maps to the viewpoint as if we were two adults who have not been wronged by Google every other day for the last 85 days.

We were directed off of the highway onto a dirt road. After about 5 minutes bumping along the dirt road it felt wrong, but at this point we were too committed. Every minute that passed was a sunk cost. The location had over 1,000 positive reviews, so we remained optimistic that it was legitimate.

We passed the cultural meeting point, and continued upwards into the rural village. Everyone who saw us gave us a confused look.

After 20 minutes we arrived at an unnavigable dead end road. In our rear view mirrors we saw many men approaching us.

We asked where the viewpoint was and they encouraged us to leave the car and follow them on foot. I had that common feeling I have when traveling. Am I about to put myself and my family in grave danger? Are we about to get ripped off? Or should we trust in the kindness of others and open ourselves to the potential of a life changing experience? In this moment I was more of the former and Nick was more of the latter. It didn’t help when the guy kept telling me “you are safe. your car is safe here”.

He brought us down to a small hut with all his laundry hanging, and we were greeted with an incredible view. You could actually see how one piece of land just completely fell away from another.

We felt the request for money coming so Nick got ahead of it and offered him some to say thank you. In the scheme of things it was worth the weird experience. We got back in the car and headed back, confused as to what just happened.

As we drove back on the main road, we saw the viewpoint that I had seen in the review photos. Our theory is that this man got Google to change the location to his guerilla viewpoint so that he could make money from tourists like us. I have to respect the hustle.

We thought the drama of the day was done and that we could drive the remaining hour to our new Airbnb. But then we hit stopped traffic on a mountain pass. We waited, trapped, for two hours.

We had no idea what was causing the stoppage. An accident? A road closure? A broken down truck? There were cars moving in the opposite direction. Eventually we slowly started to move.

I saw this destroyed container on a truck and guessed that it had fallen off and caused the traffic stop while they got it back on.

But then we also saw these huge trucks taking up two lanes and guessed maybe that was the issue.

We passed men on motorcycles carrying objects that wouldn’t even fit in sedans.

We had to stop suddenly to prevent hitting brave baboons.

Kenya, you crazy. Four hours later we arrived. Our host recommended a nearby place for dinner. It’s an animal sanctuary / hotel / restaurant.

For the first time in months I got a bit homesick for Texas. The weather was perfect, the smell of woodsmoke wafted in the distance, and we were under old growth trees near a lake. But unlike Texas, we were surrounded by zebras and wildebeests.

We met a baby Zebra, Zeebee, who was orphaned and being cared for. His feeding schedule reminded me of human babies.

We walked around the property to see the animals and the lake until dinner was ready.

After our meals of BBQ chicken, red snapper curry, and sweet glazed pork ribs, we drove back to our Airbnb. It was a great end to a weird day.