A Snippet of Life in Kenya: The Travel and Transportation Edition

Nothing all that new and exciting has happened over the past two days, so it is a perfect opportunity for “A Snippet of Life in Kenya: The Travel and Transportation Edition.”

Yesterday, I went to campus to do a sieve analysis on one of the sand samples and explored the lab for pipettes. It went fine and then I explored a new part of town. For a little while I thought I was lost, but I was heading the right way the whole time. This morning, I did laundry and cleaned the apartment. (A losing battle, but at least I’m on top right now.) This afternoon, I worked on some spreadsheets and a few documents.

Anyway, that’s enough of the boring stuff, and I’ll give you a picture of traveling in Kenya.

Roads The major roads around here are paved, but the majority are dirt with a little bit of gravel in the better ones. The paved roads (or the “tarmac”) don’t have speed limits, rather they have speed bumps and all commercial vehicles such as trucks or matatus have speed regulators that keep them under 80 kph. Many sections of the tarmac were done poorly and as a result, deep grooves (where the tires fall) have been made. As a former British colony people drive on the left side of the road, and very few of the roads are marked with a centerline, street signs, or any real indication of anything. The larger neighborhoods have signs occasionally, and I did see one intersection with street signs in town, but the sheet metal is a valuable target for thieves.

Police We did happen to see a police officer with a vehicle my last trip, but generally, there are very few police officers and they basically stand on the side of the road to flag people down (and sometimes have spike strips to form a road block. The police don’t typically stop American drivers since they have learned that Americans tend to fight fraudulent charges and won’t offer a bribe. I have been told that the easiest pickings for the police are matatus that have more passengers than they should.

Matatus Matatus are basically minibuses designed to carry 9-14 passengers depending on the seating arrangement. At the max, you have 4 rows of 3 seats in the back, and 2 passenger seats in the front. The seats are narrow, and the aisle to get to the back is now more than a foot wide. As you can probably imagine, the seats are close together (personal space doesn’t really exist here) and if the need to exceed capacity arises then people basically end up on top of each other. These “busses” all have the same basic frame such that if fitted with the right roof, you could use it as a safari van with a removable top. As a result, the ceilings are pretty low, especially at the sides and back where the support beams run. Another interesting thing to me is the “scheduling”. Instead of running on a regular schedule, the matatus each have a given route and they wait to leave until they are full. As a result, you may wait on the matatu for a time (I waited roughly 25 minutes on Tuesday) before leaving. The matatu waiting to leave has a removable sign indicating is route, and right before leaving it is transferred to the next matatu. This method results in the matatu drivers congregating during the day (non-peak hours) while in line to be the next matatu, and people often being late due to having to wait for a matatu quorum.

Vehicle Brands The primary vehicle brands that I have observed are Toyota, Isuzu, Nissan, and Mercedes-Benz. I’m sure there are others, but it’s not something I really look for too much. The models of the cars however, are completely different than here. Some look similar, but it’s a little strange to see Toyotas that are borderline luxury vehicle and huge dump truck-like vehicles with a Mercedes-Benz logo. My understanding is that vehicles don’t last all that long here due to the lack of paved roads and the many speed bumps.

Two-wheeled Vehicles There are a lot of bicyclists around as well as motorbikes. People use bicycles for everything from transport (including passengers) and transportation of charcoal, firewood, and almost anything else. Motorbikes are a cheaper alternative to an automobile, and many of them are short-distance taxis for when you get off the main tarmac. You also see motorbike couriers for mail, food, and anything that someone will pay a security firm to transport.

Well, that’s all I can think of that is related to automobile transportation here so I shall sign off.

-Steven