A Jaunt through Africa (from the pen of Cathy P)

Traveling in Africa is not for the squeamish. In some ways, it beats any amusement park ride I have ever claimed to be thrilling. We are blessed to be in the care of Wanjalla, driver extraordinaire. Wanjalla is a quiet man with a quick smile and a willingness to do whatever he can to make our trip awesome. Except drive slowly. Although I am not so sure that if he drove with the care of the average American driver we would ever get anywhere; I have seen only one stop sign (photographed it for proof that such a thing exists in Africa) and the handful of traffic lights that I have seen, mainly in the bigger cities like Arusha and Nairobi, are unilaterally ignored. Lines that divide the road into lanes are for decoration and passing is ok at anytime...Everyone anticipates that the other drivers will edge into the ridiculous queue that is winding its way through the streets of town. While I have been given the front passenger seat so that I can see everything on my trip through Africa, I have the hot seat for the traffic experience as well. Wanjallah maneuvers the car with the precision of a surgeon. He can squeeze into spots and cut through jams with the dexterity of a dancer. And when we are behind a slow moving (or the occasional not-so-slow-moving-but-in-front-of-us-anyway) vehicle, he swerves into the lane for oncoming traffic, and quickly slips back into the lane so that our time is not wasted, our speed not diminished or my view compromised. And that, in its self, may sound unnerving. But while Wanjallah may be the best at it, it is the way Everyone In Africa Drives! So as we careen from site to site and town to town, through the thick crawling masses in towns or the infrequently traveled wide open expanses, so are all of the others on the road! Whether the road is tarmac, dirt or more holes than road surface, swerving, speeding, breaking, passing are constant components of exciting travel in Africa.