I usually set off from Nairobi for Nyeri before the light of day has manifested itself even an iota when only mad dogs, thugs and the matatu crew…….and off course yours truly and a few other hardy souls are the only ones astir. But I have noticed that while I am going against the flow of traffic i.e Thika bound the Nairobi bound side of the super highway has heavy traffic flow, a moving wall of headlights upon headlights not standing still caught up in a traffic jam but in an unbroken line of traffic. Could it be that these are the clever ones out to beat the Nairobi traffic or is it the opposite?
I truly do not miss Nairobi’s madhouse and world class traffic jam one bit something that I will continue rubbing into the raw wounds of my Nairobi brethren until the cows come home to roost! Or have I just mixed up my metaphors? It takes me 2 hours to drive the 160 kilometers to Nyeri on a Monday morning and it would probably take longer for someone from Ongata Rongai or Kitengela to get to Nairobi on a Monday morning a mere 24 kilometers or so away.
Coupled with the scenic drive, the quiet of the car and my own thoughts, it seems more like an hour’s drive. I can’t however help noticing the number of school children walking to school along the road in groups or in singles many of them thumbing rides from passing motorists between Makutano and Sagana town. Are they all really school children or could they be thugs dressed up in school uniform looking to ambush the unwary Samaritan who may stop to give one a ride to their school and find out that they intended to get a ride to somewhere else when a gun is pulled on them? Some of them certainly look older than someone of school going age but I digress! But why only in this section of the Nairobi to Nyeri highway (or what would it be called?) are there so many school children at that time of the morning seeing that it is just getting to 7.00 am? Don’t other children from other areas not go to school as well or is it that my journey coincides with when the kids on this stretch of the road are all enroute to school?
That aside, why do people stop to pick up school kids and give them a lift whether in school uniform or not? Do you know just how much trouble you could find yourself in if the last vehicle that that child was seen boarding was yours and then something happened to that child either on the way or after you dropped them off at their destination? This may seem callous and self-centered but you better give an adult a lift and leave the child to walk to wherever they are going. That is my unsolicited advice because you will have no defense if anything happened to that child because good faith or not that is a minor and you are going to be held solely responsible if anything were to happen to them while in your custody.
Now where was I? Oh yes, sometimes the great mountain is not shy and as the sun rises she peaks out in all her glory her misty outline silhouetted against the rays of the rising sun and visible from miles away gradually taking a more distinct shape the closer you get to her and that is a definite bonus to us early risers as we are shepherded into Nyeri two hours later by her majestic snowcapped peaks.
In case you were wondering why I don’t leave for Nyeri the previous evening, wonder no more for that is the reason I prefer travelling in the early morning just to catch a possible glimpse of Mt. Kenya’s peaks as I make my way to work.
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