A sad state of affairs, including the rather sorry state of our safari vehicle (get it together, Glorious Safaris) left us stranded for about an hour in Emali, a town en route to Lake Nakuru (rhinos!). As the car was worked on, we wandered around the town's various markets.
I realize some people might not want to do this, might be annoyed at possibly missing out on yet another giraffe sighting. I'm not going to lie and say that I wasn't insanely miffed at the pit stop a mere 20 minutes after changing a flat tire (again, Jesus, Glorious Safaris).
However, a change of pace on trip like this is always welcome. Why? Because of the dark secret of the African safari. That secret is that sometimes your journey can feel like an overland cruise. You have to have a guide; typically, a travel agency (yes, they still exist!) plans the itinerary. Every tent camp (i.e., hotel) is all-inclusive, you rarely interact with local
culture (no, drinking Tusker "curio shops" doesn't count).
So at least our stop yielded a (very, very small glimpse) into daily Kenyan city life and the innovations that everyday Kenyans have come up with to handle problems, both big and small.
One of those innovations, though not so small, is called M-Pesa. M-Pesa has been written about extensively and, although it is already five years old, it is my current obsession. M-Pesa is a mobile money system that allows users to store and transfer money via their mobile phones. Banks hate it, mobile providers love it and it is *everywhere* in Kenya. You could be rolling through a tiny village that has no running water and you will see an M-Pesa sign.
At our roadside pit stop, Jeff and I roamed markets until we stumbled upon another practical idea that surely rose out of this roadside stand's proximity to a series of autobody shops (read: shacks): a vendor that fashions used tires into shoes.
This idea of ingenuity arising out of difficult circumstances, specifically in Africa, is documented almost daily on AfriGadget. I hate the site's design, but the content is fascinating.
