Sunday, March 14, 2010 - Malakisi, Kenya
Out of the city
When I set out for this run on a hot evening, I did not know what I was upto. It was a new route, never before tackled but whose challenge was just too inviting to resist. As usual, I gathered information on the route from those who claimed to know it. They all agreed that the first phase would lead me to Angurai market, then I would traverse the terrain to the other market of Chamasiri. From there I would be on the main road back to Malakisi where I was staying.
To get to Malakisi, I had taken a night bus from Nairobi to the western Kenya town of Bungoma. From Bungoma I took a vehicle bound for the border town of Malaba but alighted at the junction shopping centre of Kimaeti. From there the only means of travel was motorbike, which I took through the dusty road to Malakisi. (Am informed that the competition between motorbikes and public service vehicles on this route was so intense that only the motorbikes were left standing, having floored the latter. The road condition did not make matters any better for the four-wheels either)
Malakisi town is famed for its hosting the gigantic BAT Malakisi Leaf Centre - a tobacco leaf processing centre. The main crop in the area is therefore tobacco leaf, a seasonal crop that is found in most farms. Additionally most homes have a curing shed for this crop, before it can be moved to the leaf centre. Subsistence farming of grains is also undertaken, though the area is generally dry. The Teso and Bukusu are the major tribes in the town and locality.
In the evening before the run, I was watching this Nigerian movie where a sister managed to ensure that two of her sibling's weddings did not take place. She was just about to stop a third one when my run time of 5.00pm was here with me, so I gave up on the movie, put on my attire and off I went. It was now 5.10pm as I started the run.
Dusty hilly road
What I was not told was that the route from Malakisi to Angurai market would be a 6km stretch of hilly terrain – this was left for my discovery. The road was dry-weather, dusty and at places uneven. There were not vehicles using the road for the most part. Occasionally, a motorbike would pass by, while there were several bicycles that adorned the route. I passed by Rwatama Primary and Katakwa Secondary schools, just as the route had been explained and I felt that I was surely on the right track. The hilly section was not any easy, especially when the evening sun persisted.
In thirty-minutes, I was at the Angurai market. The market folks looked strangely at this stranger that was running through their market place and whispered whatever to each other. I just passed by and diverted from the main Moding road and got onto the road that would lead me to Chamasiri. This was another dusty path, hardly capable of supporting vehicle size nor load. The first part of the road was a downhill stretch upto a river. Thereafter I faced a hilly section with Aloete Primary on that side of a river, just next to a posho mill that spewed dark smoke from its diesel engine driven mill. I reached Chamasiri in exactly one hour, where I met a familiar road that would surely lead me back to Malakisi. (From Chamasiri the hilly plains of Uganda are clearly visible on one side, and the Mount Elgon follows close by on the same background. In fact about seven kilometers down the road from I am now is the border town of Lwakhakha – but this is a run for another day)
Two schools
This last stretch was basically a triumphant last stage. It had one gentle hill from Chamasiri for about one kilometer, then a flat terrain all the way back. Two kilometers later I was passing by Kolanya Boys High School on my right followed immediately by Kolanya Girls on the left. (Those two have an history but that is for another day. Just know that the girls had beaten the boys academically until last year when it is claimed both changed top management). After Kolanya market, I was on the last three kilometers back to my end of run.
When I arrived back at 6.30pm and informed my hosts that am just through with a 19.4km run, had overtaken a lorry and that they failed to warn me of the hilly section to Angurai, they were in so much shock to even comment. My stop watch registering 1.28.38. To them only someone out of his mind would run that distance. Thinking about it, who in his right mind would chase the wind that long!
WWB, Malakisi, Kenya, March 2010
