You leave Rumuruti, the last town on the edge of the Laikipia Plateau, and leave England behind and drive into Africa. Maralal is where the great African explorer, Wilfred Thesiger, has chosen to live out his last days, surrounded by his Samburu friends, isolated from the world. The road from Rumuruti to Maralal starts out well, then rapidly deteriorates into a corrugated washboard. The distance is only 112km according to the maps, 123km according to our odometer, but it took us the best part of the day. In the main street of Maralal we had to brake for a herd of zebra.
Leopard roam the yellowwood forests and hyenas howl as they scavenge urban detritus by night.
As the sun rose, one of the most breathtaking views in Africa unfolded below. We descended into the Suguta and the road fell apart. The El Barta Plains stretched into the distance, grim and forbidding, boulder strewn and desolate, the track meanders through the rocks, and travel is reduced to a snail's pace as soccer ball sized sump destroyers leap malevolently in the heat haze. The going gets rougher and rougher on the approach to South Horr. And when you get to the bottom of the hill, turn right into the river bed and look for a track out to South Horr, the main road has been washed away.