Turkana eastern shore
 

Hi all!

A friend and I are planning to travel from Loiyangalani to Omorate in Ethiopia in January. We already have our Ethiopian visas in our passports. I have four questions, the answers to which I cannot find anywhere else on this forum or elsewhere on the web:

1. What is the exact process for getting the exit stamp in Nairobi? Is it done at the Immigration Office in Nyayo House ? How long does it take?

2. For various reasons we will be passing through Nairobi three times but always on Saturdays and Sundays unfortunately. The Immigration Office seems to be closed at weekends. Is there any way to get the process done in advance online then get the passport stamp elsewhere, for example at the airport?

3. What is the traffic like from Loiyangalani - Sibiloi Park - Ileret - Omorate? We are considering trying to hitch hike it (both experienced hitch hikers who have done it in much more remote regions than this before). Just wondering roughly how often cars travel this road to get a rough idea of how long we may have to wait for a ride for.

4. As a backup option, is there anywhere in Loiyangalani where we could hire a car with driver to take us to Omorate or at least the Ethiopian border?

Many thanks in advance for any help, advice or tips you can give!

The answers to some of your questions are, actually, on this forum (and on the 4x4 community forum). Do a search for wickychicky, and Stan Weakley’s Slowdonkey blog.

Yes, Immigration has to be done at Nyayo House in Nairobi. Although I read that Wickychicky managed to clear Immigration in Eldoret. You might also be able to clear immigration in Kisumu, but don’t bank on it.

There are very few passing vehicles between Loiyangalani and Omorate. For that section, we didn’t see another vehicle for two and half days. You might be able to catch a lift with a KWS parks vehicle if they happen to be in Loiyangalani, but that will only take you as far as Sibiloi Park HQ. As far as whether there would be any other overlanders doing that remote, hard section, I think you would have to ask around at Jungle Junction in Nairobi. But most overlanders wouldn’t have room in their vehicle for two hitchhikers...

Do not underestimate how remote and hard the section from Loiyangalani to Omorate is. People die out there if things go wrong.

Hiya,

I second all that Wazungu has written: even if you do find overlanders, it would be a miracle for them to have space for 2.

There isn’t really much cross-border traffic into Omorate from what we could see.

You might get a driver and car to take you to the end of the villages in Kenya, but you’d still have to cross the ‘no-man’s land’ section, which seemed to be at least 10km, but could be totally wrong, it was hard to tell where one country ended and the other started. We picked up a local hitch hiker, so it seems like from there at least you should be able to get to the main road and hopefully on to Omorate.

Also note, that while it might be possible to get a car and driver, and I don’t think that would be cheap, even by our standards. There was a South African at the campsite in Loyangelani when we were there hoping to go by donkey along the shoreline up to Ileret. After waiting for 10 days he had to give up: the locals were too scared about inter-tribal attacks, especially with their animals and didn’t want to accompany them or ‘guide’ them. They didn’t even want to take them so far and then let them start their next leg with animals from another tribe.

And I wonder what you would do about water... ?

I just did the route a couple of weeks ago.


1. The exact details are in iOverlander. I updated the info when I did it. It takes about 30 minutes, but don't arrive at the office at lunchtime, they're gone for an hour.


2. Not that I know of. I had to speak to the supervisor at the office, I don't expect anyone else will give it to you.


3. From Loiyangalani North I saw exactly 1 vehicle in 4 days. The guys at the entrance gate to Sibiloi Park said there is usually about 1 car per day.


I know you said you've done remote stuff before... but.
I have just driven all of West Africa and back up East Africa. I intentionally got off the beaten path as often as possible in my well-equipped 4x4. The Lake Turkana route was impressively remote, and I didn't speak to another human for 72 hours. It's a very, very rough road, and like I said very remote. I was impressed how remote it was in fact. Easily the most remote place I have been in all of Eastern Africa (Think the really, really, really remote parts of Namibia)





4. I highly, highly, highly doubt it. But for the right price, maybe.


Have fun, it's stunning!


-Dan

Having been through the remote Kaokoland in Namibia, at certain times of year convoys of South Africans descend into that area: the Lake Turkana route in northern Kenya is much more remote and less visited. You are truly on your own and far from help.

Our longest section without access to fuel etc on a trip from the UK to Cape Town (and back to Kenya), was the section from Arba Minch, Ethiopia to Maralal, Kenya. The second longest was from Ruacana, Namibia to Palmwag, Namibia through the Kaokoland. We saw one vehicle in 2.5 days from Omorate, Ethiopia to Loiyangalani, Kenya, but in five days from Epupa Falls, northern Namibia through Kaokoland to ”civilisation” at Palmwag, Namibia we saw quite a number of vehicles (particularly at the community campsite at Puros) having seen no vehicles for most of the day traveling through fantastic scenery. Northern Namibia is in a different lesser league - at certain times of the year - to the Lake Turkana route. Lake Turkana is not to be underestimated. It is WILD and REMOTE.

I didn't check out with immigration.... In Iliret(?) there is/was a police station around the link below, I just called in there and said 'Thanks, its been marvellous, but I'm leaving etc' and they recorded my details and I think radioed them somewhere.
https://goo.gl/maps/kfeKBXmbeh42

Btw, I got 'trapped' there for 4 days with heavy rains, the whole valley around it was flooded, it was great fun driving in the mud! :D

I was solo and didn't feel it was very remote, I bumped into quite a few locals, they are amazing walkers and various policemen (camped for a night with them, had snakes in their roofs) park staff and the western priest at the ministry in Iliret etc. They had good recovery gear and vehicles etc

In this day and age, it is essential to log out of immigration in any country (not least of all Kenya). Ethiopian Immigration in Omorate are likely to check that you have logged out of Kenyan Immigration. And the police at Ileret are also likely to check that you have done so.

The original poster on this thread is hoping to hitchhike which is a completely different proposition altogether. It is a long rough ride from Loiyangalani to Ileret with very few passing vehicles. And, again, few passing vehicles between Ileret and Omorate.

Hitchhiking means you need maximum flexibility as its uncertain if you will get all the way to the border and then onto Omorate.

If you sign out in Nairobi and don't make it all the way into Ethiopia, then at some point you become illegal inside Kenya for not having left, and you'd have to trek all the way back to Nairobi(?) to check in again.

So no easy solution ;)

Not at all. I Just did the route, didn't "check out" of Kenya (other than stamp in passport back in Nairobi), and nobody said a word.



Trust me on this, the immigration guy in Omorate didn't check a thing, and I mean nothing.


-Dan

I've had times when the lack of an exit stamp caused me significant problems--either immediately, at the other side of the same border, or even a year later when re-entering the same country. Usually the result has been merely uncomfortable: a couple of hours in extreme heat, a lot of negotiation without benefit of a shared language. I try my best to avoid the situation by asking for exit stamps from whoever might provide them. In most areas of the world I do the same with entry stamps.

Sometimes no one's there to provide, so I do without. It's always worked out in the end, of course--everything always works out in the end. But the absence of one or another stamp makes it noticeably more likely that there'll be an eventual price to pay in time, money, aggravation, or discomfort.

YMMV....and I'm not implying anything in particular about this particular situation or route. Still, I hope that's helpful.

Mark

Sorry for the late trip report, been super busy since this trip.

In general all went well. Got our passports stamped out in Nyayo House in Nairobi, which is only open on week days. It was a fairly painless process and they gave us 2 weeks to get out of the country, more than enough time.

We got one of the daily buses from Nairobi to Marsabit and then the bus from Marsabit to Loiyangalani, which runs 2 -3 times a week.

We'd phoned in advance to one of the guest houses in Loiyangalani to ask for a car and driver to take us to the Ethiopian border. They'd asked for 40,000 shillings but agreed to 30,000 in the end. However, when the car turned up at our guest house it was fully loaded with goods, the driver was exhausted from driving all day and all night and was going to drive overnight to Ileret. We would have to sit on the back on top of a huge pile of furniture and other goods, holding on for dear life.

Luckily we were able to refuse, as while in Loiyangalani we had found another option - a KWS vehicle going up to Ileret the next morning. They agreed to take us to Ileret for a much more reasonable price of 15,000 shillings in much more comfortable conditions. On the way he then agreed to go all the way to the border for 25,000 shillings.

The drive to the border is around 10 hours from Loiyangalani, not 2 days as I read previously online. The border is a tiny village, the name of which I cannot for the life of me remember. There are no border facilities there whatsoever, just a small painted rock marking the border. I asked around about Fort Banya, which I had read online as being the name of the border crossing, but nobody I asked anywhere between Loiyangalani and Omorate had heard of it.

A local guy in the border village let us put up our tent on his property, fed us and gave us super-strong local home-brew, which was nice. The next morning we hitched a lift on a truck from the border to Omorate, where we got our passports stamped in at Immigration.

There are 2 - 3 buses a week onwards from Omorate to Turmi, Jinka and even Arba Minch, and we were able to get seats on one with no problems.

Advice for anyone attempting this route without their own transport:

1. From Nairobi to Marsabit to Loiyangalani is easy on public transport.

2. From Loiyangalani to Ileret we found two cars going in the space of 24 hours. Whether this is typical or not I cannot say. On the way we passed 4 - 5 cars.

3. From Ileret to the border and from Ileret to Omorate there seem to be lots of motorbikes going every day. Either you could try to hitch a lift, or pay someone to take you, either way I don't think it would be a problem.

4.From the border to Omorate there seem to be a fair number of trucks going. I don't think anyone should have problems catching a lift on one.

5. From Omorate on to the rest of Ethiopia is easy on public transport.

Hope that's useful!

Thank you for posting and letting us know how you got on. It must have been an adventure of note! Congratulations on persevering and doing the journey.

However, I think you mean you got your bus from MARALAL to Loiyangalani not Marsabit. From Marsabit to Loiyangalani involves crossing the Chalbi Desert and I am pretty certain there are no “buses” across this (there might be informal arrangements to be made at the right time of year, but not “buses” or matatus across the Chalbi).

The arrangement you made with the KWS driver was definitely not official and the money would have gone into his pocket. Also, he wasn’t driving his own vehicle and if you were driving your own vehicle (and having to pay for parts and repairs) there is no way that Loiyangalani to the border takes 10 hours.

It is a route and scenery to be savoured.

Hi Wazungu, it was indeed quite an adventure and amazing scenery as you say. However, everything I wrote in my post was accurate, despite your claims to the contrary. I have never visited Maralal, only Marsabit. It was from Marsabit that we got the bus. It was not a truck or minibus or a matatu but a proper full-size bus / coach that runs 2-3 times a week. From Maralal I heard it is also possible to reach Loiyangalani but only by getting lifts on the back of very irregular trucks. I can’t confirm that because, as I said, I have never visited Maralal.

Am not sure when your information is from / when you last were in this area but there is now a “good” road from Marsabit to Loiyangalani. The road north from Loiyangalani to Ileret was also improved last year and is easily doable in 8 hours.

You might want to consider deleting your post, as the point of this thread was to provide accurate information not available elsewhere on the internet. While I appreciate your comment, the information in it is not accurate and will only confuse readers.

That is very interesting EddyV. I was last in Marsabit in 2017 and I have been to Turkana three times - first time in 1979.

What I would like to know is what route this bus took from Marsabit to Loiyangalani. I am presuming it went south to Laisamis and then went on the new road constructed by the Lake Turkana Wind Power Project towards Ilaut, South Horr and then on to Loiyangalani.

Please can you confirm the route taken?

It went south then left the main road at Log-Logo. I was expecting to go via South Horr but somehow we didn’t. I was following our progress on google maps and was surprised to see that the bus did not follow what looked like the main road on google.