This trip was so long overdue and was glad it was happening.

Going to the SGR

On the day of the trip, Audrey and I made it to Makadara train station a little before 7am to catch the commuter train which was to take us to the Nairobi Terminus where we would meet the others. We were going to attend our friends’ ‘malozi’, a traditional wedding. I was very excited main reason being this was the first time I was attending such and I am a huge lover of weddings. They just make me happy.

The commuter train was ksh.100 and one-way trip to Mombasa was Ksh.1000 but our destination was Mariakani which would be ksh.800.

The train ride to the terminus was really fast; we got there is less than 15 minutes, went through the mandatory security checks and off we went.

The trip was quite nice; one could buy snacks or food depending with preference. I opted to carry my own snacks which worked out for all of us as each one brought something we could all share.

PS: There are washrooms on the train but you CANNOT take a number two there, so it would be nice to know what you’d be eating.

One of my highlights on this trip was seeing the wildlife as we went past the parks.

Missing our stop

We got to Marikani station and the announcement was made but Shiru, Audrey and I remained sitting. On checking our tickets it read the last stop as Mariakani, however I think we were all waiting for our hosts to like come tell us we were supposed to get off. So last minute before the train took off we rushed, removing our backs from the overhead storage and rushing for the door, however it was too late, the doors were locked and the train had slowly started moving. You could imagine the look on our faces when we had to do the walk of shame back to our seats. At this point Shiru started preaching to us about travel anxiety which is a real thing by the way, as were tried to figure out how we would connect with the others once we got to Mombasa.

After 5 hours on the train, we managed to find our way to a tuktuk from the crowd of taxi and bus drivers who were doing their best in convincing the other passengers to ride with them. We took a tuktuk then later connected to Kilifi using a Nissan ‘matatu’.  We were greeted with freshly cooked mahamris.

Our stay in Kilifi

We settled in for the better part of the evening as we prepared for the following big day. In the morning there were all sorts of activities going on. Being a community oriented area, the women were already up and running in the kitchen, you could see the men of the village setting up the tents and making sure all was set and when the awaited our arrived, we sang and danced to bango music as we welcomed the groom to be in to the homestead. A few moments later we brought in the bride to be.

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An interesting and beautiful series of Kambe traditional and cultural rites followed. The parents spoke and declared blessings upon their children. The uncles and aunties followed suit. You can see it all on the vlog;

https://www.addikahbelinda.com/2021/11/05/our-48hrs-in-kilifi-for-malozi/

The important part was over and the feasting session began. It was such an honor to have been a part of the occasion.

Journey back to Nairobi

The following day we had a few young boys get us fresh coconuts from up the tree. It was a scene to watch them climb with such great poise. We also learned that; dafu – is coconut that is not ripe but we drink the juice hence ‘maji ya madafu‘ , koroma – coconut that is almost ripe and nazi – is the ripe the coconut that we now eat, use to cook, drink the juice too ‘maji ya mnazi‘

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On our way back to the train station we made a stop to get ice cream 🙂 and I used this chance to also buy a coastal dish (chicken mahamri).

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The 5 hour trip was chilled, got to Nairobi Terminus at about 8pm, took the commuter train back to Makadara and we all headed home with full hearts  🙂 .

 You can see for yourselves below;

https://www.addikahbelinda.com/2021/10/29/first-trip-on-the-sgr/