I had driven over the road from Mombasa to Malindi some twenty years earlier when Kenya was still a colony and the road had aged no better than the rest of the country’s infrastructure. The plan was to observe the eclipse from the coast near Kilifi so we made some rapid changes to departure times to allow for the unpredictable Malindi Ferry and elephant size potholes in the roads.
Every detail was in place the night before the eclipse, but then our coach disappeared – it appeared the driver had relatives in the area so he “borrowed” it to go and visit them. This was Africa 1980, no mobile phones or any such luxury, but we did find another coach the next day to get to the site.
Meanwhile a small group of lions had settled on the intended observation site, so we moved down-track a bit. Glorious eclipse in brilliant blue sky, interrupted at totality by our neighbours on a rocket launch platform just off the coast who set about launching half a dozen sounding rockets during totality. The local villagers had turned out to watch the show but mostly to observe the small herd of people gathered in their field with weird machines.
Great side trips on this project including the game parks with views of the magnificent Mount Kilimanjaro.
Brian McGee
Founder, Astro Trails