The Overnight to Mombasa ... A Story of Fate

This past weekend Dom and I decided to head to the coast to enjoy a relaxing weekend of sun and sand in a place called Diani, which is a small seaside town south of Mombasa. This place came highly recommended by many people we have met that have been to Kenya, and since traveling is so inexpensive here we figured why not ... how many times do you get to enjoy white sand and clear blue water in Africa? So we rounded up a few other volunteers, all from New Zealand and Australia, and booked our tickets for the overnight bus to Mombasa.

When we booked our tickets to leave Friday night our travel agent informed us that there would be a waiting area off the street that we could use while we were waiting for our bus to arrive, as all of the buses in Kenya seem to depart from the sketchiest parts of town. Since this side of town is quite dangerous to wander once its dark if you are of fair skin color we felt quite relieved that we would have a safe haven to sit in while we waited for the bus, especially since nothing ever runs on time here and we weren't sure how long we would actually be there waiting. So, after supper we all hailed a cab and headed over to the "waiting area" we were told about to wait the hour and a half we had to wait for our bus. Well, this so called waiting area happened to be a seedy bar no bigger than my tv room where a bunch of greasy guys were drinking and carrying on. Since we had no choice (as standing on the street and waiting wasn't an option), the six of us took a seat in the bar and ordered Coca Cola's while we waited. As you can imagine, six mzungus attract a lot of attention, and the patrons did not leave us alone the entire time we were there. Luckily there was a guy with us so they backed off a bit, but near the end we were starting to get frustrated and couldn't have been happier when the bus showed up.

When we got on the bus we found out that people had sat in our seats and were unwilling to move so we all got shoved to the back of the bus to cramp ourselves in for the 8 hour bus ride ahead of us ... which is especially fun when two of the girls with us have motion sickness!! Once the bus started to go it went from bad to worse. This bus, which was as filthy was ever, had a bus driver that decided to take off-road "shortcuts" to try and save the bus some time since it left an hour later than it was supposed to. These little excursions consisted of flying through dirt roads and trying to overtake tractor trailers on small, two lane maximum, roads while trying not to run into the people coming the other way. It was absolutely terrifying at times and all I could do was close my eyes and hope I could sleep through most of it, which for some amazing reason I was ... but the poor girls with motion sickness I thought were going to lose it with the mix of bumpy roads, back of the bus, and the fact that the windows didn't open so it was a glorified sauna on wheels. We also managed to hit a traffic jam on one of our shortcuts which is when the bus decided to stall for an hour ... super, just super!!!! I would also like to add a side note that we are pretty sure, as it is quite common here, that our driver was intoxicated for the trip... comforting isn't it.

Well we finally made it to Mombasa in the early hours of Saturday morning ... safe and sound and happy to get off the bus as soon as possible!! When we arrived we were informed it would be best to book our return tickets before we headed down the coast, mainly to ensure we had a spot coming back as these buses all tend to fill. We had intended on taking the bus back on Sunday night to be back in time to volunteer Monday morning which was what we were planning to do, but after talking with everyone about our experience getting here we decided that we had earned an extra day on the coast and instead we would book our overnight tickets for Monday Night instead ... for which we'd make up the volunteer day at the end of the trip. We also decided to book seats in the front this time so some of the girls would have an easier time on the way home with all of the motion sickness.

Well ... let me tell you this might have been the best "selfish" decision we have ever made. When we got back to Mombasa on Monday night to catch our bus we were informed that we would be travelling with a different company as the bus intended for us had been in an accident. We figured the bus had broken down, so we got on our new bus, but because of the change of plans we were forced again to sit in the back against our will. As all of us felt quite put out this time, we were complaining to eachother that we were mad we weren't sitting in the front seat since we booked so far in advance and this wasn't fair. Well as soon as the man sitting next to me heard this he politely interrupted and said that things could be worse, we could have been on last nights bus. It turns out that the Sunday Night bus (the one we were originally planning on taking) had been in a head on collision with a tractor trailer and 29 people were killed. This was the worst accident the bussing system has seen in over 10 years... and everyone was either seriously hurt or dead on impact. Such a tragedy it was, but it could have been us ... and we thank our lucky stars that we decided to stay longer. Chilling isn't it.

The man who informed us of this changed my perspective on life in mere seconds and made me realize that complaining about something you can't control is a waste of time, especially when you don't know the true reasons for why you are being put off in that moment. I felt like such a jerk after for even opening my mouth after finding out that my reality could be so much worse off and I thank that stranger for teaching me an incredible lesson in humbleness. The world works in mysterious ways ... and for some reason this time fate was on our side and someone was watching out for us.