Run No. 176 - 15th July 2006
Question: What do you do if a bird craps on your car?
Answer: Don’t ask her out again.
Hash number 175 was held at Mabanda Ya Ng’ombe. For those of you, who like me have never before heard of Mabanda Ya Ng’ombe, you head west out of Mombasa town, past what used to be the Drive-in Cinema (remember those days?). Continue down the Mombasa – Nairobi highway ignoring all the big corporate names and juggernauts (the rat race goes on with ever bigger rats). Pass slowly through Miritini where the highway has taken missile hits and turn right after the China Road Co. HQ. A couple of cowsheds marks the spot hence the name. Mzee Mouth this week’s Hare was still setting the trail so the largish pack salivated at the view of the rolling green countryside while waiting.
Mzee Mouth arrived, a circle was formed, the history of the land was handed down (The locals resisting land-grabbing from colonial upto current times), and the pack took up the trail by crossing both the highway and the railway line into Kwale district. Through tall grass and steep downhill paths led the trail. Very few trees except for a few lonely Baobabs and the effects of water erosion can be seen. Gullies make the trail treacherous and the quandary is; do you keep your eyes down on the path or do you admire the vivid vistas on every side and risk going ass over tit? Can’t stop as the rest of the pack is howling at your heels.
Uphill now and the going gets tough and the tough get huffing and puffing. First Hold at last, set on a concrete slab or bridge in a riverbed. The Front Running Bastards (FRBs) chatted to the local villagers while waiting for the rest of the pack to catch up. The sight of the fiery Kama Sutra sliding down the hillside on her derrière was ample reward for the waiting.
On On went the call and the marks led up another steep hill, almost at the top and two parallel white lines on the ground mark a “Check-Back”. Only a fiendish Hare would set a Check-Back right at the top of a hill. Mzee Mouth could be heard crackling with laughter as the FRBs headed back down the hill. A few false trails later the pack passes through a local homestead complete with an extensive maize shamba. The totos playing by the huts were wide-eyed in alarm as the Hashers ran in but soon big smiles were to be seen as Maasai handed out chocolate bonbons.
On On and the pack manages to lose the trail in the tall grass. Much sniffing about and the trail is found leading up another hill. Home stretch and the railway line and highway are ahead. The tracks on the railway line are date stamped 1950s! Nowhere to have Down Downs so Panu & Simba make do with a pan.