Piki Piki | Iten
The drive from Eldoret to Iten, known as the “Home of Champions”, took us just 1 hour and 30 minutes. It quickly became apparent that this wasn't Nairobi anymore; instead, it was a place where goats, sheep, cows, and even more sheep roamed freely near the two-lane paved road. Motorbikes (Piki Piki), many of them, vied for road space with cars and matatus. Motorbikes, capable of carrying up to four people without helmets, appeared to be the most common mode of transport in Kenya, almost on par with matatus. The concept of safety, I realized, was quite relative and in this part of the world meant something entirely different.
One motorbike, for instance, carried four individuals, including a baby, and no one wore helmets, yet everything seemed perfectly fine. Another motorbike had a "passenger" sitting comfortably on a three-person couch, all balanced on top of the bike. It seemed like a reliable mode of transportation here, defying the safety standards we often associate with the West. In the United States, although it's a land known for its unique quirks, seeing motorbikes without helmets is common, but I have yet to witness one carrying four people like in Kenya. It appears that the “tough-looking”, mustache-sporting, leather-pants-wearing men in America might not be as rugged as they seem. They draw the line somewhere. These Kenyans exude toughness without any need for showmanship. Toughness here means piling four people onto a motorbike while transporting firewood and a goat. The concept of masculinity takes on an intriguing dimension.
This mode of transportation, the motorbike, owes its prevalence in Kenya to one of the country's presidents who sought to create employment opportunities and provide means of transportation to the people. Consequently, you'll find numerous shops selling motorbike spare parts, wheels, and repair services, contributing to a bustling local economy.
First time on a Piki Piki in Iten.
As we ventured deeper into Iten territory, inhabited mainly by the Kalenjin tribe, the surroundings became progressively rural. Still, it wasn't as rural as parts of Zimbabwe, where paved roads and electricity are often luxuries. Iten, in this regard, is somewhat perplexing. While it boasts main paved roads, albeit two-lane frequented by matatus, it also features numerous branching gravel roads leading to farming lands, mainly serviced by motorbikes – and these are why many people come to run. Matatus steer clear of these gravel roads so these roads make some of the best roads I have run since Switzerland. If you ever find yourself lost or too exhausted to continue your run which happened to me on one of my runs, a motorbike is your lifeline on these gravel routes. I had to rely on one during one of my runs and made sure to pay extra, refusing (more like scared) to share a motorbike with two other passengers. I asked the driver to take it slow ("pole pole") since this was my first time ever on a motorbike and I didn’t have a helmet. My running cap wasn’t going to be of any use if things went south. I gave him $1000 KSH (~$7 USD) at the end of the ride, a significant increase from their usual $50 KSH fares. The man was overjoyed. No need to give rides for the rest of the day. I told him to get the wife something nice.
