Nairobi – Nanyuki – Marsabit – Moyale road – Kenya to Ethiopia

The road from Marsabit to Moyale, Kenya to Ethiopia for some years had a reputation as one of the most notorious roads in Africa, known for highway robberies, and in the rain lots and lots of mud, sometimes making it impassable or a real challenge.

Over the last few years the road has been paved, currently (December 2015) there are only a few spots where road works are still being carried out.

Nanyki – Marsabit – Total Distance 335km

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The road is newly paved almost all the way apart from a few areas where they are working on bridges, around 18km from Merille to near Laisamis and the last 35km to Marsabit.

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Lots of locals along the road

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Although the route is mostly paved, it can still become impassable when there are heavy rains. This is due to the water pooling up where the road works are being carried out, creating large mud pools, it also does not help that large trucks create deep tracks in the mud posing problems for 2wd vehicles.

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There are a couple of places where there are steep muddy hills to drive up/down, in the wet, caution should be taken.

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The entire road (except the last 35km) should be fully complete in the next 6 months.

Work has started on the last 35km, but it looks like it will be a while longer before it is complete.

If it’s dry, you will have no issues at all.

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Marsabit – Moyale – Total distance 246km

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Once leaving Marsabit, the road turned to a fantastic, smooth brand new road, with only about 8km of road works still to be completed and the last section of road into Moyale.

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Safety was once a concern on this route however, as you approach the small towns there are police check points, in addition to this we also saw a few police vehicles patrolling the road.

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In general, we felt safe along the entire route. Although recently there were reports of fighting in Moyale, where the border was closed for a couple of days. If in doubt, check with the local police before setting out from Marsabit.

Enjoy the scenery

With the road tarred almost the entire way, you are able to enjoy the breath-taking scenery along this route!!

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Ethiopian side

The first parts of the road in Ethiopia once outside of Moyale, is potholed and under construction, a few kms later you will have perfectly smooth newly tarred road again!!

One truck did manage to get stuck in the road works.

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