anyone who rode on tuku tuku/ nyairo?
FYI,this was a gari made out of mbito( small diameter tree stems),and whose fuel used to be wet shit( ng'ombes). the brakes was a tapered-edge small stem i. e one end sharpened by cutting diagonally. wheels were bearings from faulty vehicles.
in my village,they were used to ferry coffee to the factory among others. the only problem was that u had to pull it mpaka u get where there was a hill- they could only go unaided downhill.
there was one in fact,which overtook a landrover...the rover was owned by a mzee and used to do like 20kph,but who cares,all we knew was that a tukutuku overtook a gari,period.
one day,as we were on our way downhill,the brakes brought about problems. you had to apply them at an angle to the ground,i.e not vetically downwards. a 'learner' did it the wrong way,and on board were two sacks of coffee and two 'makangas' plus him
the thing catapulted us and we landed in a gulley,the sacks closely following and then the gari.uuuuiiii,was the only thing and lots of dust.getting the sacks opf our top was enough battle...passersby did assist us coz we cudnt.
if u did cry,u wud never be allowed by your big bros to ride again. so with your many bruises,u could only moan with your eyes very wet but none should flow.
after that,u had to pull the thing up the slope....yule mdogo in order to be ncluded in the next ride. ...poignant memories,very nice
be happy!
"The chief danger in life is that you may take too many precautions" - Alfred adler