Forget Kenya’s World Cup dream, just enjoy the road trips

I have one member of my family in whose bucket list is a long-pending visit to the Democratic Republic of Congo. He recently told me that he finally hopes to make that trip later this year, God-willing and the global pandemic permitting.

Which got me thinking about the length to which some travel enthusiasts go just to visit that one place in the world that most fascinates them.

Many a holidaymakers’ dream destination would perhaps be the Maldives, famous for its white sandy beaches that are constantly lashed by turquoise waters of the Indian Ocean.

Some have a desire to visit the scenic Canary Islands, a Spanish archipelago off the coast of north western Africa, just to have a close up view of the rugged volcanic peaks and the black and white sand beaches that the isles are famous for.

Yet, others would die to get that one vaporetto boat ride in the dreamy and romantic tiny Italian city of Venice where – like no other place on the planet – there are no roads, just canals lined with Gothic palaces.

Well, not for this brother of mine who is a self-styled “Rhumba student”.

Not that he speaks or understands Lingala, but a “student” in the sense that he has a natural affinity for Rhumba music.

Insatiable craving

And having listened to so much of the Congolese music, he says, over the years his longing to visit the DRC has grown to an insatiable craving.

Thankfully, he says, he hopes to have saved enough funds by October for this excursion which he has affectionately christened the “Triple K” trip or “KKK” for short.

Don’t be mistaken, this voyage has nothing to do with the Ku Klux Klan (KKK), the infamous American white supremacists.

KKK in this case is in reference to the three major cities in the Great Lakes region which the trip will take him to, that is Kampala to Kigali to Kinshasa, and back.

To his elaborate travel plans, I could only say bon voyage!

Which brings me to Kenya’s long-held yet eternally doomed effort for a trip to the Fifa World Cup.

Well, just days after Harambee Stars’ hopes of playing with the big boys in the continental Holy Grail went up in smoke, the team has rekindled its World Cup dreams.

I don’t mean to hurt feelings, but let’s get serious for a minute here.

Excited chatter

If you know anything about Kenyan football, then you would know that all this excited chatter on social media about Kenya being serious contenders for a ticket to next year’s World Cup is just that. Cheap talk.

A pipe dream.

Forget about coach Jacob “Ghost” Mulee’s veiled optimism about his team’s prospects in the looming campaign.

He is simply soothing egos for his charges’ inconsequential victory over Togo.

Here is the point. Kenya failed to make the cut in a 24-team Africa Cup of Nations tournament, how on earth will they secure one of Africa’s five tickets to Qatar?

Mulee and his men are not going anywhere. Not to Cameroon and certainly not to Qatar. Period!

The only silver lining in this dark cloud that is precariously hanging over us is that with Uganda Cranes and Rwanda’s Amavubi (The Wasp) in our qualification group, at least I can look forward to an abridged version of my own Great Lakes region road trip that will take me to Kampala and Kigali.