Weekend #1: Hell's Gate National Park

The weekends in Kenya are like those in the US: they go by way too fast!

John, Ryan, Kim, Marissa, and I had a wonderful time at Hell's Gate in Naivasha, Kenya which was about a 4 hour drive from Eldoret. Naivasha itself was a fascinating area with hundreds of football-field length greenhouses lining the main highway. Our driver told us that the town is known for growing beautiful flowers, which are flown out daily to European markets. He said about 80% of the town is employed by the various flower companies.

We stayed at Fisherman's Camp, a campground with a few cabins right on Lake Naivasha. Our first night was spent in a "Banda" which traditionally would've been a mud hut but instead was a regular one-room wood cabin. We dropped our bags and headed to the lodge, which was a large open-air restaurant and bar that looked over the lake and campground. It was a beautiful night, and I got to enjoy the yummy food and my first Tusker beer. It's the Budweiser of Kenyan beers, I've been told, but I thought it tasted much better than a Bud. According to the label on the back of the bottle, Tusker was the name of the elephant that killed one of the company's founders.

We were getting bored and John volunteered to go to the cabin to grab a deck of cards when we saw that a hippopotamus had come out of the lake to graze on the grass of the campground a few hundred yards from our table! We didn't realize this was common here at night, until we saw the campground owners had hung lights to some of the trees to help guests visualize the late-night feeding of the hippos. I couldn't get any great photos b/c despite the lights it was still dark, but I did get a video where you can somewhat see a hippo (will upload once internet allows!)

We woke up early the next morning, rented our rickety mountain bikes, and rode them down to Hell's Gate. The day was overcast and cool, which was great for us working hard pedaling. Our bottoms were very sore later in the day from riding 13 miles on the bumpy gravel, but seeing wildlife without fences or car doors between us was worth the pain :) On our ride down the trail, we saw zebras, water buffalo, warthogs (pumbas), baboons, and antelope. We got to the ranger station next, hired a guide, and hiked down to Devil's canyon. I assume it is called this because of the hot springs located there, and the guide advertised if we had brought our eggs with us we could've boiled them. My pictures/video don't do the landscape justice, and our tour was breathtaking (both visually and physically) as we climbed up and down rock formations like Angelina Jolie when she shot the movie Lara Croft: Tomb Raider here.

We finished our hike and biked back home through town, and were greeted by "How are you!" yelled by the children along the way. Supposedly, instead of "Hello" as a greeting, they are taught to say "How are you?" We mzungus (white people) stand out on the street!

Back at the camp, we were upgraded to the cottage which had a comfortable front porch and more spacious rooms. We noticed monkeys running around the camp and through the trees, which was a sight to be seen. But John told us Kenyans think it's crazy that we were impressed by monkeys, because that would be like them coming to Indiana and being impressed by squirrels!

We slept well that night and into the next morning, then wished Fisherman's Camp and Naivasha goodbye. My first weekend trip in Kenya has set a high standard for future get-aways!