Kenya - the last of the game drives and entry into rebel country

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We had a long driving day on 21st June crossing from Uganda into Kenya although we didn't get to see much of the scenery as it was a miserably wet day. It cost $50 for the visas and immigration was quite straight forward. We drove to a town called Eldoret on the Kenyan side and managed to arrive their before the bakery closed allowing us to grab a cake before we continued for another 25km to our campsite which we would be using as a stopover. The campsite was new and quite groovy. We were the only ones staying there but there was a huge bar, pool and lounge area (with big fire, it had got extremely cold and wet) in one which had been made into a sort of cave scene! After having pumpkin and potatoe soup, just what was need to keep us warm, we headed to bed in our wet tents (actually they proved to be very waterproof!). The following morning was much brighter and remained dry all day, again it turned out to be a long day of driving but at least this time we could see the magnificent views across the rift valley. It was only a 140km drive to Nakuru, our next destination, which should have taken no more than 3 hours but after three hours we'd only driven 69km! The road was so so bad, the worst tarmac road yet. There had been no upkeep for years by the looks of things because there were the deepest potholes and half of the tarmac had been washed away! Eventually we stopped at a town for lunch and then the road improved significantly beyond there so the remaining 71km only took us just over an hour. We spent a few hours in Nakuru town buying food for the next few days and souvenir shopping etc. Late afternoon we drove out of Nakuru to a campsite called Kembu where we would spend 2nights whilst we visited Lake Nakuru NP the next day.

On 23rd we spent the day in Lake Nakuru NP, we were picked up by a local tour company and taken into the park and drove around all day looking for game. The scenery was stunning and as the name suggests it was dominated by a huge lake which is usually home to thousands of flamingoes. Unfortunately, there are two months of the year when they migrate south to the Serengeti NP in Tanzania, and they just happened to coinside when we were there - typical. Well we did see a few flamingoes amongst the millions of pelicans; they were juvenilles which weren't ready to migrate. We had a really good day exploring the park as we saw a lot of different animals which we hadn't seen a lot of so far including loads of white and one black rhino, water buffalo, hyienas and wait for it..... a lion stuck up a tree! Well it wasn't stuck but rather just chilling out but it was a hillarious sight! At lunch time we went to a five star hotel resort in the park where we got attack by a massive baboon jumping on our table and stealing the sugar pot. I don't think the waiters ever caught him! When we got back that night to camp it was my cookgroup again so we made mexican tortillas with mixed beans, salsa and guacamole (really cheap over here).

From Nakuru we drove to Naivasha, a town 2hours drive away through beautiful scenery, mostly rift valley lakes and hills. As we entered the town we stopped at a farm shop to get fresh veggies for dinner before driving out to Lake Naivasha which would be our base for exploring Hell's Gate NP. Our campsite was right alongside the Lake, a delightful setting with huge lawns for pitching tents and home to hippos although the camp was now fenced off to the Lake but there was a viewing platform. In the afternoon we went to Elsamere Conservation Centre just down the road for High-tea. The centre is the old home of Joy Adamson who did a lot of conservation work with lions in Kenya and wrote the Born Free book. We watched a video about her life and the work that see did with her husband. Afterwards we had tea and loads of yummy cakes in the garden which overlooks the lake. A really nice relaxing afternoon by the lake.

On the 25th, seven of us hired bicycles and a guide who took us into Hell's Gate NP. Yes were on bicycles in a game park but we were assured that they didn't have any lions, buffalo, elephants or rhinos and the other animals wouldn't try to eat us. Good, cos I wasn't very fast at peddling! We rode 5km to the main gate of the park along a quite busy road which was scary in itself everytime a lorry or crazy minibus went by. The scenery in the park was stunning, shear cliffs all around which had been created by a huge river which had drained the lake which presided over the area about 11,000 yrs ago. There were also two lava plugs which protruded high into the sky. As we cycled around we saw giraffe, loads of zebra, baboons (they didn't chase us this time thankfully!), impala, kudu and warthogs. We took a break from cycling when we walked into a gorge which was being carved by the modern-day river and you could see the layers of lake sedimentation in the cliffs. We had to walk through hot springs pouring out the cliffs and walk through the river. Apparently, 25% of Kenya's geothermal energy is being created in this park. On the way back up the gorge we went to a view point which gave us vistas across the park. Outside the park we went for a local meal at a cafe, it was delicous. It was a mixture of potato, pumpkin leaves and a curry soup thing. After all that cycling we spent the evening relaxing by the pool.

On 26th we made our way to Nairobi, the capital of Kenya. Here we would lose 7 members of the group and gain three new people. Was also had to spend some time getting visas for Ethiopia as you can't get them on the border. We spent 4 days in Nairobi, although our campsite was in a suburb called Karen, 12km from the city centre. We had no problems getting the visas so we had a lot of time to explore, shop and relax and best of all use public transport! Nairobi itself is nothing exciting but there are lots of markets and shops to negoiate.

We left Nairobi on 30th June with a new group dynamic! The three new people that joined were on another truck which was suppose to be going to Cairo but it didn't in the end as there was just the three of them so they joined us. Some of the people on the truck already knew them as they had met in the Congo in West Africa when they were waiting for visas. From Nairobi we had a few long driving days to Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia. It took three and a half days to get to the border. The roads were terrible but at least the scenery and the tribes people kept us occupied. We passed Mt. Kenya and went to another game park called Buffalo Speings and Samburu National Reserve where we saw lots of animals and three lioness' chilling out on a dried up river bed. At night we were surrounded by wildlife including elephants. The more we drove north the more arid and isolated the environment became. One night we bushcamped in the middle of a desert where we didn't see another soul apart from camels! On 3rd of July we headed towards the Ethiopian border. When we got 140km from the border, we stopped at a police check where they told us we couldn't go any further without armed guards as it was too dangerous! Occassionally rebels from Somalia come over into northern Kenya and rob people at gun point - nice. In the end we had one armed guard in the back with us and one in the front with Tony the driver as we drove through isolated but dense forest cover to the town of Moyale where we would cross the border. You'll be pleased to know we arrived very safely without any gunfire!

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