Hiking the Virungas

Virungas in the light of the rising sun

The birds are chirping and Marlene’s watch alarm was telling us to get up but our bodies and minds were telling us otherwise.  This seems inhumane to be up before the sun on a “vacation”.  It’s quite cool and foggy this morning as we make our way to the dinner for breakfast.  We thought we had left with plenty of time but it was clear the second we got off the main road that our driver didn’t really know where to go.  Fork in the road (driver mutters to himself) another fork in the road (more muttering) yet another fork in the road…hmmm maybe we should ask someone for directions our driver says.  Well maybe if there was somebody to ask in this foggy, desolate, base-camp of a town.  After much cursing, and lots of guess we did finally arrive at our destination and our driver seemed as surprised as us that we ended up in the right place.  We arrived just in time to get our briefing.  There were 3 couples 1 guide and 2 guards in all (the guards were in case we happened upon some elephants, or at least that’s what they said, who knows, we were heading in the direction of the congo).

The Bamboo Forests

The first two hours of the hike were fairly easy and quite fast paced as we made our way to the edge of the bamboo forests.  We stopped for a water break and were told this is where the challenge begins.  It was interesting to see the change in biodiversity, first through a massive bamboo forest, then through a mossy tree forest.  Once into the moss, things really started to get steep and I began to breath very heavily, my body had been here a few times before; it’s the feeling that your heart if trying to jump out of your throat, it quickly goes away once you stop walking.  However, the pace being set was not one which was conducive to much stopping.  By the time we neared the first summit I was sweating profusely, my legs were getting heavy and I began to feel light headed.  Again, I knew this feeling from hiking the Inca trail; it’s not a good sign as it’s the first step (pun intended) to altitude sickness.  I was very much relieved to arrive at the first peak and admire the incredible view, the trouble was I could also see the next two peaks we had to climb and they didn’t look too friendly.  Our guide chose now to tell us this is the point that most hikers turn back.  But troopers that we are, after a quick break and a snack we were set to climb the second peak…but first we had to climb down the first peak.  The climb down was only partially relieving because we knew we would only have to climb back up on the way back. 

Atop the First Peak

The second peak is where the ladder ascent began.  Marlene seemed to be doing quite well on these, maybe she had more practice on the jungle gyms in her earlier years, or maybe she had something to prove, all I know is the increase in elevation was starting to make me very noxious.  Once up top of the second peak I really started contemplating staying back while the others carried on.  Although this was my idea, and I love hiking in the mountains, for some reason the altitude was really hitting me hard and I contemplated for a second on being like most hikers before me who had attempted this trek.  But of course I’m too stubborn and determined to reach the 3^rd peak that I continued on.  We could see that the third peak was just a cliff of a peak and we must’ve asked our guide 3 times if that was really where we were going.  The movie cliff-hangers ran through my mind as I got a closer look at the dilapidated state of the ladders we were about to entrust.

Staring at the third peak



between peak 2 and 3





Ladder up Peak 3



At one point on the climb there was a series of ladders which were straight up the crevice of a cliff, some 40M straight up.  We couldn’t believe we were doing this, we were literally a hundred feet up the side of a cliff with drops of several hundred meters on both sides.  Although looking around made me even dizzier, I just couldn’t help it, I seemed to be drawn to picturing myself in that moment, on the side of a cliff with nowhere to go but up. The odd thing is that I never once thought to myself “I’m going to fall” as most people do from these heights.  I wasn’t sure if I was experiencing vertigo or if this was the onset of altitude sickness, either way I was not feeling well at all.  For some reason I still felt safe enough to carry on.  Once at the top Marlene admitted she could not focus on anything but the next rung, I thought she was missing out on the best experience…but then again I was probably a little delusional at that point.  The views from atop the third peak were nothing short of spectacular.  On one side we could see the peaks we had just hiked, on the other we could see into the flats of Rwanda and on the other, the lush tropical jungles of the Congo.  These views reminded me very much of Peru with the jagged but very lush peaks.  The clouds were beginning to settle in and it was time to start heading back.  I was not looking forward to climbing back down those old rickety ladders with broken rungs and bent nails.  I was hopeful after lunch and lots of water I’d start to feel better, unfortunately it had to opposite effect and by the time I had climbed back up peak #2 I felt I was very close to barfing, so I stayed well back from everyone else.  Up to this point I hadn’t made it known that I was feeling this way as not to worry Marlene.  However what did worry Marlene was at one point on the final descent my legs just went completely numb and buckled, sending me face first into the turf.  This really was straight out of the cartoons as I scrambled to grab onto a clump of grass to prevent me from falling even further.  Thankfully that clump was very well rooted otherwise I would’ve been in for a very long fall.  After that little episode, I got the attention of the guide and guards who took my bag and followed close behind me.

Feeling pretty good atop the 3rd peak

styling on top a mountain

All in all the trip took us 10 hours to complete and we couldn’t have been more then happy to see our driver waiting for us.  It took all of our strength, endurance and will to do this trek and I would caution anyone that this is not your average mountain hike.  Although I probably felt the worst out of anyone due to the altitude wreaking havoc on my system, our fellow trekkers all agreed they had never done anything this hard in their lives…and these were avid travellers/hikers as well.  I could not have been more happy and relieved to know that the next two nights would be spent in lavish luxury, ok maybe not lavish luxury, but at a lake side resort!

Second peak and the other two Volcanoes

Enter the bread basket

This morning finally felt like a vacation as we slept in till the last minute before the hotel buffet closed.  We actually even went back to bed after the feasting on a wide assortment of delicious food.  We laid around and waited for our transfer from the hotel to the airport to arrive.  After a 2 hour flight we landed safely in Entebbe, Uganda and met our new driver Vincent.  He’s an older man who was a little hard to understand at first, but a really nice man.  He explains to us that he had been expecting us to arrive early in the morning, instead we arrived late that night, the poor guy waited around for hours at the airport wondering where we were, I guess nobody told him that we had booked our own flights from Nairobi to Entebbe.  A slight misunderstanding because it was not explained to me that the tour company actually booked our flights while we were on safari not knowing that I had booked our flights months ago! Oops! In the end it all worked out but we quickly discovered why they wanted us to arrive early in the morning, traffic is INSANE here!  It’s a chaotic combination of trucks and motorcycles.  We had heard that Ugandan’s love their night life, and the drive through the suburbs of the sprawling city demonstrated this perfectly.  It’s rows and rows of kiosks selling BBQ meat and beer and there are tons of people gathered out front of each. All I know is I’m really glad I’m not driving! Once we arrived at the hotel it didn’t take long to realize what all the articles and books we had read about Uganda were talking about in terms of service.  I’m not sure what it is, if it’s a language barrier issue or an accent issue, but they don’t seem to be able to understand us very well.  We wondered whether they only heard what they wanted to hear or if they really didn’t understand us.  For instance if we ordered a tea, they’d say with milk? No milk.  Ok so tea with milk.  No I said no milk. And of course it would come with milk.  Oh well, I guess we’re now on what they call “African time”.  Tomorrow we have another very long day ahead of us as we make our way to the most south western part of Uganda to do some volcano trekking!

Well today we are in for one hell of a drive, but hey, it’s not like we aren’t used to it and have never done it before.  And at least we will get to see what the country actually looks like on the ground, well, the south of it anyway.  On our way down we drove through many small villages and the one commonality was the amount of bananas.  Neither of us had ever seen anything like it, the way they are able transport these bananas is quite amazing.  On our way out of the city it was transport after transport over flowing with bananas delivering them to the urban population who are getting ready for their work day. Vincent kept telling us that the entire country runs on bananas, that 3 varieties of bananas provide sustenance for the majority of the population.  The bananas arrive not by the bunches we see back home in the grocery store, but with the entire stem intact with dozens of these bunches per stem.  Watching them unload the cargo was interesting, but even more fascinating was the way the locals transport them via 10 speed bicycle in the smaller towns.  They are able to very creatively attach several of these stems to 1 bicycle with literally hundreds of bananas at a time.  It was quite the sight to see long lines of locals pushing these bikes up and down the shoulders of the highway.

Vast Farm Lands

As we continued further and further south, the terrain increasingly got more mountainous.  The scenery was absolutely stunning as we passed terraced mountain tops which make good use of all available terrain.  I suppose the trade off is that the entire region to the south has been cleared of trees and brush to make way for agriculture.  Here they grow beans, cabbage, corn, and potatoes…not what you’d expect of a tropical location, but I suppose these are the things that are easy to grow and provide nutrition for the locals.  The tropical, mountainous topography kept reminding Marlene of her travels to Colombia.  It was a very long drive, but at least our surroundings made it all the more inviting.  The most stunning of all scenes was after when we caught a glimpse of lake Bunyoni from high up in the terraced mountains.  We would be returning to the lake in a few days for some rest and relaxation.

After about 10 hours of driving we finally approached our destination.  At this point, the twisty turny nature of our drive had done a number on Marlene who was trying to find a position to sit in which did not make her feel queasy.  As the road turned from freshly paved asphalt to dirt, we rounded our last mountain pass, and there, way off in the distance, with absolute and distinct clarity, were the series of 3 massive volcanoes that up the Muhavura Mountain range, staring us straight in the face.  We pulled over to the side of the road to stare in aw and our driver turned to us with a huge smile and said “so…which volcano would you like to climb?” gulp!! I knew these volcanoes were huge, but to actually see them in the dying light of day was quite intimidating. Upon arrival into Kisoro, we made our way into the tourist centre to decide which volcano we were going to climb.  After intently reading all of the descriptions of the treks up these mammoth beasts we both kind of looked at each other with indecisive gazes.  They all sounded very intriguing but VERY difficult, a lot more difficult then anything we had read in books or on line and we kind of got the feeling that we had been mislead.  We opted for Mt. Sobynyo (Sovenio) which was the second largest of the 3...but still 3659M above sea level!  We based our decision on the fact that at the peak, we would be at a point where 3 countries meet:  Uganda, Rwanda, and the Congo.  When we booked this trip we both had the urge to dip into the Congo for Gorilla trekking but decided it was not a good idea due to the constant instability in the region.  So….this would be as close as we would get to entering the DRC.  Oh yes, and in case it needs to be mentioned, all of these volcanoes have been dormant since the Holocene age J

The Virunga Mountain Range

We eventually checked into our guest house accommodations and were greeted by a lovely, smiling hostess who gave us both hugs and took our orders for dinner. She was incredibly friendly but we are quickly discovering there is a distinct difference in service level here.  The funny thing is that each place we’ve been to has HUGE menus but ¾ of the stuff on them are not available!  So often we would get our hopes up for something we hadn’t had in a long time, only to be told they don’t have that right now.  In addition, everything takes for ever to be made and served.

We went to bed early because 5:30am comes very fast and early.  Tomorrow we meet the mountains!

Kenya - Our last days

For what was supposed to be somewhat of a "nothing" day, a day where we were to slowly make our way back to the nation's capital, it turned out to be one of those roller coaster of emotions days that only two weeks of international travel can inspire. We left at around 8am today as we wanted to be in Nairobi at a decent hour.  On the way out of the park while being distracted by a nearby jackal, we all spot something streaking through the forest beside the van.  We are all staring intently at these large black animals that are running very quickly through the forest not 20 feet away from our van.  Finally we reach a clearing and what is revealed was truly remarkable and unbelievable.  Its a small pack of wild dogs on the hunt!  To clarify the rarity of this sight, the day before yesterday on one of George's information sessions he told us that wild dogs used to be prominent in the Mara but that amongst the guides, in the past 5 years or so, not a single one was recorded to have been sighted and the local lore was that they were thought to be extinct!  This was one of those moments were everyone in the van (we were giving a local worker a ride to a nearby town) turned and looked at each other with pure ecstasy and disbelief at what we had just witnessed.  As quickly as they had appeared, the dogs once again returned to obscurity and perhaps even to mythical status because who knows just how long it will be before another documented sighting takes place. Wild dogs do not hunt like other principle predators, they will chase their prey for many miles to exhaust them.  Unfortunately our cameras were packed away in our bags, however, much like our rare sighting of the rhino in Nakuru, I likely would not have had the time, or quick enough reaction, to take a good picture.  I know for me, that moment will be forever burned into my memory.  Had it been in other parts of Africa, this sighting may not be so dramatic, but here in the Mara a kind of scientific experiment with vaccines (for rabbies I believe) took place a few decades ago.  The vaccines were deemed responsible for wiping out the entire population through sterilization.

On and on the drive went, George drives the speed limit so our drive took much longer then expected. Upon arrival into Nairobi we got stopped by a police officer who seemed very upset and George looked very concerned.  They were speaking swahilli but we could tell he was talking about us, or at least mentioning us. After several minutes of this back and forth he was let go.  George later explained "that man wanted to arrest me, if not for you I would have surely been arrested".  Apparently there are all types of licences required for automobiles in Kenya including a license for a radio, no not a CB radio, but the am/fm radio.  The license had expired and this is an enforceable offense.  George was able to plead with the officer telling him he has clients and this would not be fair to us as we had van full of luggage.

Eventually we did make our way through the insanity that is traffic in Nairobi and checked in to our hotel.  It was a very nice modern hotel and we were happy to find a proper bathroom and air conditioning in the room. We laid down to relax a bit and vegg out in front of the TV (something we hadn't seen in a couple weeks!) and to our horror, ALL of the news stations were broadcasting about a terrorist attack that had struck Kampala, Uganda.  We both jumped out of bed with our hearts in our throats wondering what in the world had happened?  Our immediate reaction was that the city must be in chaos because they were speaking about over 80 people being killed by bombs.  The bombs were exploded by suicide bombers from a terrorist organization with links to Al Qaeda, named Al Shabab who operate out of Somalia.  The suicide bombers had targeted popular sports bars who were showing the finals of the world cup match. This was not a good sign.  We quickly ran downstairs and got online to see what we could find out.  The Canadian Embassy had not issued warnings for the area and after reading a few headlines, it didn't appear as though we would be as at risk as we had once thought.  It was obviously very devastating for the city and the country, especially since Al Shabab had promised more retaliation if Uganda did not pull its troops from Somalia.

Later on that day we met with Elizabeth from our tour company who briefed us on the situation.  She had already been in contact with a few people in Uganda who had assured her that flights were not delayed or cancelled and things had pretty much returned to normal, and besides we were not staying in downtown Kampala anyhow...something comparable to say being in Brampton as apposed to downtown Toronto.  Elizabeth assured us our tour would still go ahead and we had nothing to worry about!

That evening we met up with Andrew (Anne's friend) and a few of his other friends.  He treated us as if we were family, picked us up at our hotel, paid for our entire bar tab and the dropped us off back at the hotel even though it was after midnight and he had to work at 6am..oh those crazy Kenyans!  We had a blast just laughing it up and having a few drinks.  It was the perfect way to end our incredible honeymoon adventure!

Last day in the Mara

Today was the first day in a long time that we were able to sleep in past 8am, and after yesterdays insanely long safari adventure, well deserved, in my opinion!  We met up with George for breakfast and we were told he arranged for a local Masai named Solomon to take us up into the hills behind our lodge. It was a great hike and a welcome change from all the driving we've been doing, the views over the plains were fabulous.  We spent quite a long time taking in the view through the lens of our binoculars, watching safari vans drive around and taking note of the locals down below milling about in their everyday fashion.

After listening to George talk endlessly about the local fauna, birds and everything in between both Marlene and I were getting quite tired and a little annoyed with this constant bombardment of information.  Upon returning from our little hike we spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing, reading, and writing.  A perfect opportunity for me to finally tuck into the bottle of rum I had been carrying around the entire journey!  We had been told the alcohol within the parks can be quite expensive and to bring our own booze, to be honest, we had neither the time, nor the energy to sit back and enjoy multiple drinks per night.  I actually ended up just leaving 3/4 of the bottle for the cleaning staff.

And soon the time had come for our final safari!  It was met with mixed emotions because on the one hand it was kind of sad to be leaving the Kenyan plains, if not for ever, then for a very long time. And on the other hand, a once novel and thrilling experience had began to take on a kind of weary, un-enthusiastic aura. Not to sound like a couple of spoiled brats but we really had seen everything we had come to see and we didn't see the point in going out again.  But alas, we had paid for it and George was gung ho to find us some lions. There were many many grazers lying by the watering hole and Marlene and I would have been just fine to sit there and watch these magical beasts in their natural habitat, taking in all of our surroundings for one last time.  But George was determined, he was going to find us our lion!  For the next 2 hours we drove around in circles attempting to cross a creek, each time we were faced with soft ground, we would have to turn around.  On one of these attempts we found ourselves face to face with a very disgruntled, enormous bull elephant.  He seemed to have been cranky to begin with but our presence in his territory clearly tested his patience as he began to flap his ears and even trumpet his trunk as he slowly began the "charge mode" rituals.  This time I was a bit nervous because we had just climbed up a steep, windy, and narrow road and the only way to evade him was to go back the way we came.  George quickly threw it in reverse, vearing off course in the process.  Luckily we managed to get far enough away from the angry elephant that he decided we were no longer a threat.  We all sat back, caught our breath, and watched/listened as the elephant stormed off in the opposite direction, up rooting trees along the way.  We could still see the trees shaking down in the valley long after he was out of earshot.

The Jackyl

When we retired to bed Marlene and I recounted many of the incredible things we had seen and experienced along our 2 week journey.  We decided that 2 weeks was the perfect amount of time and the we were ready to take on Uganda!  We were very excited for a change of pace, and to meet up with some of Anne's friends who promised to treat us to a night of local Kenyan debotchery! 

View of the Masai Mara from above





In search of the migration

Masai Elephant Family

Quote from Marlene’s journal “Today was the longest game drive ever!” And yes, it was a marathon drive as we had to make our way to the other side of the National Reserve which is 1510 square KMs. The “Mara” as the locals call it, is essentially the northern continuation of the more famous park in Tanzania called, the Serengeti. The two parks (and therefore the countries) are separated by a river, and it is this river that we are trying to find with the hopes that we’ll see some wildebeest swimming across it. Our day began at 8am and we returned to camp at 7pm.  11 hours of game driving is definitely tiring but we say so many incredible things, starting with a family of elephants, which we love to watch.  Along the way Marlene needed a pit stop at the washroom due to all the tea she was drinking, at this stop I got a better understanding of how people in the old days could stumble across a lion with no warning.  It’s hard to imagine that in an open savannah, you could be surprised by an animal as large as a lion, but honestly, the grass is so tall and so thick there could easily have been a lion crouching in the field and I’d never know it.

No lions here...

The sheer scale and quantity of wild life in this park is absolutely mind blowing, I have probably described a lot of things as mind blowing at this point, but this preserve truly is a natural marvel.  To drive over countless ridges only to find more and more grass covered hills with tens of thousands of grazers on each hill side is something that is beyond description.  Because there are so few trees, and the lay of the land is gentle rolling hills, it is possible to see for tens of kilometres.  There were moments on our drive where even though there was nothing exciting happening right in front of us, the beauty and tranquility of being immersed in all that surrounded us was enough to get our driver to stop so we could take it all in.  There were many times along this drive where I thought to myself (sometimes out loud) what are all those specs of white on the hillside?  Sure enough as we got closer, it would be zebra, gazelle, buffalo etc etc. I tried taking several photos to capture this scene, but a photo is such a poor replication that I’m not even sure it merits being posted. 



Thousands of Masai Grazers - all the white and dark specs are a combination of zebra, buffalo, gazelle, wildebeest etc.



Masai Leopard Feast

We drove and drove, over the hills, through the gullies, across creeks, through marshes, until we finally reached the river.  The disappointing thing was that the wildebeest had already made their ways across it.  The amazing part was that we were allowed to get out of the van and have a look around.  There were hippos and crocs in the water below.  We watched them for some time and then continued on our journey.  We eventually came across a cheetah that had just killed a gazelle and was proceeding to drag it into a shrubby area for shelter and cover. I spoke to some fellow safariers who informed me that we had just missed the chase by about 5 minutes!  This would’ve been fascinating to see but I guess it wasn’t meant to be.  Later on we came across a family of 3 leopards who were feasting on a wildebeest.  Our driver got us so close to these animals that we could hear them liking and tearing the beast apart and moaning with delight.  To be there was incredible; unfortunately since they were in the trees it was very hard for me to get a clear shot of the on going carnage.  At this point our driver George turns to us and says “I’m sorry guys I’m not too familiar with this part of the park, I think we should start following the other vans”.  Ok, not the most reassuring statement considering the remoteness of our location but we were surrounded by other guides so we weren’t that worried.  We eventually stopped for lunch under a large lonely tree where we could get some food into us, and George could have a look at the map.

Artistic Masai Giraffes

Masai Leopard Feast 2

Our journey continued on as we passed by many more hippos in the river below, and as we started to make our way back home we eventually did come across some massive herds of wildebeest.  We were both happy to catch a glimpse of what we had set out to find, however George says that what we saw is miniscule in comparison to seeing the actual migration, I couldn’t even imagine it.  We both thought what we saw was enormous and overwhelming to believe that this is just a fraction of the real deal, well that’s just craziness!  Anyway, as we continued on, it became more and more apparent that George of the Jungle, or Genius George, or whatever name we could think of at this point, was LOST.  He kept turning around and looking at me as if to say “any idea which way we should go?” I just kept thinking to myself, if you have to ask me then we’re really in for an adventure.  At one point after driving like this for close to an hour, we came to a steep creek crossing.  Although George had been avoiding these extremely rugged sections all day, we had simply come too far to turn around and find another route.  He turned around and told us to buckle in and hang on, he put the van in 4X and took a deep breath….woo we made it through the downward section and across the smaller creek, now for the tricky part, across another section of mud followed by a sharp turn, and up a steep narrow, muddy path.  This took several attempts and some very creative driving but we eventually made it up.  I was very impressed with these old vans and their manoeuvrability.  We waited for the two vans who were following us, just to make sure they made it ok.  Watching and hearing the other van crash around over the rocks and through the mud made us feel lucky we made it without any damage to the van.

Just as the journey was becoming a little mundane (I know, how spoiled we quickly become!) we came down and around another rolling hill to find a massive conglomoration of vans down below. We figured there must be something extremely exciting going on so, off we went to find out what was drawing so much attention.  It took a while to see just what all the fuss was about, and then there it was, in all its kingly glory...a male lion with its long shaggy mane flayling in the wind.  Of all the incredible things we had seen so far, this was the moment that I had been waiting for for nearly two weeks, to see a fully matured male lion in close proximity.  For me, this without a doubt, completed my African safari check list and a sense of fulfillment quickly emerged.  There were actually two male lions in this location and they appeared to just be hanging out, without a care in the world, and not the least big concerned with the dozens of humans flashing cameras their way. It really is remarkable how much bigger these creatures are then their female counterparts. An unbelievable opportunity that was brough about by taking the long way home.

A sample of Wildebeests in the Mara

On our way back George asked us if we wanted to make a stop at an historic resort/lodge.  It was the first ever lodge built in the Mara and it was pretty impressive with its own pond of hippos along the private boardwalk. We spent sometime looking around in the gift shop as this was the first place we had come across that actually had fixed prices on the products.  At times we were quite satisfied with what we had bargained for with the locals, but of course there were other times where the locals clearly got the best of our judgement.  Marlene decided that she would buy the remainder of her gifts for friends (so she said, but later retracted and bought even more in Uganda!) here at the hotel gift shop as it also accepted credit cards.

When we got back we had been told we’d be saying good bye to our incredible chef Guidian tonight as he was being called back to Nairobi to start another tour with our former driver/guide Mike…they apparently always travel together.  We were sad to see him go, but we were also now going to be upgraded once again, as we had to be put somewhere that had full room and board.  It was a slight upgrade but it had a bar with booze, so that made us a little more comfortable!  And thus ends the longest day (and the longest entry in my blog) of our entire trip thus far.

Tomorrow we are supposed to do yet another game drive, but to be honest, both of us have seen enough of that van to last us an eternity. Instead we decide that we will sleep in for once, and then hire a local Masai to take us on a walking tour of the surrounding area. 



Masai - Wildebeest Migration - This picture shows a lot: the dark area in the foreground is where there used to be grass and it was already eaten by the passing Wildebeests. The dark spots in the background are ALL wildebeests



Onward to the Mara!



Masai Mara - More rain for tomorrow?

Last night it poured ran all night long, luckily Natural Tracks safari was kind enough to upgrade up to a local hotel (free of charge) since our poor little tent is nowhere near being water proof.  Today we enter into the last leg of our trip in Kenya as we make our way to the Masai Mara.  We have 2 nights and 3 days booked in here as we have been informed this is the highlight park of many safaris.  Today will be a long day of driving as we make our way from the ruggedness of the rift valley area, down to the arid plains.  Along the way we stopped in a Masai town where Marlene’s eyes were beaming at the sight of ice cream, it had been quite some time since either of us had anything cold, so ice cream hit the spot and beyond!  In the grocery store we also found some of the magic spice that our chef uses on everything.

Momma with Cub

Once we finally arrived and settled at our latest outpost, we were quickly whisked off for a late afternoon game drive in the Mara!  The Mara is known for two things, the lions and the wildebeest migration.  Today we saw 1 half of that as we (actually, more like me, as I was getting the feel for this game drive business…as our guide was going on and on about this and that as he always did, I spotted a momma lion on the side of the road, he didn’t even see it, I swear we almost hit it!) followed a momma lion back to her safe place where she had 4 lion cubs hiding in the long grass. This was really the only thing in the way of animals that was impressive.  However, the scenery is straight out of national geographic, rolling grass laden hills, with spotted trees and bushes.

Masai Lion cub waiting for momma

Tonight is the world cup final and we are both interested in going out for a true African experience.  Our guide is very excited at this prospect and tells us to go ready.  Not long after we were both clean and dressed, George came to our banda to tell us he had some sad news.  Upon speaking with the locals in the kitchen they advised him that it would not be wise to bring his clients to watch the game in the local bar or restaurant.  We were after all in the middle of nowhere with only local Masai around, apparently they can get pretty abrasive when they drink and our safety would be in jeopardy.  They are not used to seeing foreigners in the village, especially at night, and George did not want to risk it.  So alas, we staid back in our banda, caught up on some reading and writing and were off to bed as tomorrow will be the longest of all safari journeys.  We will be attempting to catch a glimpse of the wildebeest migration happening at the opposite end of the park.

Masai Lion in the Grass

Into Hells Gate

Welcome to Hell's Gate!!

After a quick stop in Nakuru for some supplies, and another stop just outside the park to pick up our guide (Simon) for the day (George is apparently not comfortable on a bike LOL) we made it to the park gates with little time to spare.  In fact we actually got the last 3 bikes for rent, just some simple mountain bike style bikes, good enough for us at this point.  This would prove to be a very long bike ride for my new bride, who doesn't like biking all that much.  It was a 2 km bike ride just to get into the park and then another 7KM to get to the top of the canyon.  Regardless of distance, energy and effort we both agreed that this experience was more then worth it.  The beauty of the natural landscape here was enough, throw in the countless zebra, gazelle, warthogs and giraffe, it was and incredible and breathtaking experience.  The park is set in the beautiful rift valley, with hanging ochre cliffs and jagged towering peaks.

Incredible Ochre Cliffs of Hell's Gate



Remnance of an ancient whirlpool



We stopped at the trail head and dug into the lunch that Gideon had packed for us.  After refueling, our real adventure in this park was just about to begin.  We were but 20 steps into this hike when we realized this was not going to be an easy task, which was fine by us since we have had little exercise so far on the trip.  The trail starts out with a steep narrow passage which leads to a path along a nearly dried out river bed.  After a few river crossings (very shallow, so no swimming needed at this point!) and some fairly technical downward climbs, we found ourselves right in the heart of the canyon. This area has been the site of several movies, the first one that comes to mind is Tomb Raider...where they are supposed to be in Tanzania heading toward the cradle of life?? Ya that's actually here in Naivasha!  The sculpting and shaping of the rocks over millions of years of water erosion is magnificent and neither of us have ever seen anything like it.  Our guide asked us if there was anything comparable to this in North America, and after lots of though, I still can't think of anything that's even remotely comparable to this place.  Unfortunately its one of those places that pictures really do little or no justice at all, its a place that you just have to see and experience yourself.  We walked along the river bed until we reached the source of the water in the wet season, and where the canyon gets its name.



On the Canyon Floor of Hell's Gate





Incredibly Hot Spring water that feeds "Hell's Kithcen"



According to our guide, the Masai named this area "Hell's Gate" because when the rains come, all of the water from the surrounding mountains flow through here creating flash floods.  Any animals standing in the rushing water's path would be swept up and carried down into the canyon below.  The Masai would then hear these animals screaming for their lives, trapped in the canyon, and later find them dead at at the mouth of the canyon.  They believed these beasts were the ones who were sacrificed below and returned to the surface.  Easy food I guess.  Simon definitely took us on the scenic route on the way back where we had to scramble down some of the sandstone cliffs.  Neither of us had ever done anything like this, I assume this is about as close as you could get to not needing a rope and harness to go hiking, it was a cross between trekking and rock climbing and we absolutely LOVED it.  On the way back we past by some thermal waters which were extremely hot.  Simon told us this was called Hell's Kitchen because the Masai actually used this heat to cook their food.  There was actually an area that was carved out into a ledge with several rounded out holes....making it easy to put the food there, and have it stay until cooked. This ranks as one of the top experiences since our arrival here in Kenya, we were both pleasantly surprised at how incredible this place is!   On the way out of the park, we finally got to experience a full on African downpour, we raced to the park gates and beat the heaviest part of this rainfall but ended up getting soaked regardless.  It was a nice gentle, warm rain and we welcomed it after a long strenuous day of travel, biking, and hiking.  

As a side note, Kenya has made the most of this natural resource, and has begun harvesting the thermal energy from the ground with plans to develop and expand geothermal energy.  Kenya is one of the leading countries in the world in this regard.

Above the Canyon looking at the central tower of Hell's Gate