Animals abound

Sorry it has been a while since our last entry and that I have not yet to upload the promised photos. Internet access here has proved a bit hit and miss. After my last entry we departed Nairobi again to visit Lake Naivasha a couple hours north. This region is reputed to have having a vast array of animals to see without the constraints of using a vehicle. The campsite we stayed at even had hippos that lived just in front of the camp. One day one hippo decided to wander into the campsite to eat some grass. Luckily the owners were well prepared and had installed an electric fence for just this reason. A bit unnerving but I got lots of photos.

Barry and I also visited a crater lake near the main lake and we saw gazelles, zebras, giraffes, and other animals too numerous to mention. The next day we hiked to the top of another extinct volcano, Mt. Longonot, where we were blessed with the chance to walked amongst a herd of wild giraffes! We finished off our stay by camping for 2 days in Hell's Gate park. It gets its name from the geothermal activity in the region, but it could have easily have been in reference to the heat we had to endure. We have generally been very lucky with the temperature here because much of the country is mountainous. Temperature have been in the mid to high 20's, but when the sun does decide to shine it is incredibly strong. The best experience in the park was pur interaction with the animals. They were everywhere and didn't seem the least bit concerned by the presence of humans. We got loads of photos of zebra, gazelles, warthogs and baboons. We even had hyenas visit our campsite on the second night. It was not very comforting to know this, but they seemed to have little interest in us and i slept though the whole thing. It was only when Paul and Sarah, our fellow campers, told me about their visit did I realize what had happened. The next morning we found hyena footprints all around our site! The rangers claim this is not unusual as they are mostly curious and tend to be harmless. We also saw many leopard prints around, but they keep a wide berth from we humans.

We are currently staying in Kisumu. It is the 3rd largest city in Kenya and is located on the shores of Lake Victoria. It is much more humid here and the temperature is a definitely few degrees hotter than we are used to. We will stay here to check out the Independence day festivities and then head north to maybe do some hiking on Mt. Elgon. It sits right on the Ugandan border and is about 4300m high. There also lives a herd of elephant that mine salt from caves in the area. We hope to check that out before heading back to Nairobi to finalize our safari in the Masai Mara park.

Three miles high !!

Barry and I have safely returned to Nairobi from our ascent of Mt. Kenya and we are both very tired but happy campers. We spent a total of 5 days in the park and spent 4 of those climbing Africa's second highest peak. Barry adjusted to the climb much better that did I, and on day 3 I thought I would never make it to the top due to a bad case of altitude sickness. I awoke that morning with no energy, a splitting headache and nausea that resisted even my anti-nausea medication. Thankfully this began to pass after only one day and then I was right as rain again. I somehow managed to slog it out to the next camp while I was sick and by the following morning Barry and I summitted the mountains second peak to an altitude of 4950m (16300 ft). From the top we could see all the way to Mt. Kilimanjaro, which is over 150 km to the south. Barry tells me that this is the farthest distance you can see on earth from one point of land to another. It was incredibly cold considering we are were at the equator. There is a huge glacier at the top and we were regularly treated to hail and even snowed at the higher elevations. We sure wished we had brought our winter sleeping bags for the last few days.


The climb itself had much to offer as the plants and animals here could only be described as bizarre, like nothing I have ever seen. We managed to spy a very elusive aardvark and the trees that covered the countryside above the 'treeline' were out of this world. One climber described the scenery as something out of Star Trek (the original, not the vastly inferior crap the nineties).


The hike out was uneventful but grueling. We originally planned to take a different route out but some guides warned us that these trails were difficult to pass due to recent rain storms that drenched the slopes each afternoon. These frequent and heavy rainfalls have resulted in the formation of "vertical bogs". If you have never experienced one of these consider yourself lucky. My knowledge of physics was often tested by how such steep slopes could possible hold that much standing water. In the end we more or less retraced our 3 day, 22km ascent in just under 6 hours! Once at the park gate we were exhausted so we arranged for a taxi to take us back to our comfortable hotel room for our first showers in 5 days. I now know the true definition of heaven!

First impressions

So Barry and I have been here for a few days and we can feel we are stating to adjust to life in this part of the world. My fears of being hassled constantly have not been realized but Nairobi is a crazy town and we are never really sure what is going on. Even still, we have managed to find our way around without to much trouble. Nairobi is a huge and modern city, but probably unlike any city you are familiar with. The exhaust fumes in the streets are suffocating and people and traffic are everywhere. We managed to go walking in the nearby Ngong hills yesterday with an armed escort. Not only did he protect us from being robbed or attacked by animals, but he was a wealth of info about Kenya and its parks. The Ngong hills were made famous by the book and film "Out of Africa" and they offer a stunning view of the Africa's Great Rift Valley. Tomorrow we will head off to a city called Nanyuki to start our ascent of Mt. Kenya, Africa's second highest peak. It should be great adventure and we can hardly contain our excitement. We will tell you all about it when we return later next week. Maybe sooner if we can find a cyber-cafe.

Mission : Adventure

This will be our last night in France before we take our plane to Nairobi. We have had a great time here and I will miss it, but we are off to bigger and better things. We jokingly talk about what hot water we are getting ourselves into tomorrow, but a lot of truth is said in jest. I am already dreading the first half hour after we land because we will surely be mobbed by people trying to get us to go to their hotel, take their taxi, book their safari, etc. I will be happy to just hop into a cab and head to the campsite we will stay in for the first night. The lonely planet says The upper hills campsite is a nice quiet place on the edge of town that should let us get our legs under us before we venture into Nairobi. I will keep posting to this site as often as is possible. Wish us luck !!!