Saturday night and Sunday-Funday

On Saturday night, after the swimming in the dirty pool and climbing Mt. Longonot, we had dinner at the The Lake Naivasha Country Club.  The Lake Naivasha Country Club, while not really a country club at all-- it is more of a hotel-- is named after the lake it is located alongside in the Great Rift Valley. The Country Club became famous in the 1930's as a staging post for Imperial Airways' flying boat service from Durban to London. Now you are saying "what is a flying boat service?" Imperial Airways facilitated travel to and from the colonies via essentially seaplanes (aka flying boat), but they also had land aircraft. Imperial's aircraft were small, most seating fewer than twenty passengers and about 50,000 passengers used Imperial Airways in the 1930s. Mail was also carried- hence the term airmail. The Lake Naivasha Country Club sits on 12 hectares (55 acres) of land, which is also inhabited by zebra, wildebeest, gazelle, vervet monkeys, waterbuck and giraffe. Just before we sat down to eat (note the outdoor tables behind us), a  Colobus Monkey came down to feast on a few tender leaves.

 

A Zebra stopped by too. He wouldn't let Claire get too close. 

 

Although Africa is known for its big cats, we haven't seen any this trip. Only a lovely stray cat who came to visit Claire as she was taking pictures..... 

 

.....of the wildebeest! who also stopped by as we ordered dinner.

 

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The next day we went to Nairobi to do some shopping. We took a different way in this time, and drove by acres and acres of tea farms. 

 

Before the grocery store, we went to Paradise Lost Resort and park, an attraction in Kenya that is basically an oasis in the middle of a coffee farm. It is a 54 acre park and farm with a cave screened by an cascading waterfall and surrounding banyan trees.

 

  

You can also rent a boat to paddle around the lake in. Rochelle and Philip suited up and headed out. Little did Rochelle know that it was Philip's first time rowing a boat.

Ginger and I had a beer instead, sat in the shade and watched all kinds of birds soar over the lake.

Off they go!

We always have great weekends, don't we? 

Fantastic Weekend Part 1: Longonot Climb

Mt Longonot National Park

The park is mostly savannah, surrounding Mount Longonot (9,100 ft), and it lies 56 miles from Nairobi.
On the sides of the mountain are many valleys and ridges with little vegetation, but within the crater center there is a thick forest.   You can see roaming buffaloes, elands, lion, zebra, giraffe, grant gazelles, and thomson gazelles. From the top of Mt. Longonot there are fantastic views of Lake Naivasha and the Great Rift Valley. Mt Longonot is a dormant volcano, and it is thought to have last erupted in the 1860s. Its name is derived from the Maasai word oloonong'ot, meaning "mountains of many spurs" or "steep ridges". A 2 mile trail runs from the park entrance up to the crater rim, and continues in a 4.5 mile loop encircling the crater. Parts of the trail are heavily eroded and very steep. The gate is around 7,000 ft and the peak is at 9,100 ft but following the jagged rim involves substantially more than the 2,100 vertical difference.

Before picture!

  

This one explains itself. Buffaloes will charge you! After the sign, we kept singing Bob Marley's Buffalo Soldier-- here it is for you: Sing it!

Almost through the first two miles-- very strenuous-- but we still have smiles on our faces!

 

We made it to the rim!

 

There is a hut at the rim for shade and a water break! There were quite a lot of people there.

 

Excited for stage 2: the rim!  

  

Rochelle and Philip wore the "wrong shoes" and had to keep emptying them out along the way. Great water breaks for Claire since she kept needing to re-apply sunscreen and eventually drank 2.5ish litres on the hike!

Nearing the top of the rim!

  

We made it!!! ... if you type in Kilele Ngamia into google somehow it means "peak camel"?

 

  

Fighting over the cold Tab!

Lifetime supply of Tab? please Coca-Cola?

There was a friendly group not too far behind us :)

 

An amazing view!!!

.....we continued around the rim, hot and sweaty-- and met Ginger at the bottom! Success!

Afterwards, we headed to the pool-- which was very oddly green. We just kept our mouths and noses shut-- pretending we were swimming in Greenlake. 

Rochelle gave Philip some swimming lessons-- it was another great end to another great day. We did a lot more that weekend, so there will be additional posts to follow!

....back to work---- slides should be out shortly---

Just another Thursday

 We have made a habit of doing the 2,000 ft, approximately 8-mile hike up and down the hill every few mornings. When Philip comes with us, we take a more complicated and more beautiful route. We start in Kijabe (7200 ft), and walk up to the top, which has a small town and the main highway. 

Here we are! 6:30 am walking with Michele (Philip's daughter) who we drop off at the bus stop. It was a cool, calm morning at the start.

  

Along the way, we encounter all kinds of people just starting the day going to fetch milk, water, head out to the fields or to school. This little guy was rather bundled up, don't you think?

  

We try and keep a quick pace, and have some fun along the way. Passers-by tend to throw us odd glances, as they are essentially commuting, and we are doing this for "fun" to get in shape for Mt. Kenya. A few kind folks in their cars will ask if we need a ride somewhere, and laugh at the prospect of hiking up the steep road for fun. 

 

We walk as the sun rises, and are re-invigorated by the views as we catch glimpses of the rolling hills through the thorny bushes. 

 

THIS TIME, at the top, we decided to go for "chai", which is half very sweetened tea and half hot milk. We turned off of the road and felt like we hit a gost town. It was. Philip said in the 80s this was quite a booming town. Now, only about a 3rd of the shops are open. Two are "hotels" which are actually more like resturants than hotels-- you can't exactly rent a room for the night. But you can get some chai! Rochelle would have not walked through the town without Philip, as there were quite a few men hanging around the hotels, looking at Claire like she was the whitest woman they have ever seen, as she practically glows in the dark.

 

We ordered chai and some fried bread for breakfast. It was a simple place, with tables, a TV, a staging area for tea and a grill outside. They washed the dishes in a large bowl right outside the back door. 

 

They served us the chai in colorful old mugs, but also have us an aluminum bowl. Philip threw Rochelle's tea into it, and swirled it around. "I'm cooling the tea," Philip explained, "Claire, shall I cool yours too?" Claire hesitated, but replied "well Rochelle's tea cleaned the bowl already, so sure, go for it!" 

 

We continued our journey across the hilltop to the main road down to Kijabe. Along the way we encountered a donkey with some odd looking feet. The poor animal's hooves were too long, causing his feet essentially deform to adapt to the odd goings on below. Claire was instantly upset.

But there wasn't anything she could do about it, but enjoy the scenery.

 

Later, the team made it to the butcher's shop, and they were open! Time to get some ground meat for the Shepard's Pie.

 

She ground it fresh, after hacking it off of the hanging carcass.

 

 

Only in Africa.