Hell's Gate National Park & Lake Naivasha

Saturday, 7 Jan 2017 - We piled into the car at 0830 with our friend & driver, Philip, for a day-long adventure to Hell's Gate National Park and Lake Naivasha.

First, we drove down into the Rift Valley with some really neat flora and expansive views.

The views along the highway to the Park were also pretty impressive.  Apparently, this guy on the motorcycle doesn't actually have a particularly remarkable load.  I think he's carrying loaves of bread.

There was a range of housing/living conditions in the pastoral valley floor, ranging from real luxury (not pictured) to rural, developing world poverty.  The latter seems pretty much the same all over the world, from South American to East Africa.  Poverty sucks.

The tree/bush thingy was just pretty.

Baboons (top left) met us at the park entrance. We were a little alarmed when saw them operating the pump for a cool drink! Sadly, the camera was put away.

Driving to the Njorowa Gorge, we got to see plenty of animals.  From top right and clockwise: Thompson's gazelle; twiga (giraffes); punda malila (zebra) with njira (warthog) with piglets!; water buffalo; and Grant's gazelle (larger than the Thompson's and without a black stripe); and of course, baboon!

We promise not to inundate you with animal pictures.  Stay tuned, though, there are some amazing (mostly bird) pictures coming up.



Next, onto the hike!

 Lots of cool little caves to climb in and explore.  Philip played guide and did a nice job spotting and occasionally taking pictures.






The views going into and through the slot canyon were amazing and a geologists dream-come-true!   

Boys will be boys!  Philip and Josh were unbelievably (to most readers) excited to find a sparring buddy! Philip trained in karate in college; Josh practices at the Shaolin Center of Seattle.

Rochelle & Nicole were moderately amused by their antics.

The whole hike required some climbing, scrambling, and tearing Josh away from interesting rocks.

We are right on the Rift Valley and evidence of volcanic activity is all around.  (This is a known distraction for LieberMen).  At left (top right), Josh holds one of *many* enormous chunks of obsidian.  Not pictured (here) is an entire seam of obsidian running up the canyon wall!

Below, Philip washes off in the *very* hot water steaming out of the ground and trickling down to the canyon floor.

More scrambling; this time without ropes.

A hard life, but someone's gotta do it...

Quite pleased with ourselves and feeling like we just escaped with Indiana Jones or conquered a level of Tomb Raider, we headed to Lake Naivasha for a boat ride, swim in a pool, and dinner.

I know I promised not too many animal pics, but I think you'll agree the next are worth it!

We set out from the dock on a glorious afternoon.  We didn't have to go far before encountering hippos!


I was not entirely comfortable with how close we got to the hippos... especially when we realized THERE WAS A BABY!

Baby hippos are indeed adorable and far less terrifying than momma.























Clockwise from top left: the rare-ish Secretary bird (seen in Hell's Gate); a Pied Kingfisher; Great Kingfisher; Great White Egret; Goliath Heron (seriously 5 feet tall!); and the Great White Pelican.


These birds were beautiful and all, but nothing comes close to the sheer terror of encountering the Marabou Stork.  Or as we thought of them, "Oh my god what is that giant pterydactyl thing soaring down at us?!"

Marabou stork; aka terrifying giant bird.

After a leisurely dip in the pool and warming ourselves on the rocks, we had a nice dinner and got home late (I.e., after 9:30pm).

The boys goof around and pretend like this is a lot to carry back to the car.

A much deserved rest among friends, old and new.