Hell's gate is a place where a much larger Lake Naivasha once covered the valley floor, and its outflow carved deep basalt canyons. Today, hot springs and runoff from nearby mountains carves a slot canyon which is a highlight of visiting the park (see pics below).
The terrain is great for wildlife viewing and rock climbing on the spires and cliffs. The location was actually the inspiration for the setting of Disney's The Lion King, and I learned that visits were made to survey the scenery for animation of the movie. I was thinking the slot canyon must be the badlands where scar makes his home and ambushes Mufasa.
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| Poster at the entry gate. |
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| Closer details... |
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| One of the spires where rock climbing gear is already set up for tourists. We didn't have time, but Rochelle and I were tempted to try as we have both dabbled a bit in rock climbing. |
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| Zebras and scenery. |
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| I think this was a private group. There were some great cracks! |
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| Warthog family. |
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| Gorgeous! |
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| This juvenile giraffe was peeking at us while snacking on the shrubbery. |
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| Thompson's gazelles and some other beasts. |
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| The slot canyon (actually the outlet, toward the end of the journey) |
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| Whistling thorn. A most interesting plant! Ants actually make their homes in the plant's red-brown nodes and come out to defend the plant if disturbed. |
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| Masai come to the park and help tend to it, and are friendly to this touristy guy. |
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| Can you identify all the skulls? |
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| Overlooking the slot canyons. |
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| Toughest move of the day. Pic doesn't do it justice. |
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| Hot springs feeding into gorge. |
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