Weekend 1 (Day 6): Hells Gate National Park

When the weekend hits, we are out on the town! More like out OF the town because there's so much nature to explore immediately outside of Kijabe. What was planned for this weekend: Hell's Gate National Park, Lake Naivasha, and... the forest??? Could you be any more specific with the latter?! You can actually see Mount Longonot from the distance while driving up to Hell's Gate. (but that's for another week ;P)

The men's restroom is designated "gents" in Africa. Is that a British thing? Plus seeing primates right outside and inside the park entrance. Condoms are available for STD/HIV prevention, and dried blood was splattered across the ground. Philip suggested that one of the four-legged vegetarians was attacked by an animal the night prior. Before we could even get into the park, we ran into the issues of purchasing a national park pass for entry. This was something recently implemented in Kenya to supposedly streamline things. We can purchase a pass through the eCitizen Kenya site, the same website where you purchase your eVisa if you come here (which I HIGHLY recommend, STRONGLY suggest)

Something to become used to is Kenyan time, which isn't all that different from my Asian time! Expect your guest to arrive late(r). Philip our driver could be anywhere from half an hour to an hour past the expected time of departure. There was a time when I was late to my own birthday party (not organized by me, mind you) 3 hours late...

Hell(o). Welcome to Hell's Gate. Kenya seems to have a lot of biblical references- perhaps due to the influences of British colonialism. Before we even embark on the hike, we had to drive through the great wide expanse seeing plenty of rock formations and animals out mid-morning. Also, the vervet monkeys were out and about eyeing for food to snatch, and successfully took Rochelle's favorite sandwich! A blur just ran across the table and disappeared just as quickly with the sandwich. Philip and our guide were busy knocking at trees and the shelter roof to scare away the cute monkeys.

The landscape is just breathtaking, especially from a vantage point letting us grasp the lay of the land. Our guide David (?) helped us get deep down into the gorge, which is blocked off at certain parts due to flash floods and a few deaths.

Rochelle got her face painted by our guide. Rite of passage! The exciting part of delving down was scaling down a wall with only two ropes laid side by side.

Come on down, the water's warm! Really, it's like taking a bath down here. Grabbing a memento (volcanic rock) along the way.

The weather in the early month of January isn't too bad. For those like me that are heat intolerant, I highly recommend joining at this time if you need to split time with another resident!

Squeezing our way through Hell's Gate, returning to see a few more creatures like a young grasshopper and the baboons at the gate.