Today was an active day. We started with a walking safari at Crater lake park. It was quite special to walk in the footsteps of all the animals and see all our footprints merge.
Gnarled Yellow acacia trees (at one point thought to be the cause of yellow fever) filled the park, a haven for giraffes who eat the bark in times of stress.
We spotted zebras, giraffes, wildebeest but the best of all were the pumbas with their tails in the air and their little babies with them.
We had a knowledgeable guide for the day and I love that we get a variety of information from the different people we have met along the way. He told us about the forgotten five, the zebra stripes, the ways giraffes walk and so much more.
As we made our way to the summit of the rim around the lake we had a majestic male waterbuck in our path, staring at us. He was beautiful but moved far too quickly for a photo.
At the summit we viewed the three lakes -Crater, Naivasha and Oloiden, took lots of pictures and chatted to the school kids on their excursion.
We made our way back to the camp after that for lunch and an hour to ourselves before heading to Hell’s Gate National Park.
It is so named due to the white smoke (steam) that comes out of the geothermal factories near it. We decided to do a bike ride through it. I had thought it would be similar to the other National Parks but it wasn’t. It was absolutely stunning, sheer rock drops and formations which later goes on to become a gorge. We biked by rock climbers, zebras, antelopes, buffaloes and vulture nests.
There was an area where the echoing was the best I have ever heard. We shouted Pumba and had a sing song Pumba echo back at us.
The cycling got a bit tough for Aanya at times with the sandy bits making her skid and fall but she persevered till the end.
We then went on a walk to the view point of the Gorge, due to a flash flood killing 8 people a few years ago the floor of the gorge is no longer open to tourists.
The view was worth the walk, it reminded me a lot of Charyn Canyon in Kazakstan. I could easily see why there are so many tours from Nairobi Hell’s Gate.
Did not have too long there as we had to head back before the NP shut. We had to take the shuttle half way back (to the relief of the kids) we were cutting it too close to closing time.
I am not sure how but the children still had the energy to run around and play before dinner.
It was so good to have an active day mixed in with the long drives.
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