Hell's Gate and Lake Nakuru National Park

This past weekend we set off to Hell's Gate on Saturday and Lake Nakuru National Park on Sunday. We hired a safari van and driver, Jimmy, both of which turned out to be great.

Hell's Gate is only about a 1.5-2 hour drive from Nairobi. We left the apartment around 8am and made our way driving through villages, amongst smoke belching trucks and matatus on into the Rift Valley. Once we arrived, we rented some bicycles and made our way into the park. We were immediately greeted with amazing rock cliffs and towers jutting out of the ground. Hell's Gate once held an ancient lake where it is said the first humans roamed. We ventured down the set path on our bikes and found ourselves surrounded by zebras, a very large bird (still searching the name), gazelles, giraffes, and water buffalo.

About 5 miles into the park we came upon the gorge (gateway to hell according to the Massai people) and so parked our bikes and had a picnic before embarking on a hike. Our guide through the gorge was Seret, from the Massai tribe. He told us that the park land once belonged to the Massai people and now you'll find many of the guides are Massai as a way for them to ensure their land is being preserved. While trekking through the gorge, you actually pass onto present day Massai land for which they have made arrangements with the KWS (Kenya Wildlife Service). Seret took us to meet some Massai people from the nearby village and we asked to take a picture with them. For allowing this we gave them some money and being impressed with our generosity they gave each of us a bracelet and walked us through the meaning of different colored beads it was made out of.

The Massai tribe seem quite similar to the U.S' Native Americans. Both are people who lived off the land, not taking more than what it can offer, not exploiting animals and the planet; ultimately knowing that everything we use and have comes from this earth. Seret was an amazing individual. He has invited us to come to his village to witness the culture he is so proud of, we would be so honored.

After trekking through the gorge, it was time to head back to the entrance to meet our driver Jimmy to head over to Nakuru for the night. We started off and I soon realized that my back tire was flat. I tried to ride about 1/3 of the way but was having lots of trouble so Brian, being the gentleman that he is, offered to ride it in. He made it about another 1/3 of the way and then we decided to foot it. It was a lovely walk back, despite the tire, as it was around 4pm, a wonderful time of day where all the animals were enjoying some relief from the sweltering sun and chewing their last bit of cud before finding a place to retire for the evening.

Jimmy was there waiting for us and we on our way to the town of Nakuru, where we would be staying for the night just outside of the park. We stayed at a hotel called, Merica. It's fun if you imagine George W. Bush pronouncing it "Merica is a great hotel, Merica". The room was pretty nice and we had a lovely hot shower - nice change of pace from the apartment. We were both pretty spent so took a quick shower, grabbed a quick meal from downstairs and crashed.

Sunday morning we met Jimmy at 6:30am, had breakfast, and drove about 10min to the park. For the next 5.5 hours we enjoyed seeing tons of wildlife and all sides of the the lake full of its infamous flamingos. Parts of the lake were just covered in pink. Early in the morning, we saw our first lion sitting peacefully by the road. We saw a handful of white rhinos scuffling along eating up grass and twigs. There were several groups of giraffes, just playfully enjoying the sunshine. We noticed that one group in particular were all facing the same direction, very focused on something. It wasn't clear at first, but as we made our way, we realized there were a number of lioness' relaxing in the bush close by. The giraffes were well aware of their presence and weren't going to bat an eyelash until they were gone (and they have beautifully long eyelashes by the way).

Around lunchtime we exited the park and found a local eatery in the town. The food was quite good (I had a veggie burger, Brian egg curry, Jimmy a cheeseburger). Once we were stuffed with food an mixed tea (black tea with lots of milk) we proceeded to the Hyrax Hill Museum. It was on the way out of town and knowing this would be a place of interest by my mother, I had to stop. Hyrax Hill is famous for the archeological digs done by the famous Leakey family. It showcases artifacts from people living 3,000 years ago.

Another great weekend in Kenya!