Charging hippos, flat tires, and Tusker beer!

It was a crazy weekend to say the least. This is a long tale, so you may want to go get a cup of coffee or tea for this. Hopefully I can get some photos up on Flickr sometime soon!

The four of us, David, Sarah, Stephanie F., and I set out for Lake Naivasha and Hell’s Gate Park on Friday afternoon. Sarah wanted to bring her bike, so we were going to meet her at the stage. First bump in the road: Sarah took an additional half an hour to get to the matatu stage, and wow, was that a creepy place! Some people who were very clearly mentally ill were hassling us more persistently than anyone here has done yet. Of course, we were warned of this, and it was a crowded place, but it was really frightening! But Sarah eventually came and we were on our way to the Lake!

We figured we’d head straight to a camp ground that we had read about in our guidebooks, called Fisherman’s Camp. We were not able to make a reservation ahead of time (kind of impossible for anything that’s budget or mid-range in Africa, it seems), but luckily they had plenty of space for us. We rented a tent and set up camp! That night we just relaxed and ate in the restaurant that was attached to the campground: very American, very delicious. Since it was technically my birthday weekend, I ordered one glass of red wine! Yes Grandpa, just one!
So at night then we knew there would be hippos near us. We heard some weird noises, so we wandered over by the measly electric fence. Hippos are actually one of the most dangerous animals in Africa. Their jaw span is about a foot wide (we saw it) and during the day, they knock over boats in lakes for fun! But they’re actually very territorial and get angry quickly. Anyway, so as walked up to them, we decided that if they were to charge us, we’d run up a tree. Just that talked angered a hippo, and we heard a grunt, and some moving hooves, and we ran as FAST as we could in the opposite direction screaming loudly. At about 11pm, mind you. Well the hippo didn’t make it past the electric fence, obviously, because I’m alive to tell you this in my blog! But we woke a lot of people up I think.

In the morning we got out pretty early and rented some bikes to take to the national park. The rental itself went smoothly and we started out on our way. We even got into the park smoothly! It was so beautiful. There were zebra, gazelles, and other grazing animals. It is one of two parks in the entire country that you can actually get out of a car, because big game are so dangerous here.

We decided to take a 14km loop that went through the park. It was literally uphill 70% of the way, I cannot believe I actually did the trail. Unfortunately, halfway through, one of the bikes got a flat tire. And not just a normal flat tire, but that kind where the bike barely works. But we kept on anyway! (What choice did we have?) When we finally got to the top of all the hills, it was a crazy downhill adventure! I had never mountain biked before, so it was pretty excited and scary going down. You could see for miles and miles, you could see the shadow of the clouds on the ground. You could see herds of animals and you ran with them as you came down the hills. It was one of the most amazing things I have ever seen in my life.

Once we finished the loop though, we had to head home. The bikes were getting tired and so were we. In addition, a big storm was blowing in. You could actually see it raining in the distance. We got caught in it, and decided to hold back for a little bit: then, all of a sudden, we remembered that our tent didn’t have a tarp underneath it. And that our sleeping bags were in there. And some of my clothes were out on a clothes line to dry.

We sent David back ahead of us to retrieve our wet sleeping bags and wet clothes and to start drying the tent out for the upcoming evening. But, we were left with three girls, and only two working bikes. Three WHITE girls, I may add: and in the village, we really stood out. So, since the walk back to the camp would be about 5 miles, Stephanie got on the back of Sarah’s bike, and I rode two bikes. I was riding one normally and pulling the other with my right hand, which was surprisingly difficult. The broken bike was heavy and didn’t want to move because at that point the rim was bent, because we simply had to ride it down the hill. There was no way we could get 7 or more km without a bike and beat the incoming storm. Needless to say, everyone stared at the three crazy white girls on their way back to the campground.

That evening we had another big delicious dinner, then sat around a campfire and drank some beer. We were in bed pretty early and our sleeping bags were only slightly damp. In the morning, David and Sarah chose to hike another 14km (no bikes this time!), but Steph and I headed back on our own. Getting a matatu on our own was quite the feat, but Steph is a better bargainer than I so I’m learning from her.

The whole trip was pretty amazing. I’ve never seen or done the things I saw/did! A good way to spend my 21st. It was also good in that I feel a lot more confident traveling around. I got over my matatu fear, I know more of what to expect, and more of what to pay. Anyone will rip you off given the chance. Someone tried to get us to pay Ksh2000 for something we eventually got for Ksh160! So they start ridiculously high just to gauge how stupid you are. It’s a rough country, that’s for sure… But I’m learning!

Costs:
Transportation: Ksh700 or ~$10
Lodging: Ksh1000 or ~$14
Bike rental: Ksh350 or ~$5
Park entry: Ksh150 or ~$2
Food: Ksh1500 or ~$20 (biggest expense by far, but the food was so tasty!!!)
TOTAL: ~$51!!!!