Karibuni Kenya

That night we stayed on the outskirts of Lake Bogria reserve, in a little community hotel.  I would strongly suggest not staying where we did, since sadly the people there were just rip off merchants, overchargin us for inferiror service becuase of our white skin.  It happens in many places in East Africa, although at the same time in many places one has a wonderful experince with the locals: it’s just pot luck in many ways.

The next morning we left asap and entered the park, driving down to the gizas, where hot pools bubble near the lake and steam gently pours out over you, a wonderful expericne and very good for your health.  We didn’t have any eggs, so Isaac went back to the entrance to buy some, leaving me and Sheila to enjoy the steam while john went for a walk along the shore.  Taking the car, though, Isaac had taken the suncream.  Being in the hot steam, I didn’t notice the height of the sun and so soon became quite pink and had to seek shade.  By the end of the day I looked like a flamingo – oops!  Mosituriser was in desperate need.  Luckily I had brought soem with me, so there was no dramas, and I have ended up with an ok tan, so overall not too bad, even if not too healthy.

When Isaac did return, we used some ropes we had in the car to tie a net and then me one one side and john on the other held the net of eggs in the boiling water, hardboiling the eggs.  They tasted fantastic when cooked, and shortly after a school came along and we helped them cook their eggs while Isaac and John explained how the gizas exist, before getting his fishing rod out for the next group and pretending to fish in the hot pools.

Next we went to the hot springs – what I call the sperm killer.  The water is really hot, and almost scolds, but not quite.  That said, one cant spend more than about 10 minutes there or you might start to boil.  The day was also at its hottest now, so Isaac took us to a little strem that provides fresh water to the saline lake.  ALthough this was lovely and cool. there were tztse flies everywhere, and I got bitten every minute I think, so we didnt stay their too long – just a quick cold tusker and picnic lunch before going to another, non tzste inhabited spot for a siesta.

We had a good rest, in a wonderfully calm and peaceful spot, where slolwy by slowly a group of olive baboons came to investigate us, forming a ring around us in the trees.  They were perfectly safe, and soon left when we began to stir and get ready for our late afternoon game drive.

It was a great way to end the day, since we saw several rock hyrax chilling on some rocks, three lesser kud, one of which was stood close to the steam, warming herself up, and also some dwarf mongeese.  The rok hyrax were particulary interesting, since they have a polarising filter in their eye which allows them to look up at the sun without blinding themselves, giving them protection from the eagles who hunt them.

We spent the night in baringo at anothe community hotle, which was fine, before heading back to Nairobi the next day so that Sheila and John could get the bus back to Dar es Salam the next morning.  We had one last meal together before saying goodbye.  It had been a wonderful safari I was privliged to have been on, and I was sad that it was ending, although obviously Isaac was even more so.  We left to get some sleep before heading back to Naivasha the next day, to rest up before Isaac had another safari, and one which I was able to help him out on, which was fun.