Naivasha Trip

Well, I am definitely learning how to be flexible.  I had such a great plan and it has been foiled.  On Wednesday I wrote a long blog post about our recent weekend trip to Naivasha. I pre-typed it on our computer at Mercy Home, put it on a flashdrive, and brought that flashdrive to an internet café in town where I was planning on posting it along with pictures.  However, my brilliant plan was ruined when I plugged it in. Apparently a virus ate the file. It is gone now, and of course I was super smart and deleted the original file off our computer.  Go Anna go. File gone….enough said.

Here we go again.

We left Mercy Home early Sunday morning and headed to Kitale where we planned transfer to another vehicle.  The moment we got off the matatu (bus) in town, we were swarmed by people asking us where we were going.  We decided to ignore most of them, until one man came up to us and we decided that we should follow him.  At this point we were a little overwhelmed and not really knowing who to trust or what to do.  This is an incredible story in itself, because earlier that morning we prayed that God would protect us throughout our journey and specifically that he would place people on our paths that would help us.  The man that we followed brought us to a ticket booking office, and guess who was standing there?  It just so happened that Epong, the social worker at Mercy Home, was picking up a few packages from that same office at the perfect moment.  Epong was then able to translate for us and help us figure out what bus to get on.  What a testament of God’s faithfulness.  Sometimes I forget how present God is in even the small moments of our lives.  He cares even about the little things, and He is so faithful.  That was a really great lesson for me, and a great reminder.

 We were dropped off on the side of the road in Naivasha, and then rode a piki-piki to the town center, where we got on another matatu that would take us to our destination; Crayfish Camp.  The matatu driver tried to charge us 500 shillings for a 20 minute ride, which is absolutely ridiculous.  You definitely have to stay on your toes here or you will be ripped off.  Luckily, we had asked in advance how much the matatu should cost, and it was 80 shillings per person.  Good try Mr. matatu driver. Good try.

After a long day of travelling we arrived at Crayfish Camp at about 4:30pm.  We were so excited to be camping in a tent!

The next day we planned on exploring ‘Hell’s Gate Gorge,’ which was located about a kilometre from our camp.  We walked down the road to the park gate, where we were approached by two men trying to convince us to rent bikes from them.  We had decided earlier that we were just going to walk instead of bike through the park because we thought it would be too expensive.  However, they gave us a good deal so we decided to take it.  We now had two bikes for the entire day, as well as a guide that would show us all the main attractions of the park.  I am so glad that we decided to do this, because if we had been walking by ourselves without a guide, we would have been very lost.

We ended up biking about 25km in total along a dirt road surrounded by African scenery.  It was so amazing! It ended up being like a safari on bikes (which, in our minds, in 100x cooler!).  We saw giraffes, zebras, gazelles, buffalo (don’t worry, they were in the distance), monkeys, and even Pumba! We also had the chance to go rock climbing, which Candice was particularly stoked about because she has been missing climbing with her friends in Victoria.

After biking 10km or so, we stopped at a picnic area for a bit of a rest.  Then, we left our bikes and started our hike through the gorge.  It was so neat! We were very glad to have Simon Peter, our guide, with us because he was able to show us the area, and educate us a bit about our surroundings.  Here is a good quote from him as we walked barefoot through a small path surrounded by long grass:

“This here is snake territory. You may see green pythons or small black mambas.  There venom is very poisonous you know.  If you get bit…very bad.” Candice and I looked at each other and laughed hesitantly as we hurried alone. Oh my…

After an incredible day of experiencing the nature side of Kenya we arrived back at our camp around 4pm.  We were happy to find a group of tourists that had just arrived at the campground.  It ended up being a safari group that planned on exploring the area for the next week.  It was very exciting to see other white people. Ya! Instant friends! There were people from Spain, Australia, and even from Canada! There was actually a man from Victoria who lives not far from Candice.  What are the chances! We also met a lovely Canadian girl named Rachel who was taking a week out of her three month stint of volunteering at an orphanage in Nairobi (the capital of Kenya). That was rather exciting!

The next day we woke up early again and began our trip back to Kitale. Long story short, 9 hours and 6 matatus later we arrived back at Mercy Home.  We had a great trip, and it was nice to get away for a bit, however, it was great to be back and see some familiar faces again.   We now have a couple days left here before heading to Uganda for two weeks. 

Sending hugs from Kenya to Canada!

Anna

 

Pictures coming soon.