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| Lake Baringo |
From Gilgil, I took several matatus to Lake Baringo. I have been here
21 years ago and I loved the place. So, I was hoping to find the place
as nice as before. It was even better this time. The camping place now
is really developed with a restaurant, common toilets and showers and
room accommodation for those without a tent. Even a tented camp is here.
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| Lake Baringo |
At Lake Baringo, there are many big and small birds to see, but the
biggest things are the hippos. There are plenty of them in the lake, and
they come out at night for their meal. Well, they are big, but they do
eat only grass. This takes quite a while (in fact the whole night).
Their favorite place for food is the camping ground. Just imagine waking
up at night because of very loud chewing noise…. Yes, it is the hippos!
And they are close and they are big, and they have big teeth also…. One
can be sure, when you see hippos eating grass about 5 meters from your
tent, the first thing, which comes across you is the urgent need for a
toilet….
One day, I did a day trip to Lake Borgoria with some friends. This is
as well a rift valley lake and just about 35 kilometers from Baringo
away. It feels and looks completely different, as this is a salt and
soda lake. Most animals do not like this type of water, but flamingos
love it, because their favorite food lives in there (some special
crabs).
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| Lake Bogoria |
Besides the flamingos, there are many other birds and antelopes close
to the water. Also, they have hot springshere; some of them erupt as
geysers and are up to 2 meters high.
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| Hassan, Munira adn Mustafa |
From Baringo, I went to Eldoret, where I stayed with the brother of
Yusuf from Mombasa. I stayed for 4 days with Hassan, his wife Munira,
son Mohammed and nephew Mustafa. I had a beautiful time there. I felt
very soon like at home in their house. Especially with Munira I had the
feeling I met the sister, I never had, as we had so much in common. Like
in Gilgil, it was again very interesting to see family life. One day,
we went all together for a trip to a place where they rebuilt
traditional houses of different tribes and a little zoo. For the
children, there was a pool, so this was a very relaxing day.
After 4 days, it was not easy to leave, but there is still so much else to see.
From Eldoret, I went to Kakamega Forest. These are the last remains
of tropical rainforest in Kenya and local people are very serious about
protecting it now. I spent two nights in a lovely camp, which I had just
to myself. First, I found that rather strange, sitting in a camp with
nice little bandas (huts) and no one else around, but I loved the
quietness there. Also, there was a ranger protecting me at night.
The first evening, I did not know about that, and I was quite
astonished about a guy with a gun standing in front of the shower
waiting for me to come out. What a relief, when I learned, it was not
one of the bad guys, but a ranger to protect me from wild animals!
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| Kakamega |
In the park, I did several guided walks, as most of the trails are
very small and not a lot of signs around. I went to see a beautiful
waterfall, a nature trail with huge trees, a bird and a butterfly walk.
All of them very nice with lots of explanations.
After Kakamega, I went to Kisumu at Lake Victoria. I just arrived,
when I got a call from a very nice lady named Lina. She told me she just
got a call from here former boss in Mombasa, that there is a friend of
him in town and she wants to show me her city…. Well, Yusuf likes to
take care, even when he is not around.
We had a beautiful day exploring a huge market; we had a lot of fun
looking for music CDs in a little shop and had some nice talks.
After nearly 7 weeks in Kenya, I left today for a new adventure –
from today, I am in Uganda. the first City, I am in now, is Jinja. It is
at Lake Victoria and claims to have the source of the river Nile.
Therefore, I will have a closer look. Looks like a place for a couple of
days, before heading towards Kampala.
