Bruised, Burned, and Happy

I loved Lake Naivasha so much that I spent 4 days there. The highlight was biking through Hell’s Gate National Park. A 30 km trip, and I did it! And that’s not counting the gorge walk.

I can’t fully describe the feeling of being out in nature like that all on my own. The path is sandy, the bike kept slipping, the gear shift broke, and it was still glorious. Towering cliffs all around, zebras and giraffes grazing in the distance. Plus buffalo, gazelles, and warthogs.

The gorge path is crazy, rock faces with tiny paths cut in, and steps so narrow that it’s practically rock climbing in places. For the movie geeks you’ll be interested that part of Tomb Raider 2 was filmed in Ol Njorowa gorge, took a couple of pics there.

So Hell’s gate was hard but glorious. I managed to fix the gear shift with my Swiss army knife, and generally the whole experience made me realize that I’m stronger than I usually think. This whole trip has been really confidence-building.

I also went horse back riding at the lake. Horse back riding is a whole lot harder than I remembered, but still very fun.

So that’s why I’m covered in bruises and sunburns. But it’s totally worth it.

I arrived in Nairobi last night. Nairobi is much nicer than I expected, very developed, and I’m not getting harassed on the street here. I guess the people here are cosmopolitan enough not to find muzungus that strange or worthy of comment. Which is really, really nice.

I have arranged a three day safari in the Mara leaving tomorrow. Can’t wait, its going to be awesome. I’ll try and post some pics when I get back.