I set out the morning of September 18 in a pop-top van with my friends Stephanie, Mary, and Silia. All of us are on temporary duty here in Kanya, although Mary will be moving here in a few months. Our plans for the weekend included Saturday in the Naivasha area and Sunday at Lake Nakuru. For Saturday, there were a couple of different activities planned. Stephanie and I were planning to climb Mt. Longonot and Mary and Silia were going to spend the day at Lake Naivasha.
Things started off well. On the way to Mt. Longonot, we looked through the Lonely Planet to see what else there was to do around Lake Naivasha beside taking a boat ride. That alone would hardly fill the 6 hours it was going to take Stephanie and I to climb Mt. Longonot. Mary and Silia decided that they wanted to also go to Crater Lake. Once we arrived at Mt. Longonot, we discussed this option with the driver. He was not particularly enthused by this addition to the itinerary, so I called the person I had arranged the trip with to confirm that it was okay. Sure enough it was. We parted ways at this point, it wasn't until we reunited later in the afternoon that Stephanie and I got the whole story as to what all transpired during our separation. It turns out that even after we had okayed the trip to Crater Lake, which is right next to Lake Naivasha, the driver was still refusing to take them there. They ultimately demanded that they go there and he finally conceded. However, after they got there and paid all of the entrance fees, he wouldn't drive them to where all of the other cars were parked. They were only able to take a couple of photos from where he did take them before they left. They then asked to be taken to the area on Lake Naivasha that has several hotels and restaurants. He also refused to take them there and dropped them at a restaurant that also offered boat rides and then left them to come and retrieve Stephanie and I. I was at least happy to hear that they really enjoyed their boat ride.
As for Stephanie and I, our day went considerably better - we had a fantastic time climbing Mt. Longonot.
The entrance gate to the park
The hike up to the crater wasn't too steep and took us about an hour. The crater was pretty cool. We sat overlooking it for a bit while we ate a snack and drank some water. While we were doing that we decided in which direction we were going to circumnavigate the crater. We opted for counter-clockwise, that way we would be going up the steepest bit instead of trying to figure out how to get down it. We both have a bit of a fear of heights (or perhaps a fear of falling from high places is a bit more accurate).The crater
A side vent
Lake Naivasha in the distance
There were a lot of flowers along the way
Looking back at where we had been
The crater from the summit
The trail up to the summit
I think we spent close to an hour at the summit. We sat and ate lunch - nuts, raisins, and an energy bar, drank so water and just relaxed most of the time. For the most part we had the summit all to ourselves. After we were done eating, we probably spent a good 15-20 minutes trying to get a good jumping photo of the two us using my tripod and the timer on my camera. It took us many tries before we got the time right. We wanted to jump too soon most of the time and were often already back on the ground by the time the camera took the photo.
After our successful photo session, we continued on our way. The trail was really pretty. I really was surprised by all of the flowers we encountered along the way.
Even though we had chosen our circumnavigation direction in the hopes of avoiding the really steep parts, we still encountered some really steep trail. On the way to the summit, there was a decent amount of rock scrambling, but most of the trail after the summit was just steep trail, often with loose gravel. When I say steep, I mean really steep. Switchbacks or some trail maintenance to create steps could have been really useful. Stephanie and I found it easier to go down backwards, so that we could lean forward a bit and better our balance so that we could use the gravel to slide down a bit. There were also some tracks where the path was vary steep and very narrow between high rock walls. Going backwards let us use our arms a bit to brace ourselves while leaning toward the hill instead of away from it, which was really helpful.
Out longest steep descent section
Another view of the crater
Another area with a really steep descent
Looking back towards the summit and the steep bits we had conquered. After we had finished those sections it made all of the other downhills seem like a piece of cake.
We descending the mountain very quickly once we finished going around the crater. It took us exactly 6 hours to finish our hike, most of which was spent on the crater. We could have been done much faster had we not stopped as often or for as long as we did, but we weren't really in a hurry since we had told our driver to give us 6 hours. Plus, we had a great time at the pace we went at and were really able to enjoy the experience.
Views down the side of the mountain
A side vent
Lake Naivasha in the distance
There were a lot of flowers along the way
Looking back at where we had been
The crater from the summit
The trail up to the summit
I think we spent close to an hour at the summit. We sat and ate lunch - nuts, raisins, and an energy bar, drank so water and just relaxed most of the time. For the most part we had the summit all to ourselves. After we were done eating, we probably spent a good 15-20 minutes trying to get a good jumping photo of the two us using my tripod and the timer on my camera. It took us many tries before we got the time right. We wanted to jump too soon most of the time and were often already back on the ground by the time the camera took the photo.We were eventually successful
We also took jumping photos of each other
After our successful photo session, we continued on our way. The trail was really pretty. I really was surprised by all of the flowers we encountered along the way.
Even though we had chosen our circumnavigation direction in the hopes of avoiding the really steep parts, we still encountered some really steep trail. On the way to the summit, there was a decent amount of rock scrambling, but most of the trail after the summit was just steep trail, often with loose gravel. When I say steep, I mean really steep. Switchbacks or some trail maintenance to create steps could have been really useful. Stephanie and I found it easier to go down backwards, so that we could lean forward a bit and better our balance so that we could use the gravel to slide down a bit. There were also some tracks where the path was vary steep and very narrow between high rock walls. Going backwards let us use our arms a bit to brace ourselves while leaning toward the hill instead of away from it, which was really helpful.Looking back up towards the summit - it is as steep as it looks.
Out longest steep descent section
Another view of the crater
Another area with a really steep descent
Looking back towards the summit and the steep bits we had conquered. After we had finished those sections it made all of the other downhills seem like a piece of cake.
We descending the mountain very quickly once we finished going around the crater. It took us exactly 6 hours to finish our hike, most of which was spent on the crater. We could have been done much faster had we not stopped as often or for as long as we did, but we weren't really in a hurry since we had told our driver to give us 6 hours. Plus, we had a great time at the pace we went at and were really able to enjoy the experience.After we returned to the gate, we washed up a bit in the bathroom. We covered in dirt and dust. Many of the rocks we encountered were very soft and chalky, so we were quite filthy by the time we finished. Our driver was there waiting for us when we returned. After taking a bit of extra time to stretch, we hopped in the van and headed to pick up Mary and Silia at Lake Naivasha and then head on to Nakuru for the night.
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