Hell's Gate National Park

On Saturday, I traveled with my Niarobi friend Jenna and my EIS classmate friends Chad and Amy to Hell's Gate National Park and Lake Naivasha. It was so nice having Chad and Aimee in town for a few days. Our classmate Andrew was also in Nairobi during the week, but his flight left for Nigeria on Saturday morning, so he wasn't able to join us for our weekend exploring. We were all sad he couldn't come with us.

Our drive to Hell's Gate took us past the overlook for the Great Rift Valley. This was my third time through this viewpoint, and my view was the clearest on the way through on my tip to the Masai Mara, so I didn't take any photos of the view this time. We did encounter a school trip though. We found the motto of the school to be rather amusing. Why set your expectations high?

For the first time though, we stopped at the little Catholic Church that had been built along the side of the road for the construction workers when the road was being built.

I loved that they made the stained glass windows out of broken bottles.

We arrived at Hell's Gate National Park and paid our entry fees and then headed in. It turns out the school group we had encountered at the Rift was also going to Hell's Gate.

There are some great rock formations in Hell's Gate. It is a common destination for people living in Nairobi and tourists who are into to rock climbing.

We saw some wildlife on our way through the park.

Our main reason for coming here was to hike in the gorge. The gorge isn't actually in the park, but right on the edge and the only way to get to it is to drive through the park. It's called the gorge hike, but it is really more of a slot canyon. It was a really fun hike. There is a lot fo rock scrambling involved and it is a really beautiful place. Our driver, Anthony guided us on our hike. He was really great.

Chad, Aimee, Jenna, and Anthony in various stages of going down a technical bit.

Jenna and Anthony

Aimee at the dead end of one of the canyons

Anthony helping Aimee

Aimee walking through the mist of a few little waterfalls

The end of our hike through the canyon. We headed up and back to the car from here.

We encountered a couple of pretty flowers and cool insects on our way.

Views of the canyon from our ascent back to the rim

Chad, Jenna, Aimee, and me at the end of our hike.