Notes from a weekend trip to Hell’s Gate, Lake Naivasha, November 2011.
On Saturday we awoke at sunrise and cycled from Fisherman’s Camp to the park, through rolling hills past the enormous, intensive, under-cover, flower farms. It was roughly 12km to the park and we entered through the Ol Karia gate where there lies an expansive network of geothermal wells and pipework, supposedly providing 25% of Kenya’s power. Geysers send rockets of steam into the sky; so dramatic against the misty, chilled air. It’s a spectacular landscape, with acrid smells of sulphur and reservoirs of blue-tinted water.
We eventually came to the Lower Gorge, hopped off our bikes and hired a guide who took us down into the beautiful gorge for two hours. This is the main attraction of the park and you walk between magnificent cliffs, scrambling over rocks, where hot and cold water springs seep through the rocks. Up in the cliffs are small caves where baboons retreat to sleep at night. Our guide excitedly told us that this was the spot Tomb Raider II was filmed.
There was an option to climb it, but feeling tired and hungry, we peddled on, leaving the park through Elsa Gate to cycle back to the camp.
In the afternoon we headed to Crater Lake via a smaller nearby lake where there were thousands of flamingos. We had a pleasant walk through the park, getting a little lost before finding the lake. We saw Colobus monkeys in the trees and various grazing animals. No Rhinos, however being on foot, this was certainly for the best.