Heading West - Naivasha and Kisumu

Heading to Naivasha - August 8th
Naivasha Country Club, Elsamere Conservatory

We got up early to go pick up the car and head westward to Naivasha. As we are learning here, sometimes getting up early doesn't guarantee you'll get out on time, however. With the traffic jams and matatus it is sometimes difficult to get much done, let alone on a tight schedule. We often think how much more Kenyans would be able to accomplish if not for the terrible traffic, "the jam" as Nairobi residents call it. It's everywhere at everytime in all directions.

We finally made it to the office to pick up the rental car. For $40 USD/day we didn't expect a Mercedes of course but the tiny little toyota that was covered in mud on the outside and smelled of stale smoke with a layer of red dust on the inside was still shocking. As we pulled out of the parking lot the red fuel light began to blink, not even enough to make it out of the city so we made our way to the nearest gas station. Justus, who was our very capable and outstanding driver, just told us it was ok. He is very positive and always reassures us when we think things are going badly.

We drove about 2 and a half hours until we came to Naivasha where we were to spend the night. We were told we just "had to" stay at Naivasha Country Club both for its historic importance (the place the colonists liked to chill) and it's beauty. So we decided that we'd go ahead and pay the expensive rate (which we'd end up balancing out by staying at a "sooper" cheap place the following nights). We walked in and were in awe at the beautiful grounds. There was a well maintained lawn and gorgeous view of Lake Naivasha. We were escorted to our rooms and were a bit shocked at the shabbiness of it all. The room was dank and smelled of mold, the beds were a bit lopsided, the bathroom was crappy and the shampoo bottles were old bottles with the lettering rubbed off that were obviously refilled for each new guest. For a whopping $225/night we were obviously a bit shocked at what our money was buying.

We decided to drop our stuff and head out to see what was around Naivasha. We passed by the Hell's Gate National Park but when we found the price was $30/person to enter plus a car fee we decided we'd think on it and drove to a nearby nature conservatory that Mer found in one of the guide books. The Elsamere Conservatory turned out to be the highlight of our Naivasha visit. It is the former home of Joy and George Adamson who were big conservationists in Kenya (and both murdered oddly enough at separate times). She is famous for her book Born Free about an orphan lion cub named Elsa who she helped to re-introduce to the wild. She seemed to be a nut (in a nice way) and we watched a 20 minute video about her life as she hugged various big wild cats (lions, cheetahs, leopards) and other animals. The center not only hosts tours but also holds classes for school children on the importance of conservation, leads nature hikes and does other things to raise awareness about environmental issues in the Rift Valley area. Very interesting and the place was quite cool. After watching the video we had a tour of the museum and artifacts and then sat for a great afternoon tea on the lawn overlooking the lake.

Here's where it gets funny (and where we wish we could insert a video). We put down our plate of cookies and tea and Jessie went to grab a chair to pull up to the table while Mer turned to wave Justus over to come sit with us. Within seconds a larger Colobus monkey swoops down to our table and grabs a cookie from each of our plates. She sits there and eats it all ravenously, double fisting cookies and looking wildly at us as her baby clinging to her chest tries to understand why the fifteen other tourists who had just happened to walk out to the lawn began crowding around the table snapping photos and videos. Justus stood away from all the mayhem as people crowded around the table to take pics and we stood there cracking up. He couldn't decide if it was funnier that the monkey had stolen our tea snack OR if the real funny part was all these people snapping pics!

After a nice afternoon at Elsamere we drove past a flower farm (there are tons in this town - Naivasha is home to one of the largest flower exporting regions in the world and sends huge shipments to Europe daily). We wanted to see if it was possible to get a tour (not only because both of our mothers are gardening fans but also because we read a lot about the environmental impact of this industry on the region and the conflict with economic interests of local people). We drove up to a few gates before one of them was kind enough to give us the number of a person we could call for a tour. We were thankful for Justus because he helped us get a foot in the door at this place and we were able to schedule a tour of the Nini Farms facilities which would happen on our way back to Nairobi at the end of our Western trip.

We returned to Naivasha country club for a nice evening and to plan the rest of our trip in more detail. We played snooker (it's like pool but the table is double the size almost and there are a ton more balls). It was fun to learn. Then we played gin on the lawn before taking dinner in their dining room - again as disappointing as the rooms with green mashed potatos, curried eggs and an assortment of foods that we found a bit off-putting. We realized that while buffets seem like a nice idea we were tiring of hotel buffet food. We finally headed to bed where we had a very difficult time sleeping because of a very loud party that was taking place on the lawn. We thought of calling the front desk but there were no phones in our room so we each threw a pillow over our head and tried to make it to sleep. It was a long night.

Hells Gate Park, Delamere Estates and Sooper Guesthouse - August 9th

The next morning we awoke at 6:30 to grab breakfast, check out and try to make it to Hell's Gate National park for a morning hike before we hit the road for Nakuru. However, the hotel phones were down and they somehow couldn't accept our debit Visa cards. They called from a cellphone but were unable to get approval for our cards. We asked if they could do the carbon swipe machine that so many other places had done with our cards but they refused citing the inability to get approval. We were quite frustrated at this point and without any cash to pay the bill. We let the front desk clerk know that we were overall very upset about the entire experience from the rooms to the loudness at night and now this but he just kind of smiled and said sorry. Another gentleman came to check out and we noticed he also held in his hand a hotel review form with negative ratings that he wanted to turn in. Erin Jesse would have been upset to know that this former Starwood Hotel member (now independently operated) did not offer to comp or discount anything and then insisted that he send someone with us into town to go to an ATM machine and send the money for the bill back. We were utterly frustrated by the time we got out of the hotel at 8:30.

We finally arrived at Hells Gate National park and decided that the $30 entrance fee might be worth it to walk around, see the park and work out some of our stressful morning. We drove up to see the geothermal plant that had been set up within the park. This enormous plant with pipes weaving in and out of the hills with billowing clouds of sulfur smelling steam is currently providing power to large sections of Kenya but they are hoping that they can eventually use this natural energy source to power much of the country. Very cool to see.

Next we headed to the lower gorge to go for a quick hike (only one hour as we had lost time with the Naivasha Country Club and couldn't do the full thing). We pulled up to the departure point and started to walk around looking for the start of the trail. After five minutes we realized this would be impossible without a guide (no trail markers at all). We went to the rangers booth and paid for a local guide to lead us through the gorge. Bushman Joe was a young masaai man with a big smile and a skinny build. He was wearing a nike track suit and running shoes. The first thing he wanted to know when we said we were from NYC was if we liked 2Pac and Biggie. We laughed and talked briefly about rappers, wishing our friend Debbie was with us - she would've loved to see the smile on this guys face when he asked about 2Pac. What a contradiction it seemed this young masaai guy who still lives in a Masaai village and a huge hip hop fan. He was a great guide and very patient (especially with Jessie who is so scared of heights at having to climb down into the gorge with nothing to grab onto).

As we scaled the side of the gorge over a creek Bushman described his manhood initiation tradition where after circumcision at 18 he and eight other young men went out into the bush for 3 years - their assignment was to kill 3 lions. He reported he was the first to kill one with a spear and his bare hands; this was after a year out there all alone. He reported that 2 of the young men died in the bush and it was a very long and hard period. We cracked up when he said if he had seen us right when he got out of the bush he probably would've taken a bite out of us he was so wild! Funny guy and very open to our questions. Before climbing back up he took us to a warm spring where steaming hot water was pouring out of the rock - very weird!

On our way back in we stopped to buy two bracelets which he explained would be used for the whole community. He explained that all the money he and the other guides earn goes to the village chief who uses the money for the benefit of the whole community. They live communally and he explained how it worked, what money went to and how people got along. Very interesting. We were so glad we had him to take us around instead of wandering about on our own - we might still be there!

We got back into our car and headed for Kisumu. We wanted to stop on our way at the Delamere estates - home to one of the largest land-owning families in Kenya. They were the big colonial lords of the Rift Valley area and notoriously racist and mean to the locals, having stolen thousands of acres of land from local Masaai. One descendant had twice killed Kenyan men who he said were "Poaching" on his land. It wasn't until the 2nd time that he was actually tried in court and only received 8 months in jail for the crime. People are very angry about the whole incident. We were interested to pass by the estate to take pictures of it and show our kids what a traditional colonial estate might have looked like. Unfortunately the estate is not marked by any signs and we had to continually stop and ask directions going back and forth. Finally we found on a small dirt road a sign for "Soysambu Conservatory" and then a small sign behind a bush that said "Delamere Estates".

The guard came to the gate and asked what we were doing there. We told her we were interested in seeing the Delamere Estates and she said why? After we explained we were there studying Kenyan History she radioed to some distant office for permission and we were denied with the excuse that the manager was not there. She told us if we came back on a weekday (it was a sunday) he'd be there to show us around. We said ok, a little frustrated but cool and drove another four hours to Kisumu.

Along the way we passed through tea fields, saw the company housing for workers, happened upon several make shift camps where Post Election Violence victims still live in tents since the violence in January of 2008, looked at the changing scenery and appreciated the opportunity to be seeing Kenya up close and personal. We had considered visiting each place via plane but went with a driver because we thought it would be easier and more helpful in getting to places off the beaten path. What we hadn't really thought about was how informative it would be to just drive through and observe the small towns and villages along the way.