There was no rush as we woke up which felt very strange to me. If I'm going camping its normally straight after work or early in the morning so I always associate rushing when it comes to leaving for the campsite. Even the packing for this cycle trip was finished in the morning just as my mates arrived to set off with me.
We had breakfast and packed the car ready to leave at around 12. It was to be the furthest east in Kenya that I have travelled, so I was back to exploring new territories but in a car this time. It didn't take long for me to wish I was on a bike. Kenyan drivers are absolute mentalists and when it comes to overtaking they are the worst I have ever seen.
I really do not understand how a nation can wait hours for people that are late and not give a monkeys about timekeeping but the second they get behind the wheel of a car, they're in a constant rush! It doesn't make sense, we sat and watched car after car either darting in front of us to avoid an oncoming vehicle as they overtook us or tailgating to the point where I could pluck the driver's nose hair.
What did help distract me from the wild drivers on the road was the wild animals off it however. I sat with my face squashed against the window like a little kid after my first Zebra sighting. They were eating grass just feet from the roadside like New Forest ponies and with my first sighting of an animal that I have only previously seen in a Zoo or on TV, Kenya for me, had flown straight up in the rankings. All it took was a stripy horse to turn my Kenyan experience from a Tribal fighting bone breaker to a Wildlife watching Safari land, and we weren't even in a designated park!
We took the road that followed Lake Navaisha all the way around. Our plan was to find somewhere to camp on the lake today and then see the animals tomorrow at Hell's Gate. What we were about to experience, I'm pretty sure none of us had planned.
There are camp sites and posh resorts situated all around the lake. We drove past the ones with fancy gates and slowed down by the ones that looked like just a field. We eventually chose a campsite called "Natures Camp" Nothing special in the name and nothing special in the sign but it was on the lake and it wasn't far from the entrance of Hell's Gate so we thought we might check it out.
The road leading upto the campsite was rocky and was lined with thorn bushes and cacti on one side and a large fielded area the other. After just a couple of minutes we spotted impala or gazelle in the field, don't really know the difference yet. A couple more metres down the road we spotted our first giraffes in the distance which we were all really pumped about. I honestly didn't think I would've reacted and felt the way I did. I took the whole area as a glorified zoo but it wasn't, this was their wild!
Loads of Zebras came next and we stopped the car to take pictures. As myself and Malin excitedly snapped away at the Zebras T-Man shouted out a noise that didn't really make any sense but we knew he had seen something good. We all looked ahead of us to see a Giraffe come out of absolutely nowhere, through the thorn bushes and cross the road just feet from the car. He was huge and he moved so majestically, it was like a Brontosaurus from Jurassic Park glide across our path.
It felt so surreal and almost as if we had driven onto private land. Was this allowed? If we wanted to we could get out the car and give him a kiss, he just stood there in front of us and posed for the cameras!
I didn't give him a kiss (not enough yellow pages) instead we just waited for him to walk past and we carried on towards the campsite. The site had a restaurant/bar and an outside swimming pool and was situated just a few hundred metres from the lakeside. The manager Beatrice was a lovely lady, always smiling and very hospitable. She recommended we camped inside the electric fenced area because at night the Hippos get pretty close but other than that we were free to walk absolutely anywhere!
It was just 500ksh (£3) for me to pitch my tent and Team Norway rented one from the campsite for a bit more. We shared some really good food and then set off for a walk down to the lakeside to see what else was lurking in the bushes. This was truly an amazing place and as we walked down to the lake, a couple of giraffes followed us just a few feet behind as if they were pet dogs. I found a Hippo carcus which we played around with for a bit, Team Norway took a couple of teeth as mementos and then we carried on around the lake.
We saw more giraffes and some deer-like animals that I think were water bucks. We stood for a while looking across the lake at where we were told we could find hippos, they weren't wrong. Our first sighting was just of the ears poking out of the water but this wouldn't be our last. Throughout our walk the weather threatened to turn nasty with distant rumbles of thunder. Before long the rain was upon us and I felt like I was in the film Lion King. As the skies turned dark and the rain bounced of the lake I was experiencing another side of Kenya, and was absolutely loving it!
We returned back to the bar to sit outside, have a few drinks and just take in the surroundings. The unknown feeling of what might pop up from the ground or walk around the corner was captulating. We enjoyed dinner at the same time the giraffes did on Acacia tree about 30ft from where we were sat.
After dinner we watched the night set in over a few more drinks and awaited the noise of the nocturnal wildlife to fill our ears.
I surprised myself today, I act like a child in a lot of situations but I really didn't think I would be as excited as I was today. I must get that from my mother as I know when she went on safari she was up all night like a child waiting for Santa. I was pretty tired in the end so I eventually went to sleep but I was awoken by a noise that I have never heard before and may never hear again...
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