Rift Valley Camping

Last Friday (20th) was Kenyatta Day - another day in October where everything closes down and we are blessed with a long weekend. I was invited to go camping with my housemate Daniela and some of her friends who live out here. I was more than happy to accept. I've been looking forward to getting out of Nairobi and this seemed like a perfect opportunity. I was able to borrow my uncle's Nissan Sunny for the weekend which made a great difference to the cost of the weekend as car hire is really expensive here but it did however mean that I had to drive and this isn't always the most straightforward of experiences in Kenya - but it was to be an adventure, and adventure is what I was after.
The group was 11 in all, including 3 children, and was made up of a real mixture of people, Kenyans and Europeans. We met at a shopping centre to buy supplies and once we'd loaded the cars down with beer and a few sausages we headed off. Roughly 3 minutes into the journey the hire car broke down and we spent the next 2 and a half hours sitting on the side of the road waiting for a replacement car. This might not have taken quite so long had the guy who ran the car hire shop been able to drive! Once he'd found a friend who could drive, a new car was despatched and we were on our way. The drive took us south out of Nairobi, past the Ngong Hills and deep into the rift valley towards to the Tanzanian boarder - masai land. The views were spectacular but I couldn't really appreciate them as my eyes were glued to the road trying to swerve around gaping potholes and stray donkeys on a suicide mission. It was a hot and dusty drive. We had the windows down but the 'breeze' coming in was more like an army of hairdryers intent on melting us. As sweat and dust mmingled we all turned the same chalky colour and gave up trying to stay clean. After about 2 hours of bumpy, but quite brilliant driving, we arrived at our campsite. It was a fabulous place in the middle of nowhere. There was a huddle of masai women awaiting our arrival hoping to sell a mound of beaded bracelets, necklaces and key rings, and a man selling firewood - which we quickly brought as the nights are pitch black out in the bush and there's no electricity. We didn't need our tents as the camp site had some spare 'bandas' - round stone rooms with straw roofs - and these were much cooler than tents and only cost 200 shillings for the night (about one pound sixty). We settled in, had a picnic lunch and a few beers before heading off to Lake Bagadi which was a further hour south. It's a soda lake so home to many flamingos and has an extraordinary pink colour which was further enhanced by the setting sun. The road eventually disappeared and I found myself hurtling at great speed through the dried up like which was crusted with piles of dried salt. I seiously felt like I was in a movie - such fun! Our destination was some hot springs that have 'healing powers'. Quite why we wanted to find hot water on one of the hottest days of my life was quite beyond me but when we eventually found them, threw our clothes off and jumped into the almost boiling water I knew it had been worth it. The sky rapidly turned black and the stars came out as we lay back, soaking in the hot salty water. It was quite magical. We stayed for hours just talking, drinking beer and relaxing in the hot night air. Everyone was quite shattered by the time we got back and the night drive certainly took it out of me. The next day we relaxed, cooked sausages on a homemade fire, chatted and slept. On our way back to Nairobi we stopped off at an isolated restaurant with a pool that had a backdrop of the rift valley and an amazing menu. I simply couldn't resist the apple pie and ice cream - such a treat even if it lacked the Kenyan flavour that the rest of the weekend had in abundance.