Last weekend (Oct 14 -16), I had the awesome opportunity of camping near one of Kenya’s national parks. My Kenyan friends and me set up camp on Friday evening with the idea that Saturday would be spent hiking at Hell’s Gate National Park and the surrounding area.

One of the coolest things about where we ended up camping was that it was right off ofLakeNaivashawhich happens to be where some hippos also live. After getting the tents setup, we noticed that there were these large animals grazing and eating grass about 500 feet from the tents. We decided to walk down near closer to the lake where we encountered an electronic fence and a ditch. Apparently this was all that separated our campsite from the hippos! After starting a fire (which I was in charge of keeping going) and eating, everyone crashed for the evening. The one thing we forgot to do was put away some of the food.

The next morning, I woke up early to catch the sunrise (and then went back to sleep). A couple hours later when everyone was awake, we were surprised to find a family of monkeys eating some of our bread that was left out! Quite unbelievable, but the pictures prove it happened. After getting cooking breakfast, we headed to Hell’s Gate. Hell’s Gate is a national park inKenyawhere a volcano exploded and lava carved various gorges in the landscape.

The drive to Hell’s Gate was pretty uneventful. We entered the park near where the geothermal production is happening. It was pretty interesting to see the pipes and the steam coming out of the ground because of the pressure release holes. There was so much steam coming out that it literally sounded as loud as a jet engine.

After paying the entrance fee, we were on our way to exploring the park (or so we thought…)! Now one thing to immediately comment on is – the lack of clear signage within the park. There were small signs that told you which way to go for certain points in the park. We proceeded to drive to the power plant only to find a dead end. We asked for directions and started driving back towards the entrance gate. After reaching visual distance of the entrance gate, we turned around again and asked a different person for directions. Instead of offering directions, this person insisted on coming with us for a tip because he sensed we were “lost”. Instead of doing that, I thought I saw a sign that told us where to turn. We drove back, found the sign, and made our way to the Hell’s Gate Gorge Ranger station.

Upon reaching the station, we saw a sign saying please have a guide with you before going on a hike. Immediately, I thought this was a ploy to get us to buy a guide when it wasn’t really needed. What I didn’t realize at the time was just how necessary a guide was to the success of our hike. After conferring as a group, we decided to go for the glory and do the 3 hour hike. This would take us to the following places – Devil’s bedroom, the Central tower, Paramount  Tower and Cave, Devil’s Hot Shower, and the Devil’s Kitchen.

Immediately, beginning the hike, I quickly realized the value of having the guide. Even though everyone in the group was fit, we were unfamiliar with the terrain which proved to be challenging at times. There was everything from slippery rock to choosing the right path to make our way down to the floor of the park. As we made our way down to the floor of the park, I saw these awesome rock walls and began to realize how far down we had walked. There were contrasting landscapes between rock, a desert like appearance, and vegetation that you could tell where the various parts which had been impacted by lava flow.

I’ll let the photos do most of the talking; however, there are a couple cool things to point out:

• There is extensive geothermal energy development occurring in the park.
• There was a volcano which last erupted 450 years ago (responsible for killing many Masai people and creating the gorges,hot springs, and geothermal activity)
• Be careful! The hot springs in the park are extremely warm. It’s possible to get burned if you’re not paying attention
• The final part of the hike to the Devil’s Kitchen seems long, but it was cool to see the natural boiling water and steam. The Devil’s Kitchen may not exist in a few years due to the active geothermal development and drilling of new sites.

We finished the “3 hour trek” (estimated to be about 12KM of walking) in about 4 – 4.5 hours. This was due to waiting at certain points of the trek to either climb up or down different parts of the gorge. Also, we did do a fair amount of stopping for photo taking.

I was really glad to complete the trek and it was also a great way to get some exercise. Upon our return to the ranger station, we decided to have a quick lunch and then visitCrater Lake, which is where the weekend gets interesting….

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Tim is preparing to travel the world on a much needed career break. His travels have already taken him to New Zealand, India, China, Taiwan, and many places in western Europe. On his world trip he hopes to become more fluent in Mandarin Chinese, meet new friends, gain new perspectives, and find new opportunities. Follow Tim on his global adventures.

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