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| Taking five under an Ecashia tree in the Rift Valley |
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| The Great Rift Valley from the escarpment |
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| The crater and summit of Mount Longonot |
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| Coming along the Lake road by Naivasha Lake |
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| Masai boy in the Rift Valley |
A smooth departure from Nairobi heading out through the city
and away in the direction of Naivasha. The driving seemed much more orderly
than more recent days on the bike further North. It was a long pull out of
Nairobi once we started to leave the city it was a steep up for just over 40km
which was hard going although the temperature was good and a cool breeze was
blowing which also helped. Leaving Nairobi you quickly start to pass through
the suburbs which presents a much different picture to the central area with
nice leafy streets and large houses. It looked much more like the Africa I have
seen before and it certainly felt nice to be heading back into it. The long
slog went on for most of the morning but the sweat and toil was to be very well
rewarded. After getting to the junction at the top of the hill we had been given
a tip off to leave the main road and take the smaller road. Turning off we
where straight into a long downhill. Whizzing through villages and dodging pot
holes and reaching some pretty fast speeds. The road cut through some very nice
woodland and scrub. Bend after bend came until one inocuios looking bend came
up and as we went round it, it opened up and the effort was worth it. Coming
round it the trees vanished and the land just dropped away with the road
cutting in tight to the hillside and on the outside the Great Rift valley opened
up. A huge vista more than the eye could quite take in. A vast area with the
Longonot Volcano dominating the centre and the escarpment running as far as
the eye could see. Then roughly 15km of steep winding bends hugging the slopes
wound down to the valley floor where the heat kicked in. On the way potholes
and baboons where the main hazards any truck moved very slowly as they
struggled up. Then a very long hot cycle ensued across the valley floor past Masai men herding various forms of cattle always shouting ‘Jambo, Jambo
Mzungus’ (Hello whites). The heat was certainly a bit much and there was next
to no cover but every few kilometres there would be an ecachia tree to hide
under for a while. Eventually we rolled into camp which we had chosen as the target
on the shores of Lake Naivasha which worked out as about 120km.
