Lonely Planet Kenya
Travel Report
The Kakamega Forest
Planning the Mt Kenya Trek
Naro Moru route to the summit
Descending the Sirimon route
Lake Naivasha & Nairobi
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Travel Notes
Nanyuki
Nairobi
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Mt Kenya
Kakamega and Naivasha
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Travel notes from Nanyuki
Hi Everyone
After spending three nights in Kampala I finally managed to sort out my visas for both Kenya and Tanzania, so the open road was once again calling me. I headed east to the Kenyan border stopping at Jinja for the night along the way. Jinja is famous for being the source of the Nile, where the waters spill out of Lake Victoria and start their 6400km journey to the Mediterranean Sea, which takes about 3 months. I had an afternoon to see the sights and hitched along to Bujugali Falls 9km downstream. They are really only a series of rapids and will soon disappear with a new dam being built to provide more hydroelectric power for Uganda, which from my experience, Uganda desperately needs. I found the source of the Nile, it was signposted off Bridge Street; if only Mr. Speke in his search for the source of the Nile had walked along Bridge Street he could have saved himself a lot of bother.
I didn't have time to seek out the alternative source of the Nile, the Nile Special brewery, just to the west of town, famous for supplying Uganda with its favourite beer. I had been in Uganda almost 3 weeks so it was time to move on. I took a matatu to the border town of Busia and from the taxi park to the border took a bicycle taxi (the African equivalent of a rickshaw but a lot more basic - you just sit on the rear luggage carrier while a poor bloke nearly kills himself pedalling you through town). It seemed a fitting way to depart Uganda. I walked a couple of hundred yards through a chaotic scene of people moving to and fro across the border and found myself in Kenya.
I finally arrived late that afternoon in Kisumu, on the shores of Lake Victoria. The town had a sleepy feel to it despite being about the third largest town in Kenya; I only stayed a night as my main goal in western Kenya was to spend some time at the Kagamega forest reserve, hugging some more trees. This is the only patch of virgin rain forest left in Kenya. Getting there was fun too, the road transport dried up at Shinyalu so from there my only choice was a bicycle taxi the 8km to the Forest Resthouse. I really thought the poor guy pedalling was going to die on me, it was early afternoon and very hot. At the slightest hill we ground to a halt and we walked; I think we walked just as far as we cycled. When we eventually arrived at the guesthouse I gave him a few extra shillings to buy a drink, he looked like he needed it.
I spent three nights in the forest; the trees here are in a desperate need of a hug, the pressures from the surrounding villages are taking their toll on the forest. There is a constant caravan of women walking along the road carrying firewood out of the forest. The Kenyan Forestry Commission either doesn't have the power to stop these illegal activities or just turn a blind eye. I went hiking during the day, getting in some training for Mt Kenya. No one had any maps of the forest available and the way markers along the trails had long ago been nicked for either firewood or construction, so my hikes turned into quite an adventure.
I found a sign along the road pointing to a trail saying 'Yala River trail, 3hr.' I followed the trail and ended up deep in the forest and eventually found the Yala River (of course there were no other way markers, so I was glad I had my compass with me for reassurance). I was getting spooked by the place, it was really a jungle down there, two hours walk from the nearest civilization. Just when I managed to convince myself that there could be all kinds of nasties living along this river I almost trod on a snake that was lying across the trail. It was time to start my two-hour walk back to civilization.
The only other person staying at the guesthouse was Roy, a Native American who was doing a survey of ants and other bugs in the forest. So far he had identified 102 species of ant, one of which was new to science. He had been a curator at a natural history museum in LA and was now spending his retirement doing fieldwork in the jungles around the world. We had many interesting conversations.
I left the forest and continued east towards Mt Kenya. I travelled via, Kagamega, Eldoret, Makuru and reached the town of Nyahururu by nightfall. This is the highest town in Kenya at an altitude of 2360m and also is the site of the impressive Thomson Falls, which cascade 72m into a deep gorge. The following morning I hiked to the base of the falls before continuing my journey to the mountain. I took a matatu the last 100km to the small village of Naro Moru and walked from there the last 8km to the youth hostel at the base of the mountain. The views of the mountain are stunning; it's strange to be here, almost on the equator, in the heart of Africa looking at a snow-covered mountain.
It is a lovely place but on my first night I was the only guest staying there, sitting in a lounge that could seat twenty people. There's no electricity - someone forgot to buy fuel for the generator, but at least there is running water. Everyone went home and just left me there with a kerosene lamp and a warm bottle of beer for the night. Food over the last week is becoming a problem especially after eating at Mama's Kitchen in Kagamega forest. Last night, after yet another bland African meal, I found myself eating the sugar bowel on the table - oh dear!
So this afternoon I've travelled the 30km to Nanyuki, the nearest large town to try and do something about this food problem and stock up on some goodies at the market.
Take care everyone; it's the big mountain next.
Geoff.
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