Cycling beside giraffes and zebras
on A Serendipitous Journey (Kenya), 05/May/2009 10:23, 34 days ago
Last Friday was a national holiday, so we embraced the long weekend and planned a“mini break” to Naivasha. Along with 3 other VSO volunteers, I hopped into a matatu early Friday afternoon for the hour and a half trip to Crayfish campground. Crayfish is located right on the famous Lake Naivasha in the East African Rift Valley and you can either camp in tents or rent little cabins. It’s a popular place both with travelers and locals where you can go horseback riding, swim in the pool, rent bikes, hire a boat, just drink at the bar ... or party in the disco ‘til the early hours of the morning.But knowing we had to awake at 6 am on Saturday for our bike ride through nearbyHell’s Gate National Park, we headed to bed fairly early on Friday.Saturday morning got off to a bit of a rough start when the breakfast buffet which supposedly started at 6:30, actually opened at 7:30; Richelle discovered the brakes on her bike didn’t work; and Emma got a flat tire within the first kilometer, but it was much smoother sailing from then on. Actually to be honest, it was one of my favourite days of my entire life... a truly incredible experience.The rock formations in Hell’s Gate immediately took our breath away and within about 15 minutes of riding we had cycled close to giraffes, dozens of zebras and warthogs. It was truly spectacular! The animals, while conscious we were there, didn’t seem too perturbed by our presence. The only nervous moment for me was cycling past a herd of about 100+ water buffalo, which are reputed to be the number one most dangerous animal. A gigantic male eyed us pretty closely, but fortunately deemed us to be of very little threat and just stared as we cycled past.I verified the theory that you never forget how to ride a bike, as I had barely ridden one since getting my driver’s license about half my life ago – the only thing I forgot was how truly fun it is!