April 22, 2013 - Hell's Gate National Park, Kenya

We got to sleep in this morning; in our own lodge! So nice... and this is coming from Mike; imagine how grateful my fellow traveler, wife, and highly-regulating editor of this blog must feel!

Our only real plans for the day were to meet our guide and driver, Daniel, at 10 o'cock to check out Hell's Gate National Park. So we woke up to alarm, and this is quite rare, Libby actually said to me, "I guess we better start getting up." Breakfast was plentiful and there were more than two options; another first for my couple of weeks in Africa. After eating heartily, we read our books and waited for Daniel in the beautiful Sopa lodge. (more below)

Originally, we had to convince Daniel that we wanted to go to Hell's Gate. He spoke so highly of the Lake Naivasha Sopa lodge, that he thought we might not want to leave until our two-night stay was over. However, we were especially excited for Hell's Gate because the guide book said that there was an option to bike through the park and into the gorge. Not being Daniel's intention to rain our parade, but wishing only to set realistic expectations and it being the rainy season, Daniel was convinced that there would be no biking due to mud and quicksand and flash floods; but at least it didn't mention any other doomsday possibilities! :) The rangers at the park thought it would be fine to bike, and we were naturally excited; most of you know that we enjoy our biking. Though it was quite warm, we were at 6,200 feet of elevation, so it was not unbearable. The bikes were a little noisy due to the gears and the chain not being in good condition, but we each had at least one working gear and it was amazing biking with the animals!

After about 40 minutes of biking, and 40 minutes of taking pictures, we arrived at Hell's Gate gorge. The Kenyan's never tired of the "Welcome to Hell" joke; we heard it at least 4 times. But "Hell was beautiful." That's what I wrote in the comments in the guest book along with "John was a great guide," cause that was also true. John was a native Masai villager that lived only about 50 meters from the gorge and therefore had intimate knowledge of all things about Hell's Gate.

He showed us everything there was to see; where the water was hot, and where the water was super hot! He even showed us the precise location where a scene from Tomb Raider was shot.

I wanted to add a picture from Tomb Raider here, but my editor has prohibited me from posting PG-13 pictures of Angelina Jolie in her blog.

Temperatures of the hot springs in the gorge exceeded 110 degrees Fahrenheit! John mentioned that they boil eggs in the water, and then right after, he suggested that we have a contest to see who could last longest with their finger submerged in the scalding water! Needless to say, he won.

There were lots of pretty parts to the gorge though, like Hell's Shower,

this other narrow part,

this black-headed oriole (gorgeous!),

the place where the gorge forked from Angelina's section to the main, really long part that Tomb Raider definitely wouldn't have been able to escape from,

and this piece of obsidian (dragon glass!)

The view was especially great when we climbed out of that Hell Hole (see what I did there...) and got to see this amazing view!

And then this view was on the ride back; which was much hotter than the ride there, so there were fewer animals, and we were rushing because we were late for our agreed-upon time to meet Daniel.

Overall, an exquisite time in Hell's Gate National Park, and no rain to speak of during the supposed rainy season that is going on now. Daniel was in a rush to get us back to the lodge because the lunch period ended at a specified time, and we did not want to miss another great meal at the Lake Naivasha Sopa Lodge! 

In addition to having fine meals and a private room, and on-site wildlife, the hotel has a freezing-cold swimming pool, a warm-ish sauna, and great staff. Everything's better when there's animals around, though! Check out the following pictures (and pay close attention to Editor Libby's fanciful shoes!):

April 21, 2013 - Lake Naivasha, Kenya

Following our adventures in Lake Nakuru, we headed to anther freshwater lake close by, called Lake Naivasha. Lake Naivasha is the highest of the Rift Valley lakes, located at 1884 meters above sea level (that's higher than one mile...). Again, because of the rains, the lake has been flooded, but it did not affect our viewing experiences. Before checking in to our lodge (which turned out to be amazing, and completely made up for our interesting lodging experiences for the past two nights...), we stopped by Lake Naivasha to take a boat ride around the lake.

Our boat driver, David, was very friendly, though he was definitely limited in his English-speaking abilities.

While touring around Lake Naivasha, we saw a bunch of cormorants making their nests in dying trees. We were also able to see their hungry babies impatiently waiting for food in their nests.

In addition, we saw both white and pink-backed pelicans (although we thought the white pelicans looked more pink than the pink-backed...).

Hippos seemed to be hiding in the shallow areas of our lake, and David was able to make them briefly appear by smacking his hand against the side of the boat. Whenever I tried to do it, I made very little noise and just ended up hurting my hand...

One of the highlights was seeing the fish eagles diving in to the water to pick up their next meal.

In addition to the animals around the lake, there were also many fisherman in colorful sailboats, who were fishing for talapia, carp, bass, and crayfish.

As a slight detour during our boat trip around Lake Naivasha, we took a small walking safari around Crescent Island. Crescent Island, which is a small area left by the protruding rum of a collapsed volcanic crater, is located in the middle of Lake Naivasha. It is completely free of predators; therefore, it is one of the few locations where tourists are permitted to take walking safaris. We were able to get relatively close to giraffes, zebras, impalas, wildebeest, and Maribou storks. Again, because of the rainy season and consequent floods, we were unfortunatey unable to see much of the island.

There were many children, however, swimming around in the flooded lake, which was an interesting sight to see.

 
Following our morning full of adventures, we headed back to our lodge, the Lake Naivasha Sopa Resort, to rest for the remainder of the day. The lodge is lovely, with delicious food. And the best part is that the animals literally come right up to your room and to the main lodge! It's like a safari without having to sit in a bumpy van...