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!
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!
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!):
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.
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| 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!)
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!
Wow! It looks amazing!!!
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