Bushwalk Australia

In June and July of this year, my wife and I travelled to Kenya to visit my sister who works in a Child Rescue centre in Nairobi.
This is a selective report on the bushwalk and outdoor side of the trip.
First stop was Dubai - a quite "eccentric" city built into a sandy desert. [Visitors should check out the dancing fountains ]

We did a couple of road trips out into the desert - one was a mild dune drive for a sunset view followed by a Bedouin meal.
The other was through Oman to the Hatta Mountains.
This was harsh country - temperatures in the 40s and the mountains almost entirely spikey bare rock.
Civilisation revolves around the springs that are found amongst the rock.

At the end of our mountain drive was a very clear spring. The water was flowing straight out of the rock walls forming a long pool in the gorge before disappearing into the rocky stream bed at the other end.
This was clearly a favourite picnic spot with the locals.


Then onto Nairobi in Kenya. Most of the time was spent in various activities with my sisters centre, but we also went on 3 excursions.
First off were a few days on a Masai Mara safari - so here are a few impressions from the vehicle
[it had roll up windows that were always up - made for interesting reactions when some of the following got very close.]

We saw 4 of the "Big 5"

We managed to see another of the Big 5 - a leopard, but I couldn't get a good shot of it.
It was very secretive amongst the scrub and then having a sleep in a dense tree.

The key time in the Masai Mara is July when huge herds move north from Tanzania.
Being early June we were too early for the thousands of Wilderbeast. There were some small herds of zebra though, and lots of other grazing game.





Our guide stopped for half an hour just observing the vast open savannah. Then he remarked that the animals in a certain part were spooked. He was certain it was a cheetah - spotted from 2km away. We worked our way over towards it.

After the Mara, our next excursion was the big one for our trip - a six day trek to Mt Kenya.
Mt Kenya is a highly eroded shield volcano. Unlike the taller Kilimanjaro, the past glaciers have carved large U-shaped valleys and left numerous spires and towers of rock.
This is the second highest peak in Africa at 5199m. It consists of a 5 main "peaks" with the 3rd highest [Lenana] suitable for trekking and it is 4985m high.
The key concern for walkers is avoiding altitude sickness. Mt Kenya is generally much easier on the body than Kilimanjaro, and we planned our walk to be slow and steady.

While it is possible to be self sufficient on the mountain, we were a long way from home and wanted to keep it simple and safe. So we booked for a guide and porters. Our party ended up as 8 - the 2 of us plus a guide, a cook and 4 porters. No freeze dried meals on this trip - they carried up fresh food for the 6 days.
We mostly stayed in a spacious 4 season 3 man tent. I am sure it was warmer than staying in the lodges.
After 2 vehicle problems, we got to our start point on the northern side of the mountain at the Sirimon Gate - 2600m high.
It was a steep road walk through forest grading to bamboo forest and then to moors and we got to see some elephants in the bamboo from a safe distance.
We learned in the course of the trip that the high country is visited by hyena, leopard, buffalo and antelope as well as the elephants. Unfortunately we did not see any. Just droppings and tracks.

During our stay in Kenya, we never saw Mt Kenya from a distance. It was always surrounded by cloud.
On this first day, the cloud was still swirling ahead of us, but occasionally we got some glimpses of what lay ahead.


First night was next to Judmeiers [Old Moses Camp]. There was a school party travelling the same route - 40 students and teachers with 90 porters!
It was a virtual travelling city - so we mostly camped a bit away from them in our 3 tents.

Next day was a short walk on to Liki North. Not too high or hard to assist acclimatisation.


That afternoon we went a few km further up the valley.
The rule is "climb high and sleep low".
Liki North has a reputation for being very cold, so I put a thermometer outside the tent that night. I measured -7C at 11 pm and the same at 6 am next day.

We saw our first Rock Hyrax here. They live in the rocks all over the mountain, and are the chief prey for the wilder animals that come up here.
We also saw Mountain Buzzards flying overhead.

Day 3 saw us climbing over the ridge out of Liki North and then descending into Mackinder Valley.


At Shiptons Camp we stayed for 2 nights in our tent, but were able to use the cooking facilities and tables in the lodge.
During our trip, the weather was exceptionally kind. It only rained a couple of times, but we were in our tents or at the lodge on those occassions.
However, the cloud would come and go often, so we were treated to lots of different mountain moods.


That afternoon we climbed again for acclimatisation. This time to Kami Tarn - a spot frequently used by climbers as a base.
Kami is wedged in right at the base of the main mountain. It was hard to get a photo which did it justice. But the weather had fined up nicely for our walk.

We had originally planned a spare day for acclimatisation before the main climb, but our guide suggested we would be better following a different order.
So day 4 saw us up at 2:30 am and walking by 3 am. The goal was to get to Lenana by sunrise.
The climb is a slow and steady rise up a very large scree slope. The guide joked that we do it at night because if people looked up it in the light they would refuse to go. The final climb involves some scrambling, but nothing taxing.
There is some exposure, and it is very cold. I had read an account of a death on the mountain before we travelled. The guide explained that it was a case where a girl had stepped off the path and slid down a patch of ice and snow before hitting a rock head on. We found snow near the top as we moved to the protected side.
[Mt Kenya has 2 distinct seasons - rock climbers come from the east in June - Aug, but from the west in the other half. This is because the snow accumulates on the different sides at different times in the year. So the western side had a good covering of snow]
The rock on top had ice crystals glazed on parts. We trod carefully.

We arrived back at Shiptons by 11 am. Perfect timing to have brunch sitting in the bright sunshine.
We also had a nap to recover.
The afternoon was spent trying to spot the real climbers who were scaling the main rock faces above.
It also featured a "lost" British walker. He had gone on alone past Hausberg Col, but had not come back at the designated time.
So some porters eventually went out to look for him. 2 hours late, he arrived back having completely circumnavigated the mountain.
This guy sure could walk fast! But now the message had to get out that he was found to those still combing the area.
He was most apologetic after this.


Day 5 saw us ambling up over Hausberg Col and around the mountain to Teleki Lodge [also known as Mackinders Camp]

The track winds past Hausberg and Oblong Tarns to a pass under Arthurs Seat and then around to Nanyuki Tarn and Hut Tarn
The hut is now a few rocks - most reused to make some bivy walls.
The views from here to the western side of the mountain and some hanging glaciers are fantastic.



We went down another very steep scree to Teleki Lodge in glorious sunshine.
Shortly after arriving the mountain was hit by a hail shower. The rest of the day was a constantly changing display of cloud and sunshine.

Day 6 was the walk out. The track has changed somewhat from that shown on my map.
Rather than going down the Teleki Valley - it sidles across and keeps up high down the southern side before descending down through the "Vertical Bog".

Our last excursion in Kenya was a 2 day trip via Lake Bogoria to Iten and then back via Thompson Falls.
Lake Bogoria was a highlight with its Flamingos and Boiling Springs

From Lake Bogoria, the road goes over a high range in the middle of this part of the Great Rift Valley. The range effectively divides it into an eastern and a western arm.
The road then descends to the floor of the western arm before climbing up the western escarpment to a height of 2400m.
On the edge is the small town of Iten. Famous as a place athletes come for high altitude training.

We were here for the views. This part of the western wall is very dramatic, with cliff lines and waterfalls.




We then drove a long way down through the valley and up the eastern side to get to the Thompson Falls

Well I have tested your patience by the number of pictures, so as a finale, we also visited the Victoria Falls in Zambia/Zimbabwe on our way home.

They were at a nice level - not so high that you could see nothing but spray, but also a high enough flow to be working well for the full 1.7km width.
They drop 110m into a narrow gorge.
We pigged out and had lunch on Livingstone Island - in the middle of the top of the falls.
A huge lunch, but we only got to sit down after walking bare foot to the very edge of the drop on each side of the island.


We had hoped to do a big walk in Hong Kong, but the weather there was very hot and humid, so we piked out with a cable car ride and a cruise or 2.
6 weeks after starting we were back home.

Brian

Great report Brian and photos of course. I spent 8 weeks in South Africa and Zimbabwe many years ago. Still my most memorable holiday, the wildlife has to be seen to be believed! I'd love to visit Kenya one day....

Hi Eggs,

Wow, absolutely awesome trip report and photos.

Thanks

Tony

Wow, brilliant eggs, thanks for sharing!

Yep, these are great photos eggs, postcard stuff... I couldn't settle for the iphone view.
Well done!!

Top stuff, Eggs. What a fantastic experience it must have been.

Thanks for the kind comments.
Glad you worked out the PC issues nuts

My wife told me off for not showing us at the top.
I tend to think of those shots as markers to show you did it - rather than special scenery to admire.
But I had better put it up


And I will add a couple more
We did actually see Kilimanjaro - from the airplane window - a real bonus


And Victoria Falls deserves a couple more:

And the evening made for some slower exposures of the small section which was clear of the vast mist cloud


I mentioned Hong Kong. We didn't get to do any real walking, but the city has a lot of undeveloped mountain country interspersed with high rise along small shorelines.
A fascinating place - and we saw it in good weather - which is apparently a bit rare due to pollution from mainland China.
Given the high heat and humidity, the best we could manage from an outdoors/ walking point of view was the Great Buddha embedded in the mountains.


There are a lot of tracks over these mountains - so in good weather, plenty of walking available.

Stunning eggs, just stunning . Sounds/looks like the trip of a lifetime. I note the comments about acclimatisation. How did you find the altitude experience, any sickness etc? I'm glad you put the HK photos in as well, at least I've been there a couple of times although no walking either.

Fantastic Eggs. Thanks for sharing.

phenomenal photos. that K7 really does justice to the scenery. thanks very much for that.

walkinTas wrote:Fantastic Eggs. Thanks for sharing.

+1

Wow stunning stuff- memories to last a life time!! Its always amazing to see different countries and how unique the wildlife, vegetation, people and scenery is. Will put Africa on my to do list (well it is already there but bumped up a spot or two ).
Cheers
Lizzy

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