Camping: Part 2

This weekend I went camping as part of a relay event with the Original Nairobi Hash House Harriers in Kedong, in the Rift Valley, south of Nairobi about an hour along Magadi road.  I maintain this is some of the most beautiful countryside in the entire world.  I've said it before and I'll say it again: I love living here and being able to hop in the car and be in the middle of this beautiful country, away from the stress and distractions of Nairobi.

The run started at the Olorgesailie prehistoric site. I planned on waiting until the last leg of the relay to join in the fun since I'm more of a fast paced walker and didn't want to be responsible for killing a team's time with my sure to be slow time.  With the rising temperatures and hunger ensuing they decided to call off the last two legs once it hit 37C (approximately 98.6F).  As I was a hot mess from just cheerleading and "Magical Moments" duty, I wasn't too upset to not have to get out of the air conditioned car and jog 3km.

We lunched at the hot springs with some monkeys before heading to set up camp.  Keeping it classy in true hasher style, Bikini Lines even sat down under the hot water springs faucet and gave himself a little shower.  Once we were properly fed and cooled down we headed towards our hosts' holiday home to set up camp.  At one point the occupants of our car had to disembark and hike the rest of the way due to the steep incline and low clearance of the car, but we all made it to the final destination ready to kick back with some beverages and Mama Hina's amazing curry. 

Learning from our past experience, we did not partake in any night time game walks or drives and I, for one, called it an early night.  This ensured that I was wide awake by the time I heard the holler to get going for the morning nature walk at 7:30 the next morning.  And by wide awake I mean standing in my cowgirl pjs getting ready to enjoy a nice cup of Nescafe.  Not wanting to miss out though I quickly changed and went for a lovely hike through neighboring hills. The scenery was amazing and it was definitely a better time of day to be hiking and climbing than in the midday heat.  After some breakfast, naps for some, and a leisurely morning we packed up and headed back to Nairobi.  Again we had to hop out of our vehicle to ensure clearance leaving three of us to trudge behind the cars in hopes of catching up at some point.  Happily our ever helpful host was leading the end of the train and offered us a lift on the side of his car (that's right we got to stand on the rails of his 4WD and hang on for dear life) to catch up with the rest of our party.  Thankfully he came along when he did as we discovered they took an alternate route back that included a drive through a river.  As my friend commented it was a bit like being in a video game as we had to duck and turn every time we spied branches coming our way.  What better way to end a camping trip than a Super Mario Brothers style game drive?

Chalk round two up as success, can't wait to see what March has in store, Kajiado perhaps?