Lake Naivasha

Al fresco breakfast (click to enlarge)

Lake Naivasha camp site

Wherever we travelled in East Africa we met friendly, welcoming people. This was especially the case in Kenya, and being a former British colony (Kenya became independent in 1963) English was spoken widely. The other prominent language is Swahili - hence the shouts of Jambo (hello) wherever we went.

Sometimes the Kenyans could be a bit too friendly, especially when trying to sell you something and at first I found this discomforting. But I found that if you simply said that you were feeling a bit crowded they would politely back off.

I have returned from my holiday with a wide variety of souvenirs, some of which I have little use for (anyone want a Kenyan flag?), because I was won over by the charm of the people I met. Maybe I'm just a soft touch, but I'd like to think that I was simply doing my bit to support the people and the local economy.

Sometimes, particularly among children, the plea was very simple - Give me money! This brings with it a dilemma about responsible tourism and for me there is always an element of guilt when I realise how much I have compared to those around me. Having been to Africa before, dealing with this internal conflict is a big issue for me and one I was not relishing facing again. It all came to a head in Rwanda, but hey, I'm getting ahead of myself. Back to Kenya.

Our first night under canvass was at Lake Naivasha. This is not far from Elsamere, the home of Joy and Peter Adams of Born Free fame. In fact we took a short boat ride to the house in the afternoon. It was interesting, but after a long journey what I really enjoyed was drinking tea and eating lots of cake on the lawn, whilst watching he antics of the magnificent black and white Colobus monkeys. Most of the group went off to watch the screening of a documentary about the Adams. After my fitful night's sleep I nodded off in the garden instead.

If I drew the short straw when it came to leg room on the plane, I definitely got the long straw when it came to holiday accommodation. Being the only single bloke it was considered improper to accept my invitation to sleep with all the women on a rota basis and I was confined to monastic solitude throughout.

The tents we carried on board Isobel were meant to house 2 people. Had I shared it would have been cramped and one of my pre-holiday concerns was over sharing with an unknown man. I took ear plugs for the snoring - a set for each of us. As it was I was able to be very comfortable by stretching diagonally across the tent, with my belongings tucked away on one side and Wainwright on the other.

For me the camping aspect of the trip made it into an adventure, but it wasn't the case for everyone. Now, please don't accuse me of sexism when I gently point out that 13 out of 16 people in the group were female. And I think it's fair to say that ladies, on the whole, are more particular than men about their grooming standards, toileting and home comforts. My own standards are about as low as you can get. Give me food, beer, a space to sleep and a pot to piss in and I'm very happy. In fact, I'd even be happy without the pot. Naivasha provided all of these naked essentials, but the cold showers (legend has it that there was a hot one but I never found it) and the privations of camping led to some early complaints. The lack of anywhere in the tents where a hairdryer could be plugged in did not go down well in one instance.

To make matters worse, there was some sort of music festival not far away on the other side of the camp site and this boomed out until 3.00 am. Thank goodness I packed the ear plugs, although the pounding of the bass was so loud that I did find myself vibrating across the floor of the tent. At least no one shook me in the night wanting the loo.

On the whole, there was spirit of good humour as we gathered early next morning for our al fresco breakfast, cooked by the wonderful Leo, our resident chef. What that man can conjure up in the middle of nowhere is unbelievable and as all armies know, good grub is essential to good morale.

It was time to give Isobel a rest. Three minibuses turned up to take us on the next stage of our adventure. Carrying only essentials we clambered aboard them. These were not ordinary mini buses. They each had roofs that pop up to allow the people inside to stand up and get a good view of what is around them. Essential for the next 2 days. One by one the buses pulled away from Naivasha and headed west - towards the Maasai Mara.