Kenya Nzuri: Lake Baringo & Lake Bogoria

For my lovely friend, Charlene's birthday, a group of us took a trip to Lake Baringo and Lake Bogoria.

Lake Baringo has a surface area of about 130 square kilometres (50 sq mi) and an elevation of about 970 metres (3,180 ft). It is one of two freshwater lakes in the Rift Valley in Kenya (Lake Naivasha being the other one, also stunningly beautiful).  It is the home of over 470 species of birds and is a perfect place for bird lovers!

We stayed at a place called Robert's Camp.  It's basic, but charming.  I love the porch area, despite of the mosquitoes.  At night, hippos come to the camp site, and one of the night we were able to spot some of them grazing.  The climate was pretty hot and steamy when we were there, but we were able to just veg out and do absolutely nothing.  I think this is the first time I can understand what it is like to live in the South in the US when the temperature is high and air is humid!  

My favorite part of the weekend was all the birds and wildlife that just comes into our camp.  All sorts of colorful birds were around us, and we've successfully lure some to come near our porch with some delicious chevda.  It's quite interesting to witness the pecking orders of the various species of birds, some are timid, others are mean and ruthless.  I suppose, not that different from humans. :-) 

On the way back to Nairobi, we stopped by Lake Bogoria.  It is a saline, alkaline lake that lies in a volcanic region, and is home to one of the world's largest populations of lesser flamingoes. Lake Bogoria is also famous for geysers and hot springs,  It contains the highest concentration of geysers in Africa (at least 18 is known).  Despite of the extreme heat, the steam coming out of the hot spring by the bank of the lake was actually really refreshing, and there were a few local Kenyans sitting there enjoying their "sauna".  We cooked some eggs in the hot spring, which totally reminded me of my childhood in Taiwan where we would go to a local hot spring and do the same.

 

So another beautiful, fun weekend away from Nairobi has ended.  I feel extremely lucky to be able to make my tour around Kenya and explore its unspoiled beauty, this is something most Kenyan don't get to do, and hopefully through my posts the world can see how great Africa is and eliminate some of the negative, depressing images most Western media portray.