This Christmas started off with a 5 day hike up Mt. Kenya and back.
On day 1(Dec 23) we were picked up in Nairobi and taken to the gate of the Park, there we began our journey. The first day was all hiking on rough road. It was pretty steep, but we were still at a low altitude, so it was doable. We also got to walk across the equator on this day! We finished the day before dinner time. We opted to stay in huts instead of tents. Definitely the better choice in my opinion, but we didn't really know what to expect from the word "hut". Well it turned out to be a large wooden building a few bedrooms, with bunk beds, and a community space. Much more than I was expecting, that's for sure!
Day 2 (Dec 24) was much colder! We woke up to the sound of fierce winds hitting our bunk house. We were all already wrapped up in all of our layers of clothes, that were meant for day 4! Day 2 was more hiking, but much more beautiful than day 1. Most of us started taking out altitude sickness medication this day, to prevent altitude sickness. Well our medical staff did not mention that the side effects include having to pee every half hour, and tingling in our fingers and toes! This day we walked about 16 kilometers from our first camp to where we ended, which was Shiptons Camp at 13800 feet above sea level. And we had the most BEAUTIFUL view of the Mountain from there.
Day 3 (Dec 25) was our acclimatization day. We only climbed about 3 kilometers, but it was rough! One of the girls started feeling altitude sickness, and the rest of us were moving pretty slowly. We had to climb to a small peak (where we had snow for Christmas!) and then we had to come right back down. We were back to the camp by lunch, and we were all ready for bed at this point.
Day 4 (Dec 26) started at 3 am! We wanted to reach the summit before sunrise! I also think our guide didn't want us freaking out, which I think we would have done if were were in the day light. We were climbing up the side of the mountain, with no path, on the ice and snow, and if you had the nerve to look around ( I did, but I wouldn't call it nerve) you would see that if you made a wrong move, you could be sliding off the mountain! But once we made it to the summit, it was all worth it! We made it to Lenana Peak which is 4985 meters above sea level! We arrived just after the sun rose, but we watched the sun rise on our way up. We were above the clouds, and it was the most breath taking view (we were literally having a little trouble catching our breath, since we were so high lol) Our guide and porters that accompanied us on this day had brought lemon tea to the summit for us. The Kenyans believe that lemon tea will help with altitude sickness symptoms. Im not sure if it really works, but it's delicious, especially when your freezing cold.
After sitting at the top for about 45 minutes, we started our descend. We hiked for about another 6 hours till we made it to our camp for the night. We had hot showers! and a fire place, and we sang Christmas carols! It was a great way to end an awesome trip!
On Day 5 we walked a few hours towards the gate, then got a ride from a very old 4 wheel drive vehicle. We eventually made it to the paved road, we only got stuck in the mud a few times. It was probably the most scary part of the trip, possibly flipping to our death in a car older than us, with no seat belts, but we made it. We then were driven back to Nairobi, where we grabbed our beach stuff that we had left at the hostel ( you certainly don't need a bikini on a mountain). And then were were on our way to the coast!
Our first stop was a really nice eco lodge in Kilifi. There we soaked up the sun and relaxed, for 2 nights before taking another bus to Lamu. Out of our group of 8, 5 of us got stuck in the back of the bus, aka the worst seats ever! The road to Lamu, is not a good one, so we felt every bump and hole, and believe me there were a lot! After 6 or so hours we made it to the bay, where we hopped onto a boat, and headed to Lamu.
Lamu was beautiful! It looked nothing like the rest of Kenya. It reminded me of Greece or Italy (not that I've been to either, but...) it's what they look like in my mind. There are no motor vehicles on the island. You can take donkeys on the island, or boats around the island and to nearby islands. The houses and building are are very close together, and you walk on small sidewalks in between. The majority of the island is a very traditional muslim community. So a lot of shops were closed during prayer, and most of the women were fully covered from head to toe (we we a bit under dressed) We stayed at a local hotel, "Jambo House", it is owned by a german man. He is very nice and his hotel is really clean. They prepared breakfast for us everyday, and even packed us a breakfast to go, on our way out of Lamu. The hotel is located in the "village" so we were not in a touristy area, which I think make the experience even better!
The seafood was AMAZING, we found this little place that we ended up eating at most of the time because it was so good. It usually took about an hour for us to get our food, but it was because he cooked everything fresh! He even brought out the enormous lobster before he cooked it. We took a dhow boat ride on New Years eve day, to one of the beaches, and they cooked us lunch on the boat. Then they took us to some ruins. It was on a small island, that used to be a village over a century ago, but the tides became to high and they had to relocate. For New Years eve we took the same boat to a beach party, where there was a bonfire and drumming. The next day we spent wandering the streets, and for our last evening we ordered (AMAZING) pizza and had a mama give us all heena tattoos! We had a great time in Lamu, and I can't wait to go back!
On our way back we stopped in Kilifi for a night to break up the trip home. On Thursday we were down to just 4 of us girls, everyone else had gone there different ways. The 4 of us headed to Mombassa, to catch a bus home. We hopped onto a tuktuk (a small 3 wheeled motor car) where my bag then fell into traffic while we were moving, with out us knowing. Our driver finally realized we lost a bag, and he got out and ran to get it. The bag was about as big as he was! We got to the bus station, where we found out that they sold our bus tickets that I had reserved a week earlier, because we had not yet paid for them (because they wouldn't let me pay a week early), and they are super busy since it's the end of the holiday. All we could do is laugh it off, TIA, we were then on the search for new tickets, which were not easy to come by. None of the buses had any tickets to Eldoret till Monday (it was only Thursday) We ended up finding tickets to Nairobi for 10:30 pm, it was only 4 pm, so we had to indulge ourselves one last time, in western food, before getting back to our villages, I'm talking, ice cream, pizza, iced coffee, you name it! On the bus to Nairobi, again we had to sit in the back! I may have forgotten to mention earlier, but the back seats don't recline at all, and the seats in front of them recline way too much, so not only is the road terrible, but there is absolutely NO space if you have knees.
I finally made it home on Friday afternoon, completely exhausted. Kibaibai of course is the best face to come home to. We spent the rest of the day snuggling and watching movies. Now back to reality and work. Dreaming of the beach our next holiday!
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