First Weekend In Kenya

No matter where I am, I continue to do the same types of things that I love to do, the scenery around me just changed and it has the ability to make a world of difference (no pun intended). 

My first weekend in Kenya I spent hiking and biking through Hells Gate National park. Meeting some new faces from multiple different projects, a group of us were guided through by a couple of high spirited Kenyons. We started by biking 7 km, but not your average ride to enjoy some exercise, fresh air and landscape. This was an unexpected National Geographic bike ride. Not many details were given out when signing up for this excursion other than the opportunity to bike through the canyon and hike to a natural hot springs created by volcanic activity. The idea of a hot bath in the stream was enough for me to sigh up, the view and activity was an added bonus I knew I would really enjoy.

I started the ride at the front of our pac, as we had a few virgin bikers.  Only a few minutes into our ride I found myself shouting to the others like a child at the zoo, “zebras!!!!!” Ten feet in front of me a herd of adults and babies were grazing in the field and before I knew it they were migrating across the road just a few feet in front of me. We continued our ride into the canyon when I heard someone else had spotted a giraffe. Stopping to look around, sure enough at the top of the canyon wall above us a giraffe was grazing the trees along the edge with a friend not far behind. It was a moment of ahhh, looking around thinking that these animals were as common and at home as deer would be in the yards of Craig Colorado. Through out the rest of our tour we saw gazelles, warthogs, ostrich and furry monkeys as big as a golden retriever. We had quite the outing for just a day trip jaunt.