Sorry! I know in blog years I've killed my journal but for me time is not on my side – ever! Anyway, camping was a blast. We got to Camp Crayfish, one of many that advertises its location on the shores of Naivasha. Unfortunately, this camps isn’t a scenic of the lake at night as it’s a good five minute walk and the main reason being that the hippos come on shore in the evening to graze and are quite dangerous. We checked in and were a little miffed at the price. 620 shillings for one person in a tent that sleeps two ($8) and even if you paired up with someone they’d still charge that amount for the tent. Didn’t make any sense
Anyway, checked in, pretty nice, they have cabins as well for those who want to rough it in style but we opted out of those. Actually, had no choice, there was a company workshop thingy going on and they’d taken up all the cabins. We were in a far dark corner of the compound but were quite happy with the conditions. The tents were clean and the firm mattress pads were in a cute leopard skin cover. Lol. They also supplied us with blankets but I was the only smart one who brought a sleeping bag. One of the boys came with absolutely nothing but himself. Later on while struggling to get home the following day with all that luggage, he was the envy of all of us who’d somehow accumulated more stuff. Anyway, you can buy a bundle of firewood for 100shillings ($1.30) and the night guards will light it for you for free – well, customary to tip and cigarettes for some reason still trade quite well.
If you’re going for the true camping experience, Crayfish may not be it because it has a complete clubhouse with pool tables, bar & satellite telly – we got the tail end of the Liverpool game. It also has a semi-open air dance club on top of the main building and a restaurant. It actually is a convenient lunch/buffet place for day-trippers from either Nairobi or Nakuru. One place that is recommended is Fisherman’s which was further up but we didn’t want to risk going, as it was quite dark then. So we settled down and after an extensive and exhaustive discussion as to whether the meat that was purchased was actually beef or donkey, the boys ate it while I thanked heaven for the chips I got from the clubhouse.
Long story short, very fun and crazy night and I shall leave it at that.
I woke up first that morning at about 10 which was amazing considering I’d just gone to bed at 5. I walked around the campsite re-hydrating like hell and trying to find one of my shoes, which had been doubled as a rugby ball a few hours earlier. I started to feel better after a while and slowly woke up my mates who were in various stages of comical sleep. We wondered down to the main building and ordered ourselves quite a reasonable and very large breakfast. We hang around for a bit playing chess, reading, and listening to music. No one was in any real rush to get back to the city, as it was an absolutely stunning day so I took a walk to finally see the lake. Neighboring the camp is yet another flower farm and between green houses there was a field adjoining the campsite full of roses that hadn’t bloomed yet. I watched farm workers going around carefully pruning and picking early buds and errant leaves and I was quite saddened because you could see the lake in front of you and it has receded considerably. I got down there and met the camp manager who had come over to shush us at some point the previous night. He was looking at a fence that looked damaged and he told me that there had been two rogue hippos terrorizing the two families that lived close to the campsite. He pointed in the direction of the families; about 7 in each group, about half a mile from each other in the water. He explained that one of the males had actually been killed a few days earlier by the KWS because it had broken the electric fences a couple of times and strayed into the campgrounds and nearby flower farms. He then said that in a few days, they’d be able to fix the fence when there were no campers but also they would have to put down the other hippo as it was injured. Before I could comment on that he said ruefully, "Well, it’s our fault really, we’ve taken their land, their shore and now are draining their home slowly so it’s us straying into their environment." We kept quiet and looked across the lake, watching the hippos snort lazily, birds dancing on what little back was exposed. I walked around a little bit and then went to the little clubhouse they have on the shore built specifically for birdwatching. I’m not much of an bird-watcher but wow, the birdlife is absolutely amazing so I’d recommend the camp just for that.
I went back to the campsite, convinced some of my lazy crew to check out the place and then we all left. We actually hooked up with a group of 7 other campers heading back to Nairobi so that way we ensured we were in a safe vehicle and could actually dictate our price wish was considerably less on the return trip.
All in all, a very fun weekend and I can’t wait to do it again…well, my butt can; that road is awful!
Laters.
Oh, congratulations Miguel & Kathy on the birth of Sienna. Dude, you got some serious sleepless nights and dirty diapers coming your way. Best wishes!
And sad day, my (insert giggle) boy is leaving today, very sad
