My weekend in HELL!

"Defeat is not the worst of failures. Not to have tried is the true failure.
-George Edward Woodberry"

So this weekend was definitely the most miserable weekend I've spent here in Nairobi, but I hope to someday look back on it fondly... Graham, his friend Taylor, Hans and I went on a weekend trip to Lake Naivasha to go cycling in Hell's Gate National Park. We got up bright and early Saturday morning, and we were downtown ready to catch a matatu to the base camp by 7am. The ride there was remarkably easy and uneventful, so easy in fact that it put us all a little on edge. For instance, it was so cheap! Less than 250 shillings to get there, which is amazing, considering it costs up to 500 shillings just to get home from the grocery store in a taxi, which is a five minute drive from home.

We arrived at the Fisherman's Camp on the shores of Naivasha by about 930. We checked into our banda, an endearing little shack with two single beds and two bunk beds and the luxury of a toilet!!! We had a quick breakfast and headed down to the dock in hopes of seeing the hippos that live in the lake. There were no hippos, but we did meet Marco, who we hired for the day to be our guide. We walked to the main office, all picked a bicycle, and the adventure began.

*Note* It is important to comment at this point that
a) I acutally cannot remember the last time I was on a bicycle
b) I am in the worst shape of anyone I know

To get to the main road, we had to go up a really short, steep hill. The group of them peeled out of the lot, leaving me huffing and puffing and skidding and stopping in near tears about 10ft from the starting line. Marco changed my gears on the bike (it has gears?!) and I (barely) made it up the hill. Then it was about 3 km down the main road. By the time we got to the turnoff for the park, my butt was so sore, and I was having serious second thoughts. The turn-off led to a gradually inclining gravel hill which led for 2km to the main gate. Before the gate was even in sight, I was totally, completely done. I was falling so far behind the group, that Marco had to come back and see what my problem was. At that point, actual tears were forming in my eyes, and I told him that I really didn't think I was cut out for a biking extravaganza, and that I'd better return to camp. Marco said I couldn't, and not to worry, that the beginnning part was the worst, and that many people want to turn around there, and then end up loving the day, so I had no choice but to perservere.

*Note #2
I really went into this with an open mind. I wasn't whining or snivling or trying to be dramatic, I was acutlly just sincerely struggling. It was harder than I could have imagined.

So we finally made it through the gate, and headed down the path, and for a while, we were at a nice easy pace, and I thought "Ok, this Marco guy knows what he's talking about.... this is gonna be ok!". We saw this huge, crazy beautiful rock formation in the distance, rode right up to it. It turns out there was a guy there, and you were allowed to rock-climb it! I was totally down for the idea, and so Taylor and I each took a turn scaling this amazing spire in the middle of this park. It wasn't too hard at all, and really rewarding. (Looking back, it was the thing that will forever remain in my memory as "the thing that made the day from hell worthwhile!"

Then it was back on the bikes and towards the gorge. We saw tons of zebras and giraffes, and Marco, who is like the most chill guy on the planet let us go running off through the grass towards the animals, which was probably hugely against the park rules, but a total blast!! Then back on the bikes and closer to the gorge.

By the time we got to the gorge, I was quickly losing the will to live. When we made it there, and I was overwhelmed with happiness for the chance to be off the bike for awhile. We had a quick picnic lunch consisting of cashews, digestives, cokes, fruit bars, and a mento each for desert, then we headed off into the gorge for the hiking part of the day.

The gorges were BEAUTIFUL! We hiked through the thin pathways, at some points having to jump off rocks to the lower parts or having to walk on super thin slippery edges while trying to avoid falling into the 6m deep murky water!It was amazing! Hell's Gate National Park is home to some of the world's hottest natural hotsprings, so there were tons of little streams of water flowing down the walls of the gorge.
At one point, we all got to have an impromptu shower/head dunk in the hot water, which was so refreshing and fun. Then we did a really short hike up to the top of the gorge, stopping for Marco to decorate us all with traditional Maasai warrior paint on our faces (basically natural, thick, red clay).

At the top of the gorge, you could see for miles and miles and miles, and it was one of the prettiest places I've ever seen. However, my joy was short lived, as it was then back to the bikes. The worst part of the riding was that it was the bumpiest gravel road ever! The physical pain of riding on a too-small bike down a gravel road was even worse than the aching legs and out-of-breathness. I acutally came home with bruised palms and inner thighs from all of the bumps. I made it all the way back to camp, but barely. I feel like I should be proud of myself for presevering and making it though the whole day, and maybe some day I will, but at this point, I really hate the thought of even looking at another bike as long as I live!

When we got back to camp, we relaxed for a bit, then had a nice dinner and then a campfire before bed. It felt like bieng at summer at home, hanging out with friends sharing stories around the fire! We all slept like babies that night! We got up Sunday morning and took the matatus back to town, and had a nice relaxing evening, then today was back to work. I was almost giddy in the van on the way to work today. It was like a Friday evening feeling, only I was so glad that the weekend in Hell was over that I was ecstatic to be coming back to the office to rest my poor weary body!

The whole biking trip was a total of about 30 kilometers, which is about the distance between Chilliwack and Abbotsford. Eww. While I enjoyed the rock climbing/gorge/camp out aspects of the weekend, the cycling was honestly something I'd never want to experience again. However, Hans and Graham agree that it was one of the best parts of their summer, so I really am glad I got the chance to share it with them!

-Delaney xo