After a lunch of chicken and chips at Delamere’s near Naivasha, we drove straight to Baringo, only stopping for the mandatory photographs at the Equator. Our home for the weekend was Heron House, a cottage at Roberts Camp, looking out onto the lake. An exploratory walk down to the lakeshore revealed the presence of hippo and crocodiles – we were to see many over the course of the weekend. Strange to be walking along, be aware of something moving in the mud a few metres away, and then see a crocodile launch itself into the water. The owners of Roberts have been feeding the hippos during the drought, and presumably will continue to do so until the grass has grown back sufficiently to support these huge herbivores. We had a prime view from our cottage, seeing the 16 or so hippo come ambling out of the water as the sun started to sink in the sky. Motorboats on the lake startled them one evening, and they all went dashing back into the water – hippos really can run!
On the Saturday, when I finally woke up (lack of sleep from the 47 hours in transit, despite the 2 brief hotel stays, had caught up with me), we went out in a low-lying boat on the hippo and crocodile-infested lake, and spent the afternoon on the island of Ol Kokwa. We were able to use the swimming pool at the lodge there, which was wonderful. Views over the lake were quite amazing, and the variety of birds was wonderful. Jules and I went for a walk around the island and were soon greeted by a young man called Alex. I’m generally very wary of people approaching me as whether it’s ‘helping’ to load a car with your luggage, guarding it, assisting in changing a tyre, or acting as guide, there’s generally a request for money sooner or later – and we had none on us. However, he was not at all put off, explaining that it was important to him and the chief of the island, that visitors felt welcome, and that money wasn’t his motive at all. How refreshing! And he was a very informative guide. The Njemps people live on this barren island. Looking around, it was hard to imagine being able to live there, as it didn’t appear that anything edible would grow. On asking about the diet, we were told,… fish. And more fish! The population has nearly doubled in the last 10 years from 400 to 750 in the census taken just a few months ago.People generally retired to bed very early in the evenings, leaving me (with a body clock a bit screwed up still) on the verandah. Bugs were aplenty, and you’d occasionally hear the grunting of hippos nearby. We’d actually had to sign a waiver on arrival releasing Roberts Camp from any liability relating to injury by wild animals! And it was advised that if we wanted to go to the nearby lodge for dinner, rather than walk (as you did without thinking during the day), we should take the car. The first night, we had a campfire. It was great sitting out there under the star-studded sky, telling stories.
On our last morning, I’d been vying to stay on until lunchtime. However, the others wanted to get an early start, and it turned out to be just as well that we did.... About 30 minutes into the journey, the vehicle overheated! We then limped another 30km, going slowly, and periodically filling up the radiator with water (some of which we bought from boreholes in villages along the way). When we finally reached a petrol station, it transpired that the radiator had 3 holes in it! Thankfully, there was also a welder in the vicinity who could close up said holes, and we were able to continue on our way. The journey took us 8.5 hours in total. So, that was two journeys in the space of a week that had been twice as long as they should have been – but for very different reasons!
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