Climbing to Kenya's highest point

Taking advantage of an Easter holiday for the first time in 15 odd years, and the fact i didn't have any kids to take care of, I thought it would be a good time to do some serious mountain climbing and promptly drove off early up to Mount Kenya one morning. The plan was to stay 3 nights and do 4 days hiking. The plan changed.

Once i got to the entrance of the Mountain with a guide and a porter (though the porter was only carrying food as well as his own things, which i think may have been somewhat unnecessary--i'd think the guide and I could have managed that) we started up towards the mountain. It looked a very long way away. We started at 2,500m altitude and began up a tarmac road, quickly crossing the equator (as marked by a sign) and after an hour had picnic lunch. Another hour or so hiking and we reached Old Moses camp at 3,300m. It was only 2.30pm and I was not aware that we were done for the day. Not wanting to do nothing the rest of the day, I decided we'd do the start on the next 5-6 hours walk that was supposed to be the next day's task.

Once we left Old Moses camp, we were offroad and quickly above the altitude where trees grow. Now it was just heather, small bushes, and plants. Having only come across one group whilst we'd stopped for lunch, we didn't see anyone else the rest of the day. There was a great view back towards the plains around the mountain but we began making progress towards the peak. I was hoping it wouldn't take 5-6 hours. Just before the official half-way point up the mountain there was a fairly steep part which was fairly tough because of the altitude.

After the half-way mark it was only a gentle uphill walk along a river, but it was a long walk. 4 hours after leaving the camp it was getting dark so we took the torches out just as we started up another fairly steep part, and at this point, after more than 7 hours of hiking up hill, my legs were beginning to feel it. In the dark, of course, it's not possible to see where the end point is --so i was desperately hoping to see a light bulb or something in the distance where we'd stop for the night. After a false alert, which was a campsite, eventually we made it, and once i sat down in the cold hut, I immediately got cramp.

The guide went out to look for the porter who was somewhere behind us and once they came back they cooked dinner. Meanwhile others in the camp were dancing to try to keep warm. The camp had some lighting from solar panels, and was a solid building, but it was cold. Below zero. Quickly everyone was putting on lots of clothes and jumping into sleeping bags on the bunk beds. Possible because of of the altitude and partly because of the cold (the camp is at 4,300m), even though I was exhausted it took me a while to get to sleep.

We were supposed to get up at 3am to hike up to the peak for sunrise, but I was not too keen on doing that during the dark, without much sleep, and without much time for my legs to recover. So I told the guy at 3am we should leave at 7am instead. A good decision... by 7am, I was feeling better and it was light. And the path was really tough, almost 90 degrees scrambling up a cliff face for more than 2 hours at high altitude which meant going very slowly and having to stop frequently. It was hard work, it was slippery, and the peak still seemed a long way away!

After an hour we had caught up with a group that had set off at 4am trying to get the sunrise but with a large group had not made much progress. At this point there was only rock, no plants or anything can grow at this altitude. After another hour and a half we'd made it to the top of the Lenana peak, around 5,000m up. There's another peak slightly higher but it requires mountaineering equipment to scale that.

Of course the views were incredible and the feeling of accomplishment fantastic. It had taken about 10-11 hours over the previous day and that morning to get there. At the top there was even a phone signal (there was not in the valleys where much of the walking up took place). Then the long long trek down the hill, and it was really far away. The initial hour or two was very steep and fairly tricky; then there was another 6 hours or gentle descent through beautiful terrain that reminded me sometimes of the original Jurassic Park movie, with some strange plants, some large valleys and small ponds.

After a while I started to feel like I was getting blisters but eventually, after some very windy paths which were very indirectly going to the end, we made it to the next camp. It had taken about 7 hours to get all the way down and we'd been walking fairly quickly and done a fair distance. I think something like 40,000 steps each day. This camp was down at 3,000m and was not too cold. We'd arrived a day early, and since I had some things to do back in Nairobi, then got picked up from the camp the next day (the camp is on a small track) to drive back. This last camp is actually still 30km from the main road, but few people walk that, though it was downhill and fairly pretty.

I had needed the night's sleep before the 4 hour drive back to Nairobi that morning. And I needed a nice milkshake with some sugar once I was back in Nairobi. It was the highest mountain i had climbed, and probably the most walking i had done in a day, but it was enjoyable and worthwhile. The photos are great, and the memories will last a long time! Some photos are here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/adamsphotos/albums/72157680787302861

Kenya's beaches

With my dad visiting it was time to take the family to the beach for a few days last month. Kenya's East Coast has some stunning beaches, and lots of them,most of the Coast in fact, whether it is Diani, South of Mombasa, North of Mombasa, near Kilifi, Malindi or further up on the islands in Lamu. On the coast its a hot and steamy 35 most of the year, though cooler with the sea breeze or when the rains come.

It's a big tourism draw for foreigners and Kenyans, with hundreds of resorts, some of which are very fancy, strung out along the coast. Those on the beach are often very large parcels of land with many nice huts or villas and multiple pools as well as bars. Those set back from the beach are often much cheaper, often smaller with just a few huts surrounding a pool. Staying there saves money and one can still go use the public beach, or even the private beaches at other resorts if using those resorts' bars or restaurants.

Kite surfing seems to be the in-thing nowadays, though its also possible to go jet skiing (which i did, and very much enjoyed, as did Hannah who spent a while on the jet ski too), camel riding and taking glass-bottomed boats as well as snorkeling. To be honest, there was nothing too dramatic to see where we stayed but I believe other parts of the coast, which have protected marine parks, have more to see. The beaches themselves are almost perfect white sand beaches that stretch for miles. Indeed they are make great places to go running, at low tide anyway.

The kids had lots of fun playing in the sand, swimming in the sea, and also playing in the pool, even though the water is so warm (both the pool and the sea) it is barely even refreshing. We ended up paying a small fortune for some sand toys at one of the few shops around (The Diani area does have a few small shopping malls but they are very touristy and unfortunately quite expensive) but it kept the kids very happy.

Last week, I was back at the beach for work, speaking at and participating in a conference. It's quite common to have conferences at these kinds of places. People like to get away from Nairobi, and once they are there, they are often stuck there and can't sneak out part way through. It also means people stay for the dinners and evenings which are both fun and useful for conversations. A change of scenery does seem to help and of course people are much more laid back on the coast; almost no-one wore a suit, and everyone was fairly open to talking to different people whilst of course being able to enjoy a drink since no driving home was involved.

I attended the same event last year, but just flew in and out for 2 days. This time it was much more enjoyable and more useful, since I already knew several people and got to know many more people, especially in the government who I'll be talking with frequently. As with last year, the attendance was very good, the topics were decent, the location excellent, and the general atmosphere very positive and conductive to sharing ideas to drive technology forward in Kenya. I'm looking forward to next year!