We settled for a Baringo bogoria round trip since we had a few days to spare. This is one place we had never visited before. However, we knew that the place had abundant bird life so we carried our cameras just in case.
Lets board a matatu for Nakuru town" said my cous after realizing that there are no direct transport to the place. "Maybe we could hire a vehicle from Nakuru for the trip". Unfortunately, there were no vehicles for hire in Nakuru (I wonder how. That place must be very small!)so we settled for more matatu madness to baringo, not knowing what to expect.
The good thing about Kenya is you talk to anybody, they give you good quality information honestly! I LOVE KENYA there I've said it! The touts advised us to board a matatu to Marigat town which is the hub of the baringo bogoria area. From there we would choose where to go. After a 5 hour journey (speed governors and all) we arrived at Marigat, took some excellent Nyama choma and hoped into a matatu for the shores of L. Baringo. Now if you know baringo as an ASAL, you will be very surprised to see this.
The place is so green you could hardly believe it. "You see where you are standing, thats a river" some commuter told us, "and thats the invasive mathenge plant". "It was introduced here in the 1980s and has utterly changed this region" he went on. Apparently, the plant was introduced to stem desertification but it turned out to be an invasive species. The biggest problem with the plant is its poisonous thorns that disfigure livestock hooves and teeth.
We arrived at the lake in the evening, looked for some cheap accomodation and found Bahari Lodge. Hardly had we settled in than "Nokia" came in greeted us and started giving us stories about L. Baringo. It didn't take long to get along with the jamaa bana, he is just friendly and cool.
We had a few hours of the evening to spare and Nokia took us round the region. He seemed very well informed about the lake, its birds, communities and all.He showed us the evening village spots, took us for supper where we had fish and sembe for a very affordable price of 20 bob. Needless to say, we had a good evening. Before retiring Nokia promised us a boat the next day. We later came to learn that the guy was part of the a local Community based organization formed to benefit the youth around L. Baringo.
That is what we woke up to the next morning! Our man "Nokia" took us for breakfast, walked us on the shore kidogo, took us to our boat and since photos speak more than 1000 words here:
The lake is a very beautiful region with lots of birds and fish. Nokia Told us "We can traverse all the islands in about 5 hrs. Unfortunately, we didn't have the time. We did 1 hour near the shores before going to the reptile museum and the traditional turkana homestead. It was then that we realized that Nokia was part of a community based organization called community boats and excursions.
Now we thought that we had had the best tour but as we found out, rift valley holds surprises for delightful destinations. L. Bogoria was just a very wonderful experience. After traveling back to Marigat, we boarded a "face me" to L. Bogoria.
When we arrived there, we discovered that all the good stuff at the lake is about 15km from the gate! After exchanging ideas we settled for hiring bikes from locals. And so we went off on hired bicycles
Up until we arrived at the most wonderful sites to behold
Well, why should everything go smoothly? I mean how could we remember the trip if nothing happened? According to murphys law, whats to happen happens. Well my bicycle had a puncture and we had no repair equipment! 15 kms from the gate, no camping equipment, no help what were we to do?
Well it was this way
and that way
and this way
and that way
It was. to the gate. I tell you we were just glad to finally make it to the gate. The locals even thought we had stolen their bikes! For the troubles we went through however, they bought us soda and we had a good time.
After such an exhausting day, we slept all the way to Nairobi.