Trip to Elementaita

 

Watching the sunset at lake Elemenaita has to be something everyone does at least once in his or her life. Maybe it’s down to the clear blue sky that’s not clustered with Nairobi grime but the Elementaita sun is always a deep shade of orange breaking through the sky when it sets. Even though driving far out of Nairobi can be quite annoying, the experience of chilling by the lake, listening to the birds sing in the evening was something one cannot regret.

For some reason Nairobians have been travelling less and less outside the capital in recent years. Elementaita, stemming from the Maasai word muteita meaning ‘dust place,’ is honestly one of the most scenic places in the world let alone Kenya. Home to over 350 species of birds, bird watchers from around the world travel to this gem so it’s a shame that a lot of Kenyans have never been.

A group of friends and I set out to visit it just last weekend. Passing by viewpoint at around 11.00, we had to be typical tourists and stop. Maybe we even looked like typical tourists because all the shopkeepers were out in force with the usual: “sistah sistah. Come see our jewellery!”. As much as their jewellery and sculptures are beautiful, their prices are made for real tourists and we just couldn’t hustle for them.

Now is an amazing time to visit this Kenyan treasure. Just two years ago, you’d have been disappointed with the view, the lake having been exceptionally dried up and the animals barely there. Now, however, the lake is unprecedentedly full with a record length of about 21 square kilometres. Lake Elementaita is once again the focal point of Elementaita so drinking a cup of coffee while overlooking the lake later in the evening is tranquil and calming and makes one not one to leave.

Elementaita is home to a large stone pillar made with volcanic rocks built by Lorde Cole’s (Lord Delamare’s brother) wife. The view around the pillar is breath taking. We of course had to stop and have a few pictures taken looking out onto the lake.

Like I said above, watching the Elementaita sunset has to be something everyone does. However, if you’re not bothered by early mornings, the sunrise is pretty jaw dropping too. We fought our weekend laziness and woke up at 6am on Sunday morning to watch the sunrise from a special place behind the lodge. Walking through the bushes that early in the morning was hell but when we got to the edge and seeing the sunrise between the mountains proved a real gem.

For those of you who haven’t been to Elementaita yet you really should. Travelling within Kenya should be something all Nairobians want to do. What’s the point of living in Kenya if you don’t try to see all of it?

 

By Cherie Kihato