Olorgesailie Prehistoric site.

Olorgesailie Prehistoric Site

The journey to Olorgesailie prehistoric site is a dramatic one, climbing over the slopes of the Ngong Hills before descending into the Great Rift Valley and Maasailand. The site is some 60 km from the city centre and was once, about half a million years ago, a hunters' camp on the edge of a now vanished lake. The area has been well excavated (by the Leakey’s) and a knowledgeable guide is available to take you on a fascinating walk. Fossilized bones of prehistoric creatures, all much larger than their present day descendants, are displayed where they were found and the tools and weapons of the hunters lie around in astonishing numbers. There is a small museum and there are some huts which can be rented on a self-help basis. The area can be very hot.

Lake Magadi

The road which takes you to Olorgesailie continues to Lake Magadi a mesmerizing expanse of crystalline bona on the surface of a shallow multicolored lake. Hot springs bring a never ending supply of soda from below to evaporate in the torrid heat of the region leaving a crust of sodium carbonate, much of which is exported to Japan. Equally surprising is the wonderful birdie; flamingo are prolific adding their pink to the rainbow colors of the minerals and the water.

Ol Doinyo Sapuk National Park

In the opposite direction from Nairobi is Ol Doinyo Sapuk National Park, the mountain of the buffalo, which rises from the haze some 50 km from Nairobi. In Kenya terms the mountain is not high (2150 m) but it has several attractions, not least that with a sturdy car, you can reach the summit without effort! Surrounding the summit is a primal forest with some of the giant plants, notably Lobelia giberroa associated with the Afro-alpine zones of higher equatorial mountains. Bird life is diverse and there is some wildlife although the terrain and the forest make game viewing very difficult. The views from the summit are stunning. On clear days, particularly in December and January the snow peaks of Mount Kenya stand out crystal clear and on the grasslands and plains between that mountain and Ol Doinyo Sapuk hundreds of small dams, diamonds on green velvet, sparkle in the exuberant, pellucid morning air.

The park is reached by taking the Garissa road from Thika where after some 20 km a signboard points right to Fourteen Falls and to the park. Fourteen Falls was recently declared a National Park and a short stop to view the falls is well worth while. A broad cascade of white water plunges 30 m over a precipice with many lips giving rise to the name.

Ol Doinyo Sapuk remained unclimbed - at least in recorded history - until 1902 when a D. Powell-Cotton reached its summit. Not long after, the legendary Sir William Northrup MacMillan, an American millionaire from St. Louis, acquired the mountain and a great deal of ranch land at its foot and created a home where he entertained a succession of eminent visitors among them Winston Churchill and ax-President Theodore Roosevelt. When he died he bequeathed the mountain to the nation and was buried there. The road to the summit passes his grave and those of his wife and their servant Louise Decker.

An interesting half day out takes in the coffee and tea plantations a little north of Nairobi. The route passes through densely populated farmlands of the Kikuyu people where maize, beans and bananas are grown for food alongside the cash crops of coffee or tea. Still climbing towards the foothills of the Aberdares some plantation coffee is reached. Soon after, the lime green fields of tea come into view. We can organize a visit to a tea factory to see how the green leaf is processed into 'made' tea. Between the coffee and the tea plantations is a small inn, the Kentmere Club, where lunch can be taken in an outstanding setting.

Lakes Naivasha and Lake Nakuru

Both Lakes Naivasha and Nakuru can be seen in a day out from Nairobi but these are dealt with in more detail elsewhere in this manual.