Supermarket in Nanyuki and Mount Kenya Camp in Naro Moru
Our campsite in the Samburu National Park was situated at a very scenic location right underneath big trees and close to a river. Unfortunately it wasn’t possible to swim in the river since it is home to hundreds of crocodiles. I know many people who don’t like camping at all and would die when they have to sleep in a tent but when you are at a beautiful spot like this one I very much like sleeping in a tent and cooking on fresh air. The nights here close to the equator are nice and warm. There is lush vegetation and when you lie in your tent you hear all kinds of animal noises, especially here in the middle of a national park.
This morning we needed to get up early at 6am and start driving at 7am since our entrance ticket for the Samburu National Park is only valid for 24 hours and we have to be out of the gate by 9am. When driving towards the gate we also used the time to spot animals but we didn’t see anything different than on the game drive the day before.
After driving for 3.5 hours we arrived in Nanyuki were we saw our first proper supermarket. The choice of items was quite overwhelming but the prices of some items were even more expensive than back home. I wasn’t up for cooking and didn’t have a desperate need for something and so I just bought some cookies and went with Michelle to an internet café close by. Here we were also overwhelmed by the good quality of available computers and the speed of the network. We spent two hours following up on emails and making travel arrangements. Tom, whose laptop broke a few days ago, was also in the internet café seeking for help to extract the data of his hard drive but didn’t manage to do so during the two hours.
We left Nanyuki at 1pm and drove about 20 minutes to Naro Moru our home for the next two nights. On the way we were also crossing the equator but we didn’t stop for a picture. Our driver Daniel is from Equator and so the equator has probably no special meaning for him.
In Naro Moru we camped at the grounds of the “Mountain Rock Hotel” and a few people took the opportunity to upgrade from the tent to a room at the cost of 20 USD per person and night. I didn’t upgrade since I like staying in a tent especially if the surrounding area is nice, the nights are warm and facilities (toilet and shower) are available. After we have put up our tents the manager of the hotel came to see us and talk about the optional activities available. Basically there were several hikes of different lengths, horse-riding and rowing on the tiny lake of the hotel. Most people signed-up for either hiking or horse-riding the next day which will all be in the area of Mount Kenya.
Tonight’s dinner was prepared by Chris and his cooking group. They prepared mashed potatoes with onions and a chicken stew. They had also purchased some ice-cream in the supermarket which was served as desert. Chris always puts high standards to his cooking and since the meal didn’t fully turned out as he expected he was very much disappointed and in a bad mood for the rest of the evening.
After dinner I was chilling out at the campfire which was nice and warm. There was even hotel staff available which kept the fire going for us all night.
