This is why you need to go to Mount Kenya – Part 2

The vegetative regions as you go in altitude are such that after the human occupied zones you enter the rainforest and then the bamboo forest before entering the moorlands, after which you finally come across bare rocks and smiling ladies. . In the bamboo area there is a distinctive very steep three kilometer hill that cars can only drive in the lowest gear and with light throttle as opening the throttle to full will only strain the engine but the car will not move any further Quick. On my first trip, some people got out of the car to stretch a bit and were able to catch up with it later and even walk alongside it. Yeah, that’s how slow some cars move there.

After the bamboo, you arrive at the lodge, which is right at the point where the wasteland begins, and you can buy drinks and snacks here. There are two spots to see the animals, which are basically natural clearings in a valley below the lodge, and the keepers sometimes pour salt into these clearings so the animals can come and lick it off, and what a scene to watch all kinds of animals together . in a clearing about 200 meters below you! Right now you are at an altitude of 2,950 meters and, due to air pressure, a distance of one hundred meters feels like three hundred.

Lake Elise is 7 kilometers from the hostel, behind a certain hill called ‘the table’ because of its plateau-like top. This is not to be confused with Lake Alice as the latter is larger and a long way from the lodge. The water in these lakes is very cold and your feet will start to hurt if you submerge them for more than five minutes. If you drink it, the capillaries in the mucous membrane lining your mouth burst immediately and you start bleeding, although it’s absolutely painless and you won’t know it unless someone points it out to you or wipes it off with the back of your hand. and notice blood. The water is so clean and calm that from afar it looks like flat blue glass that has been made by a master glassmaker to fit perfectly into the surrounding embankment. From time to time you will find jackrabbits emerging from their burrows to look at your cameras and then run off with the nonchalant attitude of a high school dropout. But the best part is that when you get tired you can always sit on the wide, cushion-shaped grass that grows from a central point and spreads out like a pineapple crown, forming an indentation in the middle like an old pillow. However, the edges of the mature blades on the outer layers may be a little jagged, but this will not be a problem as all parts of their body will definitely be covered with one or several layers of clothing depending on the current climate (weather fluctuates in seconds without warning (it could be sunny one minute and freezing cold the next) and if you push down with some force, you’ll enjoy the overall benefit of a natural creak-free seat with the combined effect of a spring and a rocking chair. We did this all the time, jumping and landing on the grass in any position we wanted, until we could see the big mountain from afar and knew it was time to conserve our energy for the final, hardest part.