Hell's Gate

Went to Hell’s Gate National Park this last weekend. Hell’s Gate is one of the few parks where it is safe to camp out in a tent because the only dangerous predator there is the cheetah, which are shy of humans. It was great to be outside, especially hiking alongside zebras and giraffes.



You have to zoom in the pictures to see the animals.



Even though its been a while since I climbed, my feeble arms kept me climbing all day. I've never climbed so much and such hard stuff, but it felt soo good to get to the top!






Check out the view we had from our camp!

Another interesting aspect of the trip was the group I came with. I recently found out about the Moutain Club of Kenya, which is mainly a group of internationals, ex-patriots, and very few locals, which organize trips all over. The trips are cheap, so I think the main reason less locals are part of it, is that climbing rocks to the top isn't part of the general fun for most Kenyans I know. But in general the group was very interesting to talk to and was from all over: S. Africa, Japan, Sweden, France, Indonesia... Most everyone worked for international aid organizations, the UN, or as businessmen. Anyway I was driven to the Hell’s Gate by this Spanish guy, who is a development economist for the world bank. We had an interesting conversation on the way, especially when I asked him if he thought the work he did actually made a difference or if he thinks he sold out to “the man”. Most the time he thinks he sold out. For example, he told me he is working on a $16 million project right now for water and sanitation in N.E. Kenya which he said 95% of the money will go to international administrators, analysts, researchs, blah, blah, blah and only a tiny fraction will go to the actual project. Grrrr.

Aileen says that the UN staff and other big orgs pay the staffers so much because international donors want to pay these people more because they think they are suffering by working in Africa. I dont know if its true, but like I said before they make entirely too much money to know what to do with here.

Too much conversation, a little more action….





On the lighter side of things check out the baboon that raided our campsite in the early morning. Later when we were leaving, someone left the van unattended, and he came back, jumped inside, and ran off with a bag of sugar. I hope he's ok now...