Hiking Slot Canyons at Hell's Gate - Traveling With Kids in Kenya

At the end of Hell's Gate park is a slot canyon that you can hike.  They ask you to hire a guide (they are provided by the park) or to sign a paper saying you realize that the canyon is dangerous and you take the risk on yourself.  We chose to hire the guide for 1500 shillings.  In 2012 a group of kids died in this canyon when a flash flood happened, they say their had been no rain in the area at the time that anyone was aware of.  We wanted to hedge our bets to safety, especially since everyone had already told us we were crazy for taking the kids with us in the first place.  There were so many things we did on this trip where people said we were nuts.  Ok let's be honest just going on this trip lots of people told us we were crazy.  But even once we were there people were always underestimating what they thought the kids would be able to handle.  I hope us proving them wrong encouraged more parents to try and take their kids places.  This particular hike Dr. J carried Cheetah much of the time on his back.  She would have loved to be allowed to run free but there were drops and water and we just wanted to keep her safe.  She loved it.  All the kids loved it.  Throughout the hike there were three hot springs.  This area has a huge inactive volcano.  They've actually built a huge geothermal plant to take advantage of the heat rising out of the ground.  In the slot canyon there are three places where the water comes out of the canyon wall hot.  It was a little shock to put your hand in the cold water of the canyon stream and then into the hot water of the spring coming off the canyon wall.  Our kids thought that was awesome.  We had a great time on the hike and it helped that we had 6 adults to our 4 kids.  Everyone chipped in and they got me through the canyon.  To be honest I'm worse than the kids.  And yeah they got the kids through as well.  At the very end of the canyon their was a huge dirt incline that we had to climb up.  Parts of it had a rope that you could use to help drag yourself up.  Parts of it you just hand to find good footing and slide a little bit.  At parts I had to run.  Dr. J says if you go fast you're less likely to slide.  At parts I actually had to yell at my feet to move, but move they did and in the end we all made it out.  At the top there was a little Masai market and the kids had fun picking out trinkets.  It was a great trip.  If you are ever in Kenya I would highly recommend it.  

Real men are not afraid to carry babies on their backs...they also carry more than their fare share of the load.

Peach loves the water.  Every place we go she is always looking for some and a stick to poke it with.  She's looking for fish.

Our friend Kristin.  She's in the program with Dr. J and she's the one who organized the whole trip.  I loved having her in Kenya with us.  It was great getting to know her.  We dropped her off after this trip and the next day Corrine and Jill left.  It was a rough week for me and I definitely cried.

My girls loved all these ladies as well.  I love having strong friends and surrounding my kids with such great role models.  

You know just a gorgeous slot canyon...sorry about the butt picture Kristin.  

These volcanic rocks are amazing.  These ones are so light that even Cheetah could pick up the big ones.  She also figured out you could throw them into water and they would float.  What kid wouldn't love that.  The walls in the canyon are covered in graffiti which is super sad but the guide we were with told us that every year when the heavy rains come the canyon fills and the walls are completely washed clean again.  

Renting Bike Misinformation

When we headed off to Hell's Gate the first time we knew that we wanted to rent bikes to ride in the park and we told our driver this.  As we first turned toward on the road toward the park we saw a sign that said, "Rent bikes here," a bunch of bikes, and a whole gaggle of men waving to us.  We pulled over and they got everyone out and started fitting us for bikes.  They were a fairly nice group and they encouraged me to let Cheetah go so that she could chase chickens that were running free all over the property.  They also had some smaller bikes so we were able to fit Gigi and Captain E.  The price agree upon was 750 shillings per bike and everyone jumped on their bikes and road down to the park entrance.  It was only after we got there that we found out that there was another 250 shilling fee to bring the bikes into the park and that if we'd rented bikes from the park we'd only have to pay $650 total shillings per bike.  This started a rather heated debate between my husband and Simon the guy who had rented us the bikes and was at the gate with us.  Simon said there was nothing he could do because he was not the owner of the bike.  Dr. J, Kristin, and Corine would have none of it.  They made Simon call the "owner" of the bikes who said he'd be down shortly to discuss the disagreement.  When a half hour had passed and he will still a no show Dr. J, Kristin, and Simon jumped into the van and headed back to where the bikes were originally rented.  About ten minutes later they returned with the owner who finally agreed to pay the park entrance fee.  It was at this moment that Simon started to tell us the itinerary for the day.  "Wait," we said to each other, "is he planning on going with us?"  This is when we found out that Simon intended to be our guide and was expecting us to pay him 2000 shillings.  Dr. J said, "Well Simon, you are welcome to come with us but we aren't planning on paying you."  Simon decided he had other things to do.  This was pretty much a good example of every time we went to market.  Kenya is a country with lots of tourist.  Even with all the bombings and tourism at all time lows there are still plenty of tourist willing to pay exorbitant amounts for things.  Kenya is not a country that people visit on a budgets...at least not budgets I'd consider budgets.  Most of the parks are pretty costly to get into, the lodges and hotels are some of the most expensive I've seen anywhere, and if you add up the tours, guides, drives, food, and knick knacks you can soon find yourself hemorrhaging money.  When you are living on a residents salary that is not awesome.  When tried to be thrifty and we tried to make the best deals possible but some of the salesmen were not to pleased with this.  It was actually one of the reasons we stopped going to markets.  We realize that salesmen are just trying to make a good sale but sometimes we knew they were lying to us, sometimes they could be pushy, sometimes they could be aggressive.  Always they seemed to think we had unlimited amounts of money.  I can assure you this is not true.  I guess in the grad scheme of things were were better off than a lot of the salesmen but that does't mean that we didn't to be careful.  So in this case we bid Simon goodbye.  We later had to pay for a guide to take us through the wash but that was to the park and it was for safety.  We're glad we didn't have to pay double and we just wanted to let people know that if you plan to ride bikes through Hell's Gate that renting the bikes from the park itself is the best deal.  

Gigi checking out a bike just here size.  I'm so glad that at the beginning of this summer she just ripped her training wheels off and went for it.  Last summer she was so nervous about being on her bike I thought it was going to be a huge ordeal.  This summer she'd grown so much she just felt comfortable and few fast spins down the street and she knew she could do it.  When I didn't get the trainers off fast enough she and Captain E pried them off themselves.  I'm super proud of her that she taught herself to ride her own bike.  I love when the kids take their own learning into their own hands this way!

Cheetah desperately wanted to ride bikes as well but her legs weren't even close...let's be honest, it is probably going to be a long time before they are!

I shot this pictures of this pretty little bird while Cheetah and I were waiting for Dr. J to finish trying to deal with the bike rental misinformation.  It was such a pretty little thing, I just had to snap a picture.

Camp Carnelleys - Traveling With Kids in Kenya

Safari is not for the slim in pocket book.  Seriously guys, it is so expensive, but for your cash people often stay in beautiful lodges or camp in some pretty sweet digs.  That being said when you're spending two months in country and your living on a residents salary sometimes you just need something a little cheaper. When we planned our first trip down to Nakuru/Navasha Kristin asked the guy who owns the taxi company where we could stay that would not break the bank.  He told her about this place called Camp Carnelleys.  They have bandas, places to camp, dorm rooms, and twin rooms.  The first time we went with Kristin we rented a full dorm room.  The door room had 8 twins beds, access to showers and toilets that were just down the path and it cost us only 6000 shillings or 71 US dollars.  We split that between the four adults, so it only cost us (me and Dr. J) 35.50 for the night.  The best parts about Camp Carnelley's are the lake, I mean it is right on the lake, just a beautiful spot to be and the restaurant.  We got there pretty late at night and we were lucky they had a place for us to eat.  The first night we got pizzas, they have a pizza oven there.  The beds were so/so and the bathrooms were a little rustic but the price was so great and the view so spectacular that when we went back down to lake Navisha we again stayed, only this time they were pretty booked so we ended up with their last two twin rooms.  They cost us 2500 a night...so not so cheap as when we went with Kristin, but still a great deal for the night.  The second time we were at Camp Carnelleys we spent some time out on the dock, you can take boat trips on Lake Navisha for 3,000 shillings.  This lake has hippos in it and we saw one actually get out of the water and stroll up to eat near the boats.  It was crazy how close it was and how huge it was.  Luckily the camp is fenced off from the lake with an electric fence that is put on at night and the path down to the lake is closed down.  I say luckily because late into the night we could hear the roar of hippos.  Hippos are seriously adorable but they scare me.  Hippos kill almost 3000 people a year.  They are extremely territorial and extremely fast.  I was grateful to know there was an electric fence standing between them and me.  That second night we got fish and chips, baked chicken, and nachos.  All of them were delicious!  If you by chance are ever hanging out at Lake Navisha I would definitley recommend Camp Carnelley.  Really for the price it couldn't be beat.  

The resteraunt.  It is this big halfway open lodge with a roaring fire in the middle, a bar to one side, pool tables and darts to another and big comfy chairs and sofas everywhere.  It is pretty dark but the food is nice and you get to see an interesting mix of American and Europeans on Safari.  The first time we were there was during the world cup and people were crammed around tables watching the action on large mounted big screen tvs.

This was half the dorm...four beds, there were four beds in the attached second room.  The beds were small and not amazing but if you thought of it as camping it was pretty darn nice.

The outside of the dorm room.  

We'd brought snacks along with us to eat for breakfast.  These little cupcakes were supposedly chocolate.  Something I learned about Kenya's, if it has just a touch of chocolate in it, they'll call it coco.

This is the view of the lake.  Seriously if you want to be in touch with nature...this is a great place.

The bathrooms are a little rough...and by rough I mean surrounded by corrugated tin and outside, but that water tank is heated in the morning and at night so you can have hot showers, the toilets are not squatters, and everything is clean.  The banda's apparently have bathrooms in them but we didn't mind these bathrooms.  They worked out great.

Biking Safari - Hells Gate - Traveling With Kids in Kenya

Hells Gate

5 Hours from Eldoret

30 US dollars for non-resident adults, 15 US dollars for non-resident kids.  700 shillings for residents.  350 shillings for resident children.  (At this park they gave us the resident rate for Dr. J and the kids since he had his school papers.  By law they don't have to but they were nice and did.)

It cost 250 shillings to bring outside bikes in.  You can rent bikes at the park for 650 shillings for the day, you can rent horses (I'm not sure of the cost), you can drive the park, or you can hike it.

After our night at Camp Carnelly's we headed over to Hells Gate park.  It's only an hour or so from Nakuru and very close to Lake Navisha.  This was one of my favorite parts of the whole trip.  There are no lions in Hells Gate and  leopard hasn't been spotted in years so guest are allowed to hike, bike, ride, or drive through the park.  We had a little fiasco while renting bikes but after we got that sorted we had a great time in the park.  Captain E, Gigi, and Dr. J all rented bikes, as well as Kristin and Corine.  I was on car duty with Koash, Cheetah and Peach.  We road through the park with Koash narrating.  Every once and a while we'd hop out and take some pictures by the animals that were RIGHT THERE BY THE SIDE OF THE ROAD.  At one point Koash let Cheetah drive.  Then about half way through the park Gigi got tired (she had the smallest wheels of the group and no gears) and Cheetah got bored.  Koash threw Gigi's bike into the van and she joined our happy little group.  Dr. J tied Cheetah onto his back and we were off again.  This is such a great way to Safari.  Due to the lack of predators the park is just teaming with pray life.  The bikes get you closer to the action and they let you blow off energy that sitting in the car for hours just doesn't allow.  It is such a great park!

Our adventurous explorers.  Daddy is doing some quick adjustments before they get started. 

Peach hanging out with me in the van.  This girl is such a pleasure.  I wish everyone could have a Peach in their lives.  

This it the area that the lion king was modeled after.  Seriously it was some beautiful desert.

Mount Longonot in the background.  It is a huge volcano.  The whole area if covered in cool rocks left from prior explosions.  We found these huge rocks that weighed nothing and floated on the water.  We also found tons of obsidian.  The volcano is now extinct and you can hike on it, that is if you can manage to get up to the mountain.  We got stuck in some serious sand and never made it all the way to the gate.  It was an adventure though.  The volcano is thought to have last erupted in the 1800s.  

This little beauty is called Fischer's Tower.  You can pay to climb the tower...we just stopped for a picture.

Cheetah taking us for a spin!

There were so many babies in the park.  It is good to be a baby when there are not predators to take advantage.

Oh you know just standing in front of a herd of zebras.  

This was the point where Gigi got tired and Cheetah got bored.  Once she was on Dr. J's back she was in Heaven.

Wart hogs in the bush.  Their little babies are so ugly...but also adorable.  

This giraffe had a baby hanging out just a few feet away from her.  

There were just a lot of grazing animals to be seen.  Overall this was definitely one of my top five experiences from the trip.  If you ever have the opportunity to be outside and moving during a safari I say you should definitely take it.