Lake Baringo

I left with the IU (Indiana University) students for Lake Baringo in a four-wheel drive at 7am this morning. Lake Baringo, after Lake Turkana, is the most northern of the Great Rift Valley Lakes of Kenya, and it is one of the two freshwater lakes in the Rift Valley. I was travelling with a bunch of medical and pharmacy students. I began feeling queasy with the conversations that were going on behind me, as they started talking about a tissue box which had a 16 week old foetus cello-taped inside with it's name on the box, which had been sat in the ward for a week now. Last week they'd experienced a child born as a hermaphrodite, and the parents had to decide whether to bring it up as a girl or a boy. I tried to block my ears after that, as the road was getting increasingly bumpy, and I was worried I might get a bill for a car valet! At one point, I thought we might have to get out and push, as a river had flooded the road. Some boys guided through, I don't think we really needed guiding, I think it was more of an entrepreneurial exercise just so they could make a few bob at the end!
We stopped off at some beautiful viewpoints.

It transpired that we were staying on an island in the middle of the lake! How incredibly exciting. We took a boat over to the Island resort. Apparently, there are crocodiles and hippos in the lake. I think the Flamingos have migrated for the season unfortunately. We're staying in little tents overlooking the lake, it's really idyllic – and, we are pretty much the only people in the resort. After setting ourselves up, and having a feast for lunch, myself and Myna went out on a couple of log canoes. 

We were a little worried when we were handed a couple of hand paddles, and told to go. I was out first, and had some problems with the steering, but got there in the end. Myna followed, but unfortunately, her canoe was broken, and she capsized. I took mine out a little further, but a dark cloud started drifting over, and I thought I'd better paddle in before the weather turned, (or I got eaten by crocs) especially as I didn't feel so stable with the hand paddles!

We met up with the others, and went on a boat trip around the Island. Saw an Eagle, Kingfisher, and my first hippo! 
All I could see were its eyes just surfacing above the water, no crocodiles though. I'm not sure if you can make him out in the photo below:

We landed on a rock, and dismounted the boat, so we could photograph the setting sun. 

We disturbed a few scorpions who were resting under rocks, no serious damage luckily.

We had a Bar-B-Q in the evening, and then finished with the Lion King. Molly had brought her laptop and movie with her..so in Zazu's own words; Oh, my, my, my. Look at the sun. It's time to go!

The following morning, we were up to watch the sunrise, and they brought us tea and biscuits. Some of the group managed to spot a crocodile in the lake. I missed it – typical...I sat, for ages scanning the lake, but it just wasn't happening. I was mesmerised by the rising sun, and continued to sit for ages, reading.

After breakfast, myself and Myra went water-skiing. The others watched from the Platoon. Myra just took off – and only used one ski. She was amazing on the skis, was doing all sorts of tricks like holding the rope between her legs, and waving at us. I, however, was pretty hopeless, having only tried it once before, and retrospectively, it probably wasn't the best lake to learn in with crocodiles and hippos, but I was keen to try it, and after all Myra made it look so easy. It later emerged that she water skis for the university team. I fell in several times, and managed to swallow a lot of the lake – here's hoping it was a clean lake – I guess I will be due a schistosomiasis check up when I get home!

Here I am, attempting to ride the waves on my skis

Feeling a little demoralised after falling in..

 

Anyways – it was good fun, and I'm really glad I tried it.  I was sad when it was time to leave.

The rain just came on as we arrived in Eldoret, so spent the evening preparing for my training session tomorrow morning at 8am. I've discovered that texting everyone the night before increases attendance at the sessions, so I'm going to get in the habit of doing this!