Beautiful Places - Beautiful Faces! LAKE NAIVASHA

LAKE NAIVASHA

.....with Natascha!

The last station of my traveling vacation was Lake Naivasha!
Another volunteer, called Natascha, decided to join my stay there.

So we met in Naivasha and went looking for a camp to stay over for the weekend. 

Unfortunately most of the camps were booked out. By the time we found a place to spend the night it was extremely dark and we were tired... 

We had expected to cook for ourselves in the Banda. We had bought everything for cooking for three days!

Haha, nothing!

No kitchen, no fire place, no jiko (small fire-place using charcoal).

And once more I discovered kenyan hospitality!
The caretakers of the place offered us to use the kitchens of the expensive cottages.

We were delighted!

Love the people... <3

our banda :)

Even though there was no one else but us on the camping site it was still a very enjoyable there! 

And peaaaaceful...

However the reason why I/we wanted to visit Lake Naivasha was to visit Hell's Gate National Park.

It is the only national park in Kenya where you can move freely around.

Either by car, bike or foot. 

There are (of course) no lions, but so many other things to see!

I really recommend Hell's Gate to all the adventurous friends of nature!

Why? Just look at this view! 

The way mother nature shaped and "designed" the whole environment is breath-taking.

 It looks like a paradise to people, who love to do rock-climbing.

It was too much fun to get off the bike, whenever you felt like.

Take your time and better take a guide.

Natascha and me made the two mistakes of going entering the national park a bit late and refusing to take a guide.

Of course - we got lost. Soooo lost.

Even we followed all the signs, which were supposed to take us to the stalactite-cave and the nature-spa.

Instead of reaching there we biked through the middle of nowhere!

We wasted a lot of our very precious time and energy.

Buuuut it was still an unforgetable experience.

btw I love zebras ;P

and nyani's (monkeys) :D

I will go back to Hell's Gate National Park next time I'm in Kenya.

By then I should have some kind of kenyan identity so I won't be charged as a f***ing tourist.

Because that's not what I am :(

 Oh and next time I'll be in Naivasha I want to visit the flowerfarms, which doesn't seem as easy as it looks...
One of kenyas most exported goods are flowers! Most of them are grown around Lake Naivasha.

Did you know that each rosebush needs ~5 litres water daily? Isn't that way too much? Not even us guys drink that much?!
This blooming business is the reason why some people, especially farmers, only have restricted access to water...water they really need...

And then? Did you know that the flowers, which get harvested in the morning in Naivasha, Kenya are already on the international auctions in Europe in the afternoon?

Of course it's a good income and economical plus for this country..
But seriously? Personally I boycott this roses for 1,99€ from that far. 
It's a waste of ressources and the environment. It even hurts if you start thinking about it!

If you ever plan to make me happy with flowers, don't buy the ones from the other side of the world.
You better pluck your own flowerbundle.
This are things, which will definitely put a smile on my face! 

This was the end of my short & flattering holiday...

All the places have been seen.

All the stories are told.

All the impressions made.

But there'll always be a next time!