Day 42 & 43:Paradise Crater, Marsabit Reserve, Kenya

We had a nice relaxing morning as we didn't have far to go - 10 kilometers down the road. Just as we were about to start moving, Ernest discovered that the bracket on the silencers had broken... Oh dear! We needed a quick repair job so off he went to Henry's workshop. That done and it was time to pull out, hit the road and head for the 1st crater just out of town. We received the directions from Henry... Go out of town, drive past the daisy patch (the plastic bags blown from the rubbish dump - that is the first thing that greet you as you arrive or depart from this town) at the end of the concrete strip there is a little track that goes right... Drive up the hill but stop just before you get to the top or you will fall straight into the crater.... Comforting!


The "Daisy Patch"

So we turned onto the little dirt track and drove quite a distance but I wasn't too keen on the thought of driving over the cliff so we stopped a little way before the top and walked the rest of the way, always followed by half a dozen little boys who jabber away to us in their local language whatever that may be.

Wow! I have never looked straight into a volcanic crater before, it was quite a sight. The side walls were covered in some sort of euphorbia tree and waaaaay down at the bottom there was a dried up waterhole. There were sheer cliffs around the sides with a drop of about 1000 foot. There was a little narrow path that would take you to the bottom but none of us had the energy to walk all the way down and back up again.

Then we went straight to the Marsabit Reserve where we wanted to spend the night. Only to find the entrance to the park is like trying to find your way through a maze. No wonder not a lot of people visit this park, it is just about impossible to find.

Once in, we were enveloped in a canopy of tall magnificent trees. After having been in the desert for the last few days it was paradise. The park is in and around a huge dormant volcano; there are apparently 22 of them in this area. It is very heavily forested and you have to penetrate this forest as you drive around the rim and onto the first crater called Elephant crater where they have a small lodge run by Kenyan Wildlife Services. We stopped for a cup of tea and were greeted with great enthusiasm by the staff. I am sure they haven't had guests for weeks, or maybe months. Our tea was served with cups, hot water and milk in the tea pot and separate tea bags... I guess there is a first for everything.

We pushed on as we wanted to camp at the Paradise Crater for the night and that involved quite a drive up some very steep sections on the outside of the volcano. When Ken and Steve had come to the gate yesterday to make enquiries about the park, they had asked the guy at the gate if we could camp for the night. At first he said no, because the camp had been washed away in the last heavy rains. Ken said that we were self-contained and didn't need a campsite so could we just camp at the crater. He thought about that for a moment and said that he would have to consult with management if that would be allowed. Ken then asked him who was the manager of the park to which he replied he was, so after a little more talk Ken asked when could this consultation take place as to whether we could camp or not. He looked up said “um yes it will be okay you can camp" .... The whole conference took place in his head in a matter of minutes. It took Steve and Ken all they had not to start laughing as he was very serious about the whole thing.

At last we got to the top of the crater rim and for the second time in my life I looked straight into another volcanic crater. This one was very different, it is heavily forested along the perimeter and the forest extends right up the sides, with huge trunks rooted in between these huge boulders and cliffs. Some of the trees are absolutely enormous, and we saw probably the biggest Strangler figs I have ever seen







At the bottom of the crater is the most beautiful lake which is full of water with a ring of thick grass all along the edge of the water. It was completely breathtaking. The water was a sort of blue green and we all just stopped, hopped out of our cars and did the usual...We just took tons of photos, the beauty of it was just so unexpected, I know Ernest had done some research on it so knew what to expect but the rest of us were quite taken by surprise.




Then we had to continue on dropping down on one side till we could actually drive into the crater just about to the level of the water. We sent Ken ahead to find a decent place to set up camp for the night and we followed slowly till we caught up with him and his chosen spot which was more or less level, on the grass where we had a terrific view of the whole lake with a backdrop of the forest and the cliffs with these huge boulders. The lake section we estimated to be at least 100 acres or more and there were just tons of duck. Big ones, small ones and noisy ones!

We set up camp, put our chairs out and just sat there trying to absorb this beautiful spot on planet earth. Africa is so full of hidden and forgotten treasures.


Camp at Marsabit Reserve

Kim was the first one to spot an elephant coming down to drink and then foraging around the edge of the lake; then came the buffalo and then the bushbuck. We just sat in our deck chairs with binocs and bird books and soaked up the whole scene, regretting the fact that we had not made a bit more effort and come here yesterday instead of sitting in Henry's mud bath. Oh well that is Africa, full of surprises.

We did have one spare day in hand so we decided to just stay put here for an extra day and enjoy another day of rest before going down to Samburu.

We had had such a funny conversation on the radios few days ago while on our way to Turkana. Kim had asked Ernest what tribe was in the area. Ernest had replied Samburu. Kim had said, oh how do you spell that and Ernest had replied (being in a joking mood) Sam Buru the same as Sam de Lange but without the de Lange. Silence....... Then came the “I don't get that” so Ernest repeated Sam Buru same as Sam de Lange without the de Lange..... Silence. Then Kim said “Oh I get it, the Buru is like Boer and de Lange is a Boer so it's like Sam Boere or Sam de Lange”. By this time we were in such hysterics.... That is how you analyze a simple joke and make it not funny or make it funnier. So now we are in the land of the Sam de Lange's not the Samburu. 

We were camping in pasture like grass just at the edge of the lake, on the so called road as we were told we could just camp anywhere. The only disadvantage being that there was no place to make a fire. We were quite certain there would be nobody coming our way so we had the place to ourselves for two glorious days. We were definitely back in “Out of Africa"

The next morning, despite the fact that we were not moving, we were up very early at the first cry of the Fish Eagle as the sun rose to see what was around the edges of the lake.

The same large herd of buffalo were in the water and on the grassy surroundings grazing peacefully. They were right on the other side of the water and looked like little dots to the naked eye. There were also bush buck and Grevys Zebra so we could really look at them and see the stark difference between them and the ones we get back home. They have these huge funny looking ears and very thin neat looking pinstripes and looked very executive like... Except for the big donkey like ears of course. The same bushbuck, the same very noisy Egyptian Geese and numerous other birds were also around…

We had expected to see many more birds but the forest surrounding the crater is so thick and unless you creep right into the forest you don't see any of them except for a flit of the Paradise Fly Catchers or the odd Jacky Hangman. We could certainly hear them but saw very little except the water birds and the Ravens that flew around us trying to pick up any scraps around the camp site. Those birds are fast learners.

So we went for walks around the perimeter which we estimated to be about 4 kilometers, sat and read and watched the activities around the lake. All the buffaloes, zebra and bush buck ran very quickly when they saw the guys walking which made us realize that there must still be heavy poaching in the reserve and we never saw or heard any of the other animals such as lion, leopard and hyena that are supposed to be here. I am sure they are long gone….

Please post your comments, Signing off for now!