Kenya 2023: Mountains, plains, valleys, lakes and forests

[Wazungu Wawili]

Kakamega Forest




Tea fields delineate the forest boundaries


Birding in the forest with Smith


Zimmerman’s Glade with the Nandi Escarpment in the distance


At our friends farm


Post-safari deep clean


Sunset over the farm


The chapel at the bottom of the Kikuyu Escarpment built by the Italian Prisoners of War in WWII


The realities of modern day Kenya - grinding up the escarpment behind the lorries

[Wazungu Wawili]

Nairobi National Park




A surreal sight…








The modern city extends right up to the park boundaries

[apfac]

Thank you WW for the beautiful photos. Indeed this last batch is highly contrasty, but unfortunately that will be the fate of all the wilderness places. Homo sapiens or H. insipiens?

Really looking forward for next October!

Asante sana.

AP

[Tedx2]

Loved your photos WW, really whetting our appetite, thanks so much for a wonderful TR, love your style.

[La Leona]

Wazungu Wawili you are a gifted writer I have thoroughly enjoyed your descriptions of your trip. "Heathery blue Taita" is the poetic image that somehow stamped itself in my brain. Your - and Ortelius' - reports are to blame if we start planning a trip to Kenya in a not too distant future. Your detailed road descriptions will then also come handy for guidance on the routing. Thank you for adding the beautiful photos as well.
LL

[CalDriver]

Thank you for your reports! Kenya really has so much. We are keen to explore the eastern side of Mt. Kenya and Meru and make it out to Kakamega. And much more of course.

Do you have a preferred time of year for Kenya travels? I suppose each season has it's own benefits.

Thanks again.

[Wazungu Wawili]

Do you have a preferred time of year for Kenya travels? I suppose each season has its own benefits.

Not in the rains! And not during the “cold” season of July!

Thanks for following our travels. Yes, Kenya has it all: from the glaciers of Mt Kenya to the white beaches of the Indian Ocean.

[Anne_W]

I can only agree with La Leona, you are a gifted writer and it was a pleasure to travel you!

[Wazungu Wawili]

Here is a link to our tracks. For some strange reason, our GPS was not tracking for the first three days 23-25 January - our track Nairobi to Chyulu public campsite, Tsavo West, our days around Tsavo West, and our route from Tsavo West to Kibwezi are not on it.

However, the other tracks are there from 26 January to 10 February.

https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer...2471667634&z=7

[Wazungu Wawili]

[apfac]

(...)

Hildana Lodge to camping on the Tiva River, Tsavo East National Park
30 January

(...) This is a beautiful piece of Africa overlooking the Tiva river with large shady trees and lots of flat space. It was an enchanting spot. We think this Mukoka special campsite is now called Tiva A, but the mystery is where is Tiva B? We think it must be some 40 kms or so north-west and is accessed from nearer to Ithumba. (...) .

WW,

Thank you very much for supplying the tracks.

I have just started, during the weekend, to have a "proper" read to your excellent report and T4A mentions Tiva Cs and Makoka /Mukoka SCS, just next to each other, and probably the confusion. There is also another Makoka CS, further north and west and overlooking the Tiva ....; Who knows who is who?

Asante sana ,

AP

[CalDriver]

I don't know if this will help or confuse the issue further, but here are the locations of special campsites that are posted at the Voi Gate, from KWS:

[Wazungu Wawili]

WW,

Thank you very much for supplying the tracks.

I have just started, during the weekend, to have a "proper" read to your excellent report and T4A mentions Tiva Cs and Makoka /Mukoka SCS, just next to each other, and probably the confusion. There is also another Makoka CS, further north and west and overlooking the Tiva ....; Who knows who is who?

Asante sana ,

AP

The special campsites on the Tiva river have been renamed. We camped at the former Makoka (now renamed Tiva A) which is beside the ford over the Tiva river as in apfac’s first picture. And yes, we think the now renamed Tiva B is the one some ?30 kms north west. In fact, the one we talked about in our trip report as being accessed from nearer Ithumba.

Caldriver’s photo of the GPS coordinates is exactly what we took as well. However, we didn’t bother to change our GPS to decimal points as we knew we wanted to camp at the piece of Africa near to the ford over the Tiva river. So, in Caldriver’s photo the one we camped at is Makoka. The one named Tiva in Caldriver’s photo is the one in apfac’s photo 2 which is NW of the ford over the Tiva River.

I’m sorry to put confusion in other people’s minds.

[Wazungu Wawili]

I have to say that the KWS officer in charge at the Voi gate, who was very efficient - and had the ledger with all the special campsite bookings - wasn’t entirely sure of the whereabouts and, like us, he was confused about the name changes.

But the reality is, those special campsites in the northern sector of Tsavo East are rarely visited. The northern sector of Tsavo East has only in recent years been opened up to the public - before that the whole northern sector was set aside as a wilderness area. It is still wild and remote.

[Wazungu Wawili]

I have now converted the UTM datum given on the GPS coordinates posted at Voi gate (and in Caldriver’s photo) to Lat/Long.

Where we camped near the ford over the Tiva river is the one named TIVA in the photo and posted at the Voi gate. S2 25’ 33.076 E38 23’ 49.7606.

To add to the confusion, Google maps (what do they know about camping in Africa?) have that one marked as MAKOKA.

According to the conversions from UTM, the one named MAKOKA by the KWS at the Voi gate is at
S2 25’ 33.076 E38 23’ 49.7606 and is accessed from nearer Ithumba. It is shown on T4A as MAKOKA.

So, the KWS officer was correct and we were camping at Tiva - now renamed Tiva A.

We did not see a turn off to Kampi ya Chui which appears to be near Tiva A on the north side of the river and is shown on T4A. Perhaps this is the renamed Tiva B?

[apfac]

Thank you WW for the clarification.

I have now compiled a conversion table for the campsites given. Except for Epyia Chapeyu and Mbololo Cs, all Campsites are on T4A Traveller´s Africa ver. 220901, with the same names as per Caldriver´s / Voi´s Gate sheet.


AP.

PS. : Hope WW does not mind hijacking the thread !

[Wazungu Wawili]

Thank you, apfac, for converting the other GPS coordinates from UTM to lat/long. Excellent team work!

[DutchieGoingAfrica]

Great TR and excellent photos WW! Thanks for taking us on adventure with you!