NOSTALGIA - MADE IN NAKURU

My formative years were spent in the dusty streets of Nakuru. When a friend called asking me to attend an important function in Nakuru, all the pent up nostalgic memories of my childhood “home” came roaring back to the surface. This is my homecoming.

I mostly work in Central Kenya and I rarely get the chance to venture outside its borders. This was one rare God-sent opportunity to visit Nakuru. I was traveling down the Aberdares from Nyeri/Nyahururu and we agreed with my Nairobi crowd (Ken & Joan) to rendezvous at Gilgil. Gilgil is this small sweltering dusty town on the Nairobi-Nakuru highway, about 25km from Naivasha in the neighborhood of the Soy Sambu Ranch. The property belongs to a lineage of aristocrat ranchers have a penchant for shooting stray citizens and I was warned against straying too close to the ranch.

The ancients tell us that this tiny army town nestled by a range of flat-topped hills draws it name from the biblical Gilgal, the hill of the foreskin(Joshua 5:3). The Kalenjin swear by Asis (Isis if you are Egyptian) that their ancestors used to circumcise their own on this hill. An article that run in the papers sometime back claimed that present day Kalenjins or Sabei/Sabaot as they were known before the 1940s are the very same biblical Sabeans, a lost military clan of Egypt.

I am not much of a historian and the theory could be bull-crap but it occurred to me that I may as well be traveling through time, totally in touch with history and not even know it. I know this much though, there was some pretty robust pre-historic activity around this area; the Kariandusi and Hyrax Hill prehistoric sites are not too far from Gilgil.

Menengai Crater - Nakuru

The road to Nakuru is now smoother than silk and driving from Nairobi to Nakuru should be total bliss. There is even a dual carriage way as you enter town. When the jacarandas by the road side are grown, this is going to make for one of the most beautiful boulevards in Kenya.

Downtown Nakuru, just like in decades past and more yet to be, is a dusty, brisk and crowded affair; dust devils whipping up havoc, hawkers selling fruits off wheelbarrows right on the road, handcarts & motorcycles jostling for passage and the very loud cacophony of matutus scrambling passengers. I watch the crowds with teary eyes; these are my people, this is family, this is home.

There was this beautiful little kindergarten up on the hill next to Menengai High School. A crystal clear memory of a three-year old me on my first day of school came flooding back. You don’t get that too often and that’s how deep my attachment to Nakuru runs. I grew up and went to Mama Ngina and Uhuru primary schools thereafter but that is nothing like my first day of school.

We quickly dispensed with the modalities of the official function that brought us to Nakuru and by early afternoon, I was ready to hit town. You haven’t been to Nakuru unless you have been to Lake Nakuru. Sure; there is the very disturbingly interesting Menengai crater, but why would I go through the hassle of climbing a hill for several hours just to peer down a dark abyss? What if I fall into that thing?

Right from the drive into the Lake Nakuru Park, you can tell that someone is really serious about their work. The KWS even has a customer relations manager by the gate, a great fellow by the name of Ongwae who makes for a good public relations officer and guide. He ushers us into the park with a brief description of the attractions. Of all the parks I have been to, this one stands out head and shoulder as one that really has its heart in conservation. The park is well managed and the roads have been recently graded to provide for a smooth drive. A few years ago, we all feared for Lake Nakuru because it was heavily polluted and receding at an alarming rate. The lake is certainly much smaller than I remember but at least there is a sewage plant that controls all the heavy metal effluence from the town and there is still some lazy idyllic life at the lake.

Like the wildebeest migration in the Mara, the sight of the Lake Nakuru flamingoes is one in a million. It is such grandeur that lends credence to the theory of creation. The breath-taking beauty of the flamingoes on Lake Nakuru borders the spiritual; thousands of graceful flamingoes going about life in a timeless ritual of eating and breeding.

We have two types of flamingo at Lake Nakuru; the greater flamingoes that feed on arthropods and lesser flamingoes that eat algae. Ongwae, the KWS warden, tells us that the park has over 400 species of birds. We are hoping to see the rare and shy stripped hyena and their spotted cousins who hunt flamingo by the banks of the shore. The banks of the lake are populated with rhino, black herds of buffalo numbering in the hundreds, baboons and zebra all in a blissful Edenic coexistence.

Five kilometers from the main gate, set on a hill deep in the acacias of the Lake Nakuru Park, lies the tranquil jewel in the rough, the Sarova Lion Hill Lodge. The acacias shield the lodge from the dust storms and it is a great refuge for the thirsty and tired traveler. The manager, Robert who looks twenty two, is revolutionizing the hotel industry with his great service. He gives us a short tour of the lodge. The rooms, except for the presidential suite, are simple rustic chalets, most with a great view of the lake. They have conference facilities too but in my opinion the heart of the lodge in the dinning area. The airy restaurant has pleasant décor, great color schemes and the deck with an awesome view of the lake.

Lion Hill is famed for its great cuisine and that reputation was about to be put to the test by four very hungry Kenyans.  We hadn’t eaten anything all morning other than the handful of roast matumbo Joan brought at Kikopey. Perhaps I was just really hungry but I must say the chef knows his thing. Lion Hill serves a great variety of Oriental and Continental cuisine. The fresh food and beautiful arrangements make for a deliciously looking and awfully sumptuous meal. This is the one time I had all four courses down to the coffee.

After lunch we retire for a cool sleepy afternoon at the bar. Our friend Ken must be a fish because he promptly jumps into the pool to cool off the hot dusty Nakuru feel. For the rest of us terrestrial Kenyans, politics, football and life are easy topics of discussion, washed down by a cold beer against the grand backdrop of the beautiful Lake Nakuru.

We didn’t plan on spending a night here and even the much publicized nocturnal Nakuru nightlife would not tempt us. So with sleepy eyes and beautiful memories of my childhood home, we set off for Nairobi.