Written by:
Ammar Adenwala, Tiffany Law, Hannah Siden, Lesley Williamson
By Wednesday, it was time for us to travel to our next location, Lake Naivasha! We stayed on a campground, but this place also boasted many resort style hotels. Lake Naivasha is Kenya’s largest freshwater lake in the Rift Valley and produces 70% of the flowers that are shipped to Europe, mainly the Netherlands, Germany, and France. The flower farm industry is very profitable for Kenya and this means that the city of Naivasha is quite cosmopolitan but the industry also brings some environmental and social problems to the area. There are many hippos around the lake so be careful because hippos actually kill more people every year in Africa than any other animal. Lake Naivasha was definitely the complete opposite of Nguruman. It has green grass and wasn’t humid but the temperature was much, much cooler than Nguruman. It has cellular signal and a bar! It’s actually pretty chilly in the evening too.
On Thursday, the natural history students were treated to a very exciting game walk in Hell’s Gate National Park (which happens to be the park that was the influence for scenery in Disney’s The Lion King). It was especially cool because since there are no large predators, you are allowed to walk through the park. We saw zebras, antelopes, giraffes, vultures, and lots of warthogs! We then went for a hike through the gorge at the end of the park. It is quite tight so it is prone to flash floods and the waters have eroded the rock so you can see the stratified layers of sedimentary deposits. Hell’s Gate is also home to a large geothermal plant that provides 15% of Kenya’s electricity. This underground heat also creates hot springs in the gorge, some of which were almost boiling!
On Friday, we had a visit to the Kinangop Community Center where we learned about conservation efforts in the area as well as the ways in which the community center offers support for local youths. The ethnobotany class had the opportunity to visit a local farmer, Harun and his lovely wife (as well as their local community pastor, Frederick, who greeted us with his guitar and songs). We learned about their daily diets and had a tour of the farm. One of the highlights was definitely being able to help milk the cows and having the chance to sample some local African Chai tea. The farmer and his wife were entirely welcoming and it was such a heartwarming experience for everyone involved.
On Saturday, the whole group hiked up Mount Longonot, a dormant volcano just a short drive from Lake Naivasha. After about an hour of strenuous climbing up steep and rough terrain, we reached the summit. At the top you are on a rim around a large crater and you have an amazing view of the surrounding countryside. The separation of tectonic plates has resulted in the formation of the Great Rift Valley, and this separation led to magma surfacing from within the Earth and forming volcanoes like Mount Longonot.
Now we are off to Maji Moto and the Maasai Mara!
Canadian Field Studies in Africa - 2015 Edition 
wish I was there!
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