14/11: Mt. Longonot

Today it is my grandmother’s birthday and I wanted to do something to celebrate it. I had two things I wanted to do: go to Mt. Longonot or eat pancakes. The last one seems the easiest choice, but I was quite sure that only eating my grandmother’s own pancakes would feel like a celebration. So I was left with one option: Mt. Longonot. I have wanted to climb up there ever since came here, but I was a little scared of getting there and back and doing it all by myself. I haven’t done anything by myself other than wandering the streets of Arusha and Nakuru and taking the bus from Moshi. So you can say that it was time I did something for me. Though I wouldn’t mind doing it with someone. But it is Thursday and I am the only one with the day off. After a little stalling in my room, I went. It was surprisingly easy to find and get into a car going to Naivasha which was my first stop. In Naivasha I knew there was a matatu going most of the way to Mt. Longonot, but I decided to take a piki-piki so that I could get all the way. I was also a bit late because of my stalling earlier so I didn’t want to waste time finding the matatu and then wait until it was full. I had read that the entire hike would take 5-6 hours, but I started at 11.30 am and was down again 3.30 pm. So it took me just 4 hours. But what amazing hours that was. I had hired a guide: Peter, to show me the way even though I knew that you can do it by yourself, but I wanted someone to keep me company and if something happened, someone to know about it. It took us an hour to get to the crater rim. Mt. Longonot is a dormant volcano and the view was simply spectacular. We then went all around the crater rim, some seven kilometers, and it didn’t get any less spectacular after another hour we were at the summit. Then we went the rest of the way and down again. I think it is rather cool to have circumnavigated a volcano’s crater rim and I can tell you; it wasn’t flat, but had lots of small hills. I didn’t really want to go down again straight away, but I was rather keen to reach Nakuru before nightfall, so down I went. At the gate my piki-piki driver was waiting for me, John. Then we drove to Naivasha again and once there I jumped into a matatu heading for Nakuru. Half an hour later we were still there wasting day light. But eventually we left. I was in Nakuru exactly at 6.30 pm – nightfall. I had decided I would take the matatu if I came before this time, but I ended up having to take another piki-piki – I think that is enough piki-pikis for me. I was so tired when I came back, but also really happy about what I had accomplished and I didn’t even get hurt.