Friday, November 16, 2012

I Needed my Own Pine Bed When I Was on Holiday

By Penny Bennett


Egypt is one of the rich holiday destinations as it has a wide variety of attractions that you can enjoy. I recently visited this country for my summer holiday, as it is always my tradition to visit a new destination. As expected, my itinerary was full of fun activities, and places to visit for the entire duration. Not only did I want to experience the beautiful East coast but also the African Savanna. Moreover, I am a lover of hiking, thus this time I was determined to hike Mt. Longonot. In fact, this was the first activity on my itinerary coming just one day after arriving.

Whilst the mountains are simply about an hour's drive within the town of Nairobi, which is also the main city in Kenya, I opted to hunt accommodation in a local town, which has fairly several safari lodges which is even much nearer to the larger mountains. For starters, this mountain is in a beautiful Valley therefore, it provides a chance to encounter East Africa's wilderness, as it is about 3000 ft above the sea. As opposed to other mountains I understand, hiking on this mountain can be done in one day.

So on the big day, we set out early in the morning in the company of other visitors and domestic tourists, in order to avoid getting caught up by the effects of the hot sun later in the day. Although this hike is usually not manageable by all people, we were determined to reach the peak of this mountain. The holiday was tiring and I missed my home and needed my own bed. So we took small breaks in between the hike, especially where the terrain was somewhat demanding. The good news is that after braving the sun for about five hours, we eventually got to the rim of the crater, having covered about nine kilometers from the gate of the Mt. Longonot national park. The view of the Great Rift Valley from this point is breathtaking. This is further enhanced by the fact that you can also be able to have a view of Naivasha Town. Since the Mountain is under the custody of the Kenya Wildlife Service, we had a ranger who also looked out for wild animals as he is always armed.

We had a quick snack at this point and took lots of water to avoid dehydration, because the heat of the sun was too much. We soon embarked on descending the mountain that was much easier. It took us about two and a half hours to get at the foot of the mountain. This being within the park, the hike would not be complete without sampling what the park had to offer.

So while we were all sleepy, we liked the visit to the park whose ecosystem is typical savanna where we were able to see pumas, leopards, antelopes and the apes. To crown everything, we also had a view with the sun setting as we drove from the savanna to our respective accommodations about twenty kilometers away. Following this very long day, I desired to sleep in my own huge pine bed. Therefore, when I got to my hotel I went for a hot shower and later on tucked myself in my cozy bed since the evenings here are rather cold.




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