69 Trip to Lake Baringo, Kenya
Friday 10 October 2008 Holiday Moi Day Trip to Lake Baringo
I arrived by matatu (group taxi) in Eldoret at 9 AM, Gilbert’s phone was not working, either out of charge or the prepaid credit had expired.
At the Barclays Bank ATM, I withdrew 11,000 shilling. I then went on to the Internet café at the Kivis Hotel. Gilbert called me around 10:30. I got some critical emails completed by the time he called to find out where I was. In about 25 minutes he called again to let me know he was out front in his car.
Gilbert’s right rear tire was low, so we drove over to a tire place to repair the bent rim damaged from repeated trips on the Moi University Road.
I left Gilbert there and followed local Sikh procession that was taking place. About 70 Sikhs were walking on carpets that they placed on the street. As they passed completely over a carpet it was removed and taken to the head of the procession and again place on the ground. This was quite slow and accompanied with lots of Indian music. A huge crowd of Kenyan onlookers watched from the street.
There was a huge flatbed truck with a flatbed trailer parked in font of the temple. These were covered with brightly colored tarpaulins and were decorated with many banners and streamers. A portable stairs had been attached to the back of the trailer and the Sikhs climbed up; the elder men moved forward on the back of the truck while most of the women sat on benches in the trailer. Some women and children were turned away because all the seats were taken and the left the area.
Chanting began and continued for 20 minutes of so when the truck was started and began driving slowly around Eldoret, all the time singing, and chanting continued. Eventually it returned to the temple.
I returned to where Gilbert’s tire was almost ready. In a few minutes we left to find Noel and 3 girls. The had been waiting in city park all this time. I paid 3000 shillings for fuel, and we left Lake Baringo.
We had to pass through the Kerio Valley and requested that we route through the fluorspar mining area where we had passed though when it was too dark to take photos a few weeks before. We left Eldoret on the B 54 road to Kimwarer at the head of the Valley, and we began a steep descent down 20-30 switch backs before we reached the bottom.
The Kerio Valley (Oct 10, 2008) is a branch of the Rift Valley. The adequate rain and rich volcanic soils on the terrace in the fore ground supports prolific agriculture. The Fluorspar Mining is depicted as light-colored areas on the Valley bottom where is significantly drier.
We stop frequently to enjoy the landscape. At the bottom we spend some time at Jamrock Gorge where the Kerio River zigzags along a series of fault lines and drops into a 50 meters deep narrow canyon. There are some interesting erosion features in the area. Besides us there were three tour groups visiting the area: Europeans traveling in a 4-wheel drive vehicle, school children on a bus from Eldoret an