It’s been a while since I went on a hike. There is no better way to do it than with the black mountain “Ol Donyo Oruok”. Located all the way in Namanga, we had to set off quite early as by 5:30am the bus set off.
It was a chilly morning and it took a while before the cold drifted away and out came the sun. This meant I was in and out of sleep. I struggled to stay awake during the almost 3 hours we took to the border. We picked fellow hikers enroute.
The hike started at about 9:30am with the usual stretch and it was great to have armed guards accompanying us.
Namanga hills covers a vast area of which is impossible to cover in a day. For this reason we set off on a 4-6 hour route. The route began with a gentle sloping road. We encountered a fallen tree that we had to crawl under. Actually this was the most decent part of the hike because after that it was purely climbing.
Judging by the moderately sized group we were, we started climbing at once. The group split into small crews. Most of us were playing catch-up to the first ranger.
The hike was moderate and nothing better to remind us than someone quitting 20 minutes into the hike. Sadly we lost one ranger as they had to be taken back to the bus.
Nonetheless, we proceeded to climb for another 2 hours through thicket and arrived at the first view point.
The 5-10 minute breaks weren’t worth it as they only waited for the caravan then proceeding. My judgment would be for moderate hikes, group should be less than 20.
We proceeded with the quest for the summit through what the local rangers termed “Karura Forest”.
Step by step we dug our feet through the rock and ground with decent periods of elevation and descent.
Three hours after we began, I saw the summit. The rest of we were playing catch up and took about 30 full minutes for the whole crew to assemble.
The descent was better in terms of number of scenery.
The first sight was the clear streams of water we came across. The ranger pointed out that the streams supply Namanga town with its water. Here we took in the scenery for longer than normal as each person was allowed to grab a snack.
Views at the stream
Namanga Town water running in the pipes
We continue down the hills and met the next sight to behold, a cave with water coming from the rocks. The caves are actually used for prayers and have always been, we met the congregation gathered close by.
The hike took longer than anticipated. After 6 hours, we reached the foot of the mountain. We traveled on a winding murram back to the bus.
It was great to be back on the trail and i mostly looked forward to the road back to Nairobi.
Namanga Hills has one of the best views and would definitely come back and hike a different part of the trail,
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