Chaos in kenya
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To set the scene; after four months on a climbing trip all the way up from Cape Town lethargy had crept into our band of rough faced intrepid African climbers. The new members arriving in Kenya's corrupt and charming capital 'Nia-robber' it was hoped would put a fresh burst of enthusiasm or a good kick up the arse into the existing team.
After
escaping the muggers, pickpockets and camera wielding American’s the
truck trundled to Lukenya. This was the first stop, a crag high above the
savannah to the east of the capital clearly visible on the left of the Mombassa
road. From a stunning bush camp on top of the escarpment surrounded by some
good boulder problems the crags are a short walk or a tortuously long bush
bash depending on your sense of direction. Climbing has been going on at the
crag since the '50s and it is probably the most popular crag in Kenya. And
justifiably so as some top drawer routes exist in the VS to E2 range such
as the Intimidating Eagles Nest. Others included the two pitch three star
classics on the main wall where the holds are so good you can easily forget
you're often in the neighborhood of five to ten meters above gear, which let's
face it, is never a nice neighborhood to be in.
One of the great things about Kenya soon became apparent, even on such a 'popular’ cliff (we saw one other climber in five days). There were still many plumb lines yet to be climbed above H.V.S. with Rich Heap starting his tally with the overhanging shoulder-destroyer Happy Happy Joy Joy going on-sight at (25) E4/5. Inspired out of torpor Eric Baron produced the wildly dynamic Extra-terrestrial at the same grade but made easier for him by the fact he weighs something between a small daschund and a five year old child.
Many other great routes went up and nights of celebration after a barbecue or curry were commonplace as the expedition team got to know each other A vehicle for international relations these nights after a few Tusker beers were definitely not, as friendly banter and decidedly borderline expletives about Aussies, Kiwis, Canadians and Whinging Pommies were slung back and forth.
The
next destination was a crag called Frog two hours west of Nairobi. Named somewhat
unsurprisingly because the crag was developed by a French bloke. Frog boasts
to be the Manchester United of Kenyan sport climbing. Which is not difficult,
as there is no competition at all, not even a struggling Leyton Orient of
a crag. Set beneath the mountains on the edge of the rift valley, giraffe
and zebra wander around beneath the range of 10-30m high cliffs a bit like
Burbage North with bolts and big game.
Problems were encountered almost immediately as a rather dangerous looking army fellow jogged over to our recently erected tent village and asked us to move on. Arguments ranging from 'just chill man' to 'we're just here to do a spot of climbing old chap' were soon forgotten as he informed us we were camped at the end of the rifle range and they started shooting the next day at 7a.m. using the buttress to stop the errant bullets. We later consulted the guidebook and found it to be called Target Buttress and the penny slowly dropped.
The
following morning was unremarkably the only early morning departure on the
trip as we drove a kilometer down lo the army base and camped there to avoid
the objective climbing risk of being shot.
Climbing soon began on the 100 odd routes with easy access to the base and sometimes horrific descents through bushes designed to rip your clothes to shreds. How we laughed that lower-off bolts had not yet caught on. Some of the routes were superb on the sandstonesque buttresses with edges and side pulls aplenty on the face routes such as Kama Sutra or Paris Blues. New routing soon reared its head as Rich again began a series of projects ranging from Giraffe in Half F7a+ to Masai Burning F7c+ with Ben Tedstill and Simon Dale respectively.
Masai Burning took an imposing line up an overhanging groove involving 'exploding up the wall past two bolts then a bit of laybacking' as Richard described it. The route is currently the hardest line in Kenya and there certainly is potential for many more such first ascents. After the Army grew weary of us requisitioning their water, raiding their bar and ruining their peaceful rifle range with the scream of our overworked Hilt we moved on to a crag across the valley called Embaribal.
Formerly
one of the best cliffs in Kenya with 50-70m walls stretching 2km and the same
rock as Frog, it has recently fallen out of favor due to access problems.
Sending over our most diplomatic ambassadors we found the access problems
to be very real indeed, and when that takes the form of angry young Masai
warriors armed with huge spears it tends to be a bit more scary than nesting
bird bans. We explained the BMC tribe might get heavy handed with them over
the access issue but for some reason that didn't have them trembling In their
flip-flops.
Passing
another crag, Ndeiya 5km to the north a short cut turned into an off-road
extravaganza on the way to the Fisherman's camp on the shores of Lake Naivasha.
After washing off the dust and quenching our thirst the next day we headed
out to Hells Gate national part, 7km away from Naivasha town. It is the only
national park in Kenya where you can walk around and the approach to the routes
was covered in grazing zebra, warthog, impala and giraffe. The climbing at
Hell's Gate is on cracked lava columns similar to The Devil's Tower in the
States. The 150m vertical routes offer airy crack climbing such as the classic
Olympian or Andromeda which provide fine outings ort mostly sound natural
gear.
Rich Heap again got in on the new route act with Dr Max Dutson with Call The Coroner E4 (5b, 6b. 5b). A rest day with cream tea on Joy Adamson's lawn, or for others, exploring the lava cave systems at nearby Suswa was enjoyed before driving north to Lake Baringo and Devil's Island. Local Samburu legend has it that the island is inhabited by the ghost of Lucifer himself - screams are heard and fires found on the uninhabited rock.
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So, after stocking up supplies we went over to stay on the island for a couple of days attracted by the 30rn cliffs plunging directly to the water. Wary of the resident crocs and monitor lizards which slid into the water as our boat moored we ignored the advice of our Australian contingent who commented: 'No worries mate, you oughta see the size of the saltie's at home.' Soon however various low level traverses and deep water solos were being done or excellent rock around the crags in the fantastic location, deep in the rift valley. Fifty foot splash downs and laughter attract some locals who paddle over on balsa wood craft to watch the new devils.
After moving on from Robert's camp on the lake and a few unwelcome encounters with hippos we drove into the wild Northern frontier province, destination Ml. Poi. on the edge of the Chalibi desert. Climbed only a handful of times, notably by Pat Littlejohn.
This
dramatic mountain has 5-800m cliffs on all sides and rises sheer from the
mountainous desert two days drive from the end of the tarmac. This involved
building bridges over washed out wadis, chopping the bush and trees back to
allow for the passage of our expedition vehicle, sand laddering and digging
it out of river beds. We didn't know if we were going to be able to make it
to Poi if the terrain got much worse we had knackered tyres, a broken spring,
a leaking radiator and the bar was running low!
It
is at times like these, in extreme situations, you find out a lot about people
on an expedition. And we excelled ourselves. Unfortunately we excelled ourselves
at being fairly useless and moaning about how hot it was. Through some twist
of fate however we arrived at the base of Poi and set up camp to the surprise
of the local inhabitants, who viewed us with the same suspicion I would give
a flying saucer landing in my back garden. Then again I suppose it's not every
day a mobile bouldering wall pulls up in that neck of the woods.
Obviously livened up by the presence of the semi-naked tribal women a party of four climbed the downright fear-inspiring 19 pitch Gas Hole face route, a two day E2 with 20m run-outs, loose rock and one memorable belay with two pegs jammed behind a grass tuft. Around the area were countless 100-300m unclimbed cliffs and pretty good bouldering but we soon had to scarper when a bush fire on the summit got out of control and expedition-local relations took a turn for the worse.
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To
end the expedition a successful stroll up Mt. Kenya was planned but despite
the usual meticulous preparation of a glance at the map and a fag somehow
things went wrong. Initially we noticed the mountain was unsporting enough
to be plastered in alien white stuff that some of the Brit's vaguely remembered
as snow. To compound this a grueling two day walk in with full packs and temperatures
that Scott would have noted in his dairy as 'a bit parky' left us with the
suspicion that this was definitely not roadside cragging.
It was just not cricket and did not suit the sandals, shorts and tanned T-shirt lines developed with loving care all trip. Hypothermia and the prospect of real mountaineering beckoned on the 500m rock routes to the summit of Batian and Nelion but luckily one of the expedition team got lost on the walk-in creating a full on search and rescue excuse (or is that exercise). The climber in question was plucked out of the bamboo forests by a search plane four days later, well versed in the art of elephant and leopard dodging. We'd got no climbing done due to the search but had to see the funny side as he described his random wanderings across the mountain. A fitting finale as we drove back into Nairobi to toast a truly memorable climbing trip.
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Thanks to our sponsors H. B. climbing Equipment, Scarpa & Diamond Blue Water. They help expeditions such as ours immensely.
