It’s raining, its cold, you got thriller packed GOT episodes, there is coffee and a blanket, perfect place for a “Do Not Disturb” sign, indoor! You see, the weather has been playing hide and seek with Nairobians, and well, who wants to be wet! Rain exposes quiet a lot of our natural self. To the ladies it’s about the hair and makeup (nobody wants to see you shed black tears) and to the guys, we have a very low affinity to water, unless bottled (we are like vampires exposed to sunlight).
But not the Trek team, this team has a knack for fun. We have embraced outdoor as a way of life, and that once a month date comes, we consult the weatherman (we call him Tuikong) and the rainmaker (Shitote) if it calls for further weather updates, we can even consult the Chinese weather website before we step out, though weather is not such a big determinant, members understand me.
As the millennials take up challenges in WhatsApp, Facebook, tinder, badoo, snapchat and Instagram, we at the trek, the landscape is our chatground, we just don’t use emojis to show our laughter, or number of runs or joy. We push our muscles, we run, we laugh our eyes dry and we joke, a lot. We make the emoji faces a reality.
So this month, the Calendar pointed to Oloolua nature trail. Situated in Karen, few kilometers from Nairobi CBD. My geography fails me at this North, West, East thing. Anyway, Oloolua is just like any other nature trails but not crowded. The environment is well conserved and clean for traditional lovers’ picnic. The trails are well marked to some Mau Mau caves, picnic sites, and the most epic location, the waterfall. We had to pause here, take of our shoes off, and dip our feet into these cold waters. There was a water pump that sounded like some drums beating and the team couldn’t resist dancing to the tune of it. I still don’t get how this came along. Crazy minds, huh? A bit of rock climbing to the top part of the waterfall, slippery, I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone, problem is we have a bunch of daredevils in the group. After all that effort we discover there is another route that leads to the top of the waterfall and doesn’t require climbing anything. I think it comes naturally to us to make anything challenging, fun. As usual with these trails we got lost at first. We had to do another round to find the waterfall. I guess it was the smell of some nyama choma that diverted our attention. Oh, did I mention that you can camp here, well, you can. Some group of fun lovers like us had pitched their tents on some open ground and some dead goat hanging on a tree with some Maasai guy standing next to it chopping up bits by bits…You could hear the carnivores in the group swallowing saliva.
The trail is short, about 5 kms, or so it felt, then you are done. but the journey through it counts a lot, then you add a bunch of crazy Trekkers, you explode with fun. Human monkey-wannabe trying to climb on trees, crazy husbands trying to carry their wives on their back till they notice bedroom matters are different and difficult in public. Kids running around trying to play peekaboo with already tired parents. Real monkeys swinging on tree tops wondering what these hybrids are up to. Weird plant species popping up everywhere providing an extraordinary natural feeling.
After all these fun and tire, we ended our day at Jikonis Lounge. We had lunch to top up some vegetable sandwich from Rose (thank you Rose).
So, pick up a novel, or whatever your passion is and head to Oloolua, I bet you won’t regret a thing.
