From the Aberdares The Wandelgek wandered of deep in to the Rift Valley of Kenya. First to the town of Nakuru for supplies and then north through the valley to Lake Baringo. Scattered here and there on this great earth crack (actually a fault line in the earth’s crust) are, often small, lakes with a mineral-rich water that attract many birds because of the abbundance of food that thrives here. Lake Baringo is a freshwater lake, and it gets this freshwater from a river. Other lakes such as lakes Bogoria, Nakuru, Naivasha and Magadu are alkaline in composition. The many minerals get into the lakes because the earth’s crust is relatively thin and contains many minerals.

Lake Baringo is quite north in the valley and the climate is very hot during daytime. Hence The Wandelgek was up very early (precisely at sunrise) for an early bird walk… Click here for the early bird walk!

Then a quick swim in the pool near the lodge where our camp was and an afternoon boat ride on the lake looking for wildlife. There were Kingfishers, a Nile lizard, Nile crocodiles, marabou storks, pelicans and hippos, but the absolute highlight was surely a pair of prey catching osprey, which were lured with dead fish with a cork inside their belly which mde the fish float. Our guides then asked us to focus our cameras on the fish and our action on there directive: “1-2-3-CLICK”. The result was amazing!

Afterwards we drove to a village of the Kalenjin people belonging to the Pokot tribe and their village which was a basic corral like village. Eventually we ended our day at “Mammalina”, which was highly recommended by our African driver. We asked him to recommend us a restaurant where locals would eat, not tourists.

Our last night at the Baringo Lake was spent eating at Mammalina’s, a local joint, where local Kenyans’s liked to dine too.