Ngong Hills Hiking

Ever since we got here, we’ve been wanting to go hiking in the Ngong Hills - the trail starts only 5 minutes up the road from our gate. But we’ve been discouraged with tales of wild animals and evil men to be encountered on that trail. However, we’d learned that there is a large group of Kenyans who hike the trail starting 7 to 7:30 am on Saturday and Sunday mornings and we were invited to join them. Strength in numbers and all that. So this morning the Humphreys and I got up early and headed for the trail about 7:20 am. When we got to the trailhead, there were no cars there. We thought maybe there was a parking area further along but after hiking a ways up the trail we had seen no one.

Moses and his youngest daughter

A Maasai man called out to us from his house, telling us what we’d heard before, about the scary animals and evil men. He strongly suggested we not go without a guide. We inquired what a guide cost (about $12) and how to get one. There was a telephone number posted he said we could call, but he also offered to guide us himself. So we took him up on his offer since he was already there and whoever was on the other end of the telephone was not. Turns out his name is Moses, he makes jewelry from recycled brass, and he consulted on a book about wildflowers and other flora and fauna of the area. An interesting guy. Sherry asked if he had a herd and he said a few animals. He was rebuilding after he lost all his herd in drought about 5 years ago. He has 3 children, two girls and a boy and a wife named Phyllis. Nice guy, lovely family.

Foggy landscape

It was a beautiful morning. When we started out it was sunny, but we could see clouds low over the hills to the west and as we hiked, we could tell they were coming our way. When it came, it lent an otherworldly air to the landscape. We were in and out of the clouds/fog for the rest of the hike. It had rained hard most of the night last night, and the trail was muddy, but along the ridges, most of the rain drains off, so it was not nearly as bad as lower areas. We hiked steadily uphill stopping briefly only twice to rest until we reached the summit of the prosaically named “Hill 4” by 9:30 am.  Hill 4 is the highest of the peaks at (according to Moses) 7896 ft. I took a photo in the direction of Nairobi from the top, but it was a joke - all the photo shows is fog.

The Humphreys and Pat at the summit of Hill 4

As for the animals, the only ones we saw were domestic ones. Moses said there were no lions, but there were chetahs, hyenas, cape buffalo, and leopards. Anyway enough to warrant some caution. We never did see the group we had hoped to join, either going up or coming back. Moses thought they were discouraged from coming out because there were a couple of viscous attacks by bad men last weekend.

The fog begins to lift

On the way back down, we encountered a large group of children and their adult guardians. The kids were from an orphanage I hadn’t heard of and they were planning to hike from Corner Baridi to the town of Ngong. We later learned that in getting to the summit of Hill 4 we were half way to Ngong already. The group of children were accompanied by men dressed in military fatigues and carrying serious weapons - automatic rifles! All Moses had was a large bladed farm implement stuffed in his belt.

Maasai cattle foreground, Kiserian background

The clouds began to lift, and we had a clear view of Kiserian down below. With the interplay of the clouds and light on the green landscape, it seemed indeed enchanted hiking.

Moses and his jewelry

We ended our hike at Moses house where he showed us his jewelry. His stuff was quite nice and we all bought some. He also had copies of the wildflower book in which he is mentioned as consultant that he signed and sold to us for 40% of the price in Nakamat or Tusky stores. It had turned out to be a pretty profitable day for Moses and we had a great time and made an interesting friend.