The Ultimate Epic Day at Hell’s Gate National Park

Written by Lisa Pilon, East Africa Discovery 

On our way to North Maragoli in Kenya, Kate and Tyler planned two nights stay at the Fisherman’s Camp on Lake Naivasha. This stop was specifically to enjoy an Ultimate Epic Day at the Hell’s Gate National Park.Our Ultimate Epic Day began at 8:30 a.m. after everyone packed their daypacks with food and water as we strapped ourselves for a bumpy safari bike ride. Once we arrived to the gate of the National Park, everyone was quite out of breath and nervous for the full day ahead. Our first activity inside the gates of the park was some rock climbing. Five of us had never experienced outdoor rock climbing before and decided to try it for our first time!! We all gave each other support, advice and encouragement to make it to the top for the incredible reward… the view.

Hell’s Gate National Park

After rock climbing, we were back on our bikes to the next destination… a picnic site (a.k.a. the entrance of the famous gorge from the Lion King). On the way to the picnic site, we strangely enjoyed riding beside many zebras, warthogs, and antelopes. Shortly after filling our bellies with peanut butter/banana and avocado/tomato sandwiches, we made our way inside the tricky gorge. I called it the tricky gorge because we had to climb up and over big rocks, climb up vertical and steep walls, climb down waterfalls, climb down those vertical and steep walls, and parkour our way through to see God’s Finger, the Devil’s Bedroom and lastly, the breathtaking view where we all took a few moments to appreciate (*insert Lion King song here*).

The tricky gorge at Hell’s Gate

At the end of the day, we were all pretty stoked to enjoy showers, a nice dinner together, and drinks. I think it’s safe to say we all worked off most of the ugali we had been eating in Nairobi.

Cheers to Kate and Tyler for planning this Ultimate Epic Day! Cheers to Saige for trying something new! Cheers to Jocelyn for learning how to ride a bike and keeping up with us! Cheers to Nathalie, Jocelyn (again), Rhiannon, Alice and myself for rock climbing for the first time! And cheers to Jaclyn for being awesome and encouraging us along the way!