Our curiosity about this astounding place goes way back. One of our favorite actors, Eagle Scout, and World War II pilot, Jimmy Stewart visited the Aberdares with his family and penned a folksy poem in its honor. Against all expectations, this equatorial mountain range is chilly. Stewart quipped that in the Aberdares you did not wipe away your tears; you only "broke them off."
Jim, Vic Carpenter, the Tilly family and I came there for a few days before the last, hard and fast third term. We were told we better rest up and then hold on!
Just like Jimmy Stewart would have advised, we brought our sleeping bags and slept in warm-up suits. We cooked simple meals on the one working burner on the two-burner stove and huddled by the fireplace and surrounded by kerosene lanterns. We read and played Triominos with the children
Jim was in his glory fishing and he caught and enjoyed one rainbow for breakfast. He and the Tillys fished the stream just below the cabin everyday. Jim, Elizabeth Tilly, and I had one heart-stopping moment when we had a brush with a crabby Cape Buffalo. E.T. as we call her, saw one horn and his muzzle. Jim and Elizabeth heard his snort and we all backed away and returned the way we came...carefully.
We drove and hiked to three beautiful waterfalls and saw more from a distance. Each had its own eco-system with its own unique plant-life and beauty. This was Kenya at its most otherworldly magnificence. This little Okie was definitely not tromping through the Johnson grass and post oaks. We drove up one grass-covered path to a primeval forest to turn back when we reach an impassably muddy bridge with no guardrails. The wonder of that forest was worth that side trip.
We saw a lot of fresh elephant and buffalo dung, but only two buffalo on a distant mountain-side for the first three days (other than our brush with Crabby.) Dave and Jim followed fresh leopard prints on the roadside on an early morning fishing trek. Dave saw a civet, a smaller spotted cat dash across the road, but we could only photograph his prints. Both cats were almost certainly stalking the abundant, almost tame antelopes we saw daily.
The last day we drove through the park to Nyeri and this was one of the most stunning and unsettling parts of the trip. We finally saw a herd of Cape Buffalo, snuffling and staring in their challenging way at the intruders. Once past them, we only had to sweat making our way through miles of muddy roads far from civilization. It was unnerving at times, but beauties amazed us at every turn in the road. At last we were past the electrified gate and cruising through slopes of bright green tea farms.
Once in Nyeri we visited the final home of one of Jim's heros, Lord Baden-Powell, who founded the Boy Scouts. He is revered in Kenya and on February 22, thousands of scouters, male and female make the march in his honor from his home at Outspan to his gravesite facing Mount Kenya. On the gatepost the Scouts Promise reads "On my honour I promise that I will do my best to do my duty to God and my country, to help other people at all times, and to obey the Scouts Law."
For pictures--see Part II.
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