After slothing around a few too many tour bus tourist destinations, I decided to put a bit more exertion into my activities and do a somewhat strenuous hike in the Rift Valley. It became one of the highlights of my trip to Kenya: a hike up to the top of Mount Longonot along with a full circumference of the rim.
After a fairly steep and exhausting climb, I made it up to the rim and admired the volcano floor (last active in 1860) deep below. I took my friend’s advice and continued to navigate to nice little recommended lunch spot on a small bench under a small Acacia tree. While munching away on a few of my mini sandwiches, I couldn’t help but notice some thunderstorms brewing on the far eastern side of the Rift Valley. Nothing to worry about, I thought, as I proceeded on my circumnavigational journey.
About 1km along the circular path, I came across what appeared to be distinctly large cat tracks with large nearby cat scat. Oh no, I thought, could there be lions around here? I thought it would be best to return to where I passed some other hikers who had brought a guide with them to make sure. “There are leopards and cheetahs on the crater floor,” their guide told me, “but no lions to worry about. The leopards and cheetahs won’t bother you.”
Off I went with only slightly more confidence. I aimed to hike in a counter-clockwise direction to get the most strenuous climbs around the wavering rim out of the way first. I made my way up a few more steep climbs and rewarded myself with some amazing views from the highest point over the Rift Valley floor. Unfortunately, it looked like those thunderstorms were getting bigger and bigger and heading more in my direction.
I thought I should better get this hike over with before the storms got to me, but about half way around the rim I found myself with no way out and no where to take cover. The storm swelled to encompass the entire Longonot Volcano. To make a long story short, I got thoroughly drenched, but managed to avoid being struck by lightening. The temperature really dropped during the storm and I was awfully cold, but it gave me another adventurous story to tell.
