Yesterday we woke up at 6 AM to travel to Karibu Napuru Water Fall. We walked about 15-20 minutes to the Sakina Market and were planning on picking up some food there to take with us for lunch but it was closed. About 22 of us went and we had four “tour guides” but really they were friends of Marks. When we were all at the market the guys flagged down a dala dala and we got one all to ourselves. Which is good because there were all together 26 of us. I think at least four to five people were sitting on laps and two were inside of the dala but hanging outside of the window. We rode this way for about twenty minutes. Even though I am not a claustrophobic person.. dala dalas are so packed that I can’t help but have anxiety. Especially with the insane driving.
The hike was around 7 km total, mostly uphill and I am not sure how I made it out alive. I was usually in the back of the pack with some other girls and one of our guides, James. It was nice to take the journey slower, for one I wasn’t completely out of breath and dying, and two, we were able to stop and take pictures whenever we wanted and not feel like people were waiting on us. To get there we had to walk through Massai villages and the further you go the less Swahili and more “Massai” language they speak. As we walked through one village there were at least 20 children trailing behind us. When we stopped to take a break they sat down on the hill beside us and waited. When we started walking again, so did they. Almost all of the little boys have machetes, some as young as four years old. When they jump around you off of a raised hill by the pathway you can’t help but worry they will chop off one of your arms or legs by accident. It takes some getting use to.
I would say it was about a km or more before we got to the sign for the Water Fall entrance. To get there it was 2.5 km and to get back to the sign it was 2.5 km. It is by far the most strenuous thing I have ever done in my life and probably ever will. The way there was all uphill walking on rocks, large stones and loose gravel. When we finally got to the downslope part of the hike we took a break at a small Massai house. We weren’t sitting there for long when a line of children linked by hands were being led through this mountainous area blindfolded by two men. They were all chanting/singing. The guy in front had a whip and the guy in the back had a tree limb. Every once in a while the children would scream and they would get threatened or the guy with the tree limb would place it a kids face and tell then “Duck duck!” so they would think they were about to hit a tree. Before we knew what this was, we were very worried about the kids. But Kiko and James explained to us that the kids were being taught a lesson for trespassing on a shortcut without paying the owner. They said this is a common thing they do to teach them their lesson and that no one will actually get hurt. I felt better once I saw our guides and also the two men leading the children, laughing.
The slide down the mountain was so very treacherous and it had been raining all morning so the dirt steps (that couldn’t possibly be considered steps) that were leading us down were wet and muddy and incredibly slippery. Being myself, I did not assume I would be doing any sort of hiking, and I don’t even own hiking shoes.. so I only brought mu worn down Pumas with absolutely no tread on the bottoms. After I fell once and wiped out going down these steep muddy steps, James moved in front of me and held my hand the whole way down showing me the best places to step. Even with his help I still managed to fall twice more. It was a terrifying experience. Once we finally got to the bottom (this took at least 20-25 minutes) I was sooo very glad for my life. With every step I took down my feet were slipping. We sat and took a break by a stream for a bit and looked for monkeys and saw a few! I tried to take a video of it and I am not sure if it worked out well or even if I got the monkey in the shot.
You can see the monkey's head sticking out by the banana tree! Kind of!
From here we walked through a stream to the waterfall and this waterfall was HUGE. I heard it was around 200 ft tall or more. By the time we got the the fall we had quite a group that was following us. Some boys who looked in their teens and lots of little boys, of course with their machetes. Way too soon we started back. I would rather have paid a helicopter to come drag me out of the waterfall then to go up those horrid muddy steps.
We sat down by the stream again before we headed up the steps. I had a pack of Tanzanian coconut flavored cookies with me and opened them up. One of our guides little brothers went with us on this trek and his name was Frank. I am in LOVE with Frank, he is 11 years old I think they said? He was sitting by me as I was eating my cookies and we shared. Someone asked him who is favorite singer was and in the cutest accent ever he said “Justing Bieber.” I started freaking out! I told him that I loved Justin Bieber too and pointed to Frank and announced that he was my friend. Franks eyes got so big and he says. “You are Justin Bieber’s friend?!” In complete awe. I started laughing and told him no, unfortunately I do not know Justin Bieber, and that he, Frank, was my friend. His brother Kiko had Justing Bieber’s “Baby” on his phone and I think we heard it about 6 times throughout the day. No complaining from me!
I figured I would have more tread using my bare feet so I went up barefoot with James’ help again. After we got up the steps, it was all down hill from there but it was decently steep with lots of loose gravel and we were slipping all over. My legs had surpassed jello and turned into complete stiffness and I could barely bend my knees to walk down.
We finally got back to the town and sat down outside to wait on our dala dala. James and Kiko bought avocados from a little stand that a young girl and her two little bitty siblings were working and we passed some around. I got slightly depressed when I saw children pulling around water bottles that they had made into toy cars tied to a string and they were pulling them around. Some kids were playing by kicking an empty water bottle around on the ground.
We finally caught our dala dala and squished in. Kiko and James invited us to a birthday party they were having that night for a brother but by the time we got home and showered we were way too tired to go. I am so sore I cannot go up and down steps with grabbing my pant leg and helping pull my leg up. It is a problem! But James offered to take me to see his university in Arusha where he is studying Forestry in August. I think that would be so interesting. Today, us girls plan to relax... go to the internet cafe, possibly change over some money and look for a converter. I would also like to get a cd that I can burn some of the Justin Bieber songs I have on my computer to give to Frank, but I looked and when I switched over my songs to my new computer I didn’t switch all of them, so I only have 6. I think it would still be worth it though.
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