Mount Suswa

Reuben! He switched into his Maasai garb and out of his
school uniform as soon as we got to his family's home.

They thought our tiny tents were so funny! Meriepe couldn't even fit!

For my last weekend in Nairobi, and in East Africa in general, my friends Courtney, Anna, and I ventured outside the city to hike Mount Suswa, a very interesting volcano just west of the city.  We heard about the mountain through our guidebooks and did a little hunting on the internet to find out what we could about it given how little information the Lonely Planet had to offer. We read an Australian guy’s blog entry about his hike on Suswa and at the end he gave his guide’s name (Reuben) and his phone number. We gave it a shot and called up Reuben. Reuben is a high school student who goes to boarding school in Nairobi. His family lives on Mount Suswa and he said that he would escort us to Suswa and guide us for the weekend.

Not knowing what to expect, we boarded the first of two matatus and headed off to Suswa. After a two hour nail-biting ride on a road clinging to the escarpment wall of the Rift Valley we arrived in Suswa Town and then embarked on a three hour hike to our campsite.

On our way to the site we stopped at Reuben’s home. Reuben is one of 42 children born to one man who has 6 wives. We were invited into his brother Daniel’s boma and offered chai (boiled milk, fresh from the cow, with tea leaves, sugar, and herbs) and a plate of rice and meat. It was so special to be invited into his home, to meet Reuben’s brothers and father, and play with his nieces and nephews. I even held his other brother, Meriepe’s, two-and-a-half month old son Simirin. He was the sweetest little baby, so calm and inquisitive-looking and giggly. He looked so precious all wrapped up in a Maasai shuka. The sense of family and the way all of the family members related to each other was so endearing. The elders talk to the children so gently and the kids are so calm. Even the infants don’t fuss and calm down as soon as someone speaks to them softly. Even the men were so tender with their children. It was very sweet.

After visiting with the family, we hiked a bit more to our campsite on the edge on the inner crater. A note about Suswa’s geological make-up: Suswa is a collapsed volcano that collapsed twice producing two craters: one larger and one smaller within it. You can see the overhead shot here although that still doesn't really do it justice. Reuben’s family lives in the valley in between the two crater rims. We camped on the edge of the inner crater rim and then hiked along this rim the next morning to one of Suswa’s two summits. In the centre of the inner crater is the “Lost Island”. My pictures don’t do it justice but let me assure you it was one of the most beautiful landscapes I’ve ever seen. I felt really good about hiking Suswa instead of one of the more established mountains in the area because the money went directly to Reuben’s sweet family and to the kid’s school fees. The family was so genuine, hard-working, and warm- an experience that I never would have had at a more popular mountain. If anyone you know is going to Kenya that would be interested in hiking please pass along my contact info so that I can recommend Reuben. We are planning on helping them to set up a simple website and contacting guidebooks for them to help them get the word out about the amazing trips they have to offer.

It was so great to get out of the city and breath non-polluted, fresh air and to be in the sun! It was great to get some exercise too! In total we walked about 35 kilometres, with some very steep uphill parts going at a very brisk pace. For our Maasai guides, having grown up in the mountain spending all of their time walking these hills, the hike way child’s play. They would run down the steep hills as we slipped and rolled on the loose volcanic rocks. They hopped and bounded up the cliffs as we huffed and puffed our way up. And they would stand on rocks precariously perched on the edge of the rim, hovering over a vertical drop into the crater laughing as we gasped in fright.

This is the kind of thing that I will miss most about Kenya and East Africa: the friendly, fascinating, special people that you meet and the amazing things that you are lucky enough to witness.