Day 52 - Great Rift Valley, Kenya

Point of departure : Nairobi

Point of arrival : Lake Naivasha

Accommodation: rooftop tent - Fisherman's Camp, Lake Naivasha (www.fishermanscamp.com)

Km travelled today: 126 km Cum: 9 151km (gravel 0km cum 2 283km)

Countries so far: 6/16

Where to next? Timau, Central Highlands

Total number of photos taken: 20 (cum 2 775)

The Rift Valley in Kenya is part of the Afro-Arabian rift system that stretches 9600km from Israel to Mocambique, passing through Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania and Malawi.A western branch forms a string of lakes in the centre of Africa - including Lake Albert & Edward in Uganda/Congo, Tanganyika in Tanzania/Congo which then joins the main system in northern tip of Lake Malawi.

In Kenya the Rift Valley can be traced through Lake Turkana (north western Kenya), Lakes Baringo, Bogoria, Nakuru, Elmenteita, Navaisha and Magadi.

Because the shoulders of the Rift slope directly away from the valley, the drainage in the valley is poor and as a result it forms shallow lakes on the valley floor and some of which have no outlet.Due to high evaporation and the high alkalinity from the area's volcanic deposits, microscopic blue-green algae forms which is eaten by insect larvae and small crustaceans and these in turn are eaten by soda-resistant fish.

We headed north west out of Nairobi towards Lake Naivasha, along the Great Rift Valley escarpment. Getting to our highest altitude of the trip so far at 2700m above sea level.The area around Lake Naivasha was first settled by the Wazungu (white people) and was the Kenyan St Tropez in 1930's for the decadent Happy Valley set, and still is today.This lake however is freshwater as its ecology is different from the soda lakes.The lake is 13km across and an average depth of 5 metres.

We then dropped down the escarpment to Lake Naivasha and found our campsite at Fisherman's Camp without too much trouble, a lovely treed and grassy site on the shores of the lake. We met Eric and Bea Stollnitz (from Seattle, USA), she of Portuguese origins and attracted to the sight of the Portuguese flag on our car and came over to say hello.They were on an overland truck with about a dozen other fellow travellers and were visiting, Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania.After dinner, they came over for a chat and we got to share our travel experiences. A really lovely couple and we expect to be in touch with them along the way.

In the afternoon, we went through to Elsamere Conservation Centre (named after Elsa the lioness) - the former home of Joy Adamson who bought the house in 1967 with the view that she andGeorge might retire there.She did most of her writing from there, including her best seller Born Free.She lived there up until her murder in 1980 although George did not spend much time there.The site is now a conservation centre focused on lake ecology and environmental awareness programmes and her house a museum featuring all their personal effects eg letters, camera equipment, photographs etc.Joy Adamson was born in Austria(29/01/1920) and came out to Africa in 1937 and married (3rd marriage) George in 1944.Joy painted over 700 paintings of Kenya's 54 main tribes and these can today be seen in the Nairobi National Museum as well as Government House.On 3 January 1980 Joy was murdered on a road near her camp in the Shaba National Reserve where she had lived for 3 years (northern Kenya).