I recently toured the world-famous Thomson’s Falls situated next to one of Kenya’s highest towns, Nyahururu.

Placed at 2360 m above the sea level, the falls descends a 72m cliff creating mist that feeds the dense forest below. Although I had travelled solo I got some nice company from one Steve and his friends who convinced me to accompany them to the bottom of the ravine.

The walk down started off peaceful enough. Walking along a downhill bushwalk of sorts was so thrilling and the giant stepping stones provided excellent photo opportunity to help us take a break.

Steve and I questioned why everyone returning back from the falls were wet unaware that the falls were the reason behind their slightly soaked appearances.

The walk proceeded to wrap itself around and down the side of the cliff. The walkway became narrow and the wet conditions made it more difficult to navigate. People frequently passed us on our way down, out of breath and out of sorts, simply sighing and wishing us luck - quick to point out that we were only halfway down yet reassuring us it was well worth it.

I wondered why everyone was wishing us luck and then envisioned someone losing their footing and tumbling down the steep stairs. I shuddered and focused heavily on not falling ironically slipping several times.

The roar of the waterfall gave sign that we were fast approaching and when the falls unveiled itself to us it was like being hit with far too much beauty that you don’t quite know what to do with it all.

After enjoying the breeze and the beauty of the ravine, it was time to go up. I must admit that the climb back up almost killed me. I was actually a little upset by how unfit i was: leg muscles got a workout and seemed to at times cry out from pain in protest of the steep uphill climb.

I paused sporadically which only served to deflate my interest in continuing and i was optioning rather to remain where i was and proceed no further. I pitied nameless faces who passed us on their way down; greeting them with sighs and forced smiles. It was a relief to be back at the top where we started, and looking down at where we were i was amazed at how far the falls were.

I will be going to Lake Elementaita and Lake Nakuru National Park over the weekend and I’ll love to write this blog while watching the alluring flamingos.

Share This

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my Africa travel news feed. I regularly post weired and interesting news articles from Africa!

 Email This Post To Friend
This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 7th, 2008 at 11:48 am and is filed under Kenya, Safaris and Tours. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.