Kenya: Journey Deep Into Hell...s Gate National Park
A few kilometers away from our favorite campsite lies one of Kenya's most unique and interesting national parks. Even though it has animals, it is not the main attraction of the park. Intriguingly, its name is Hell's Gate National Park.
We have visited several times but this particular time was a congregation get-together so we had a busload of friends with us. The more the merrier!
As you drive into the park the first thing that you come across is the 25m (75ft) Fischer's Tower that just kind of sticks out of the ground. It is worth taking a moment to consider how these are created. Molten lava under pressure is pushed up through a fissure to the surface and comes bubbling (or exploding) out at the top. Then everything cools, and erosion gets back to its endless millennial cycle and wears away everything except that tube of rock, leaving it standing out like a sore thumb.
One of the highlights of Hell's gate park is the Ol Njorwa Gorge. This is a gorge that starts out as a tiny little stream that you can step over. Then it gets deeper and deeper till it comes up to your shoulders.
Eventually it's a few meters deep and you can no longer climb up the edges. It is amazing to see geological forces at work in the same place - on the one hand the extrusions and rock formation caused violently and abruptly by volcanic eruptions and then on the other hand the gradual erosion over hundreds and thousands of years. The earth is one amazing place.
At certain points, little pools form, or waterfalls cascade over you. Some of the water is cold, some is hot, as a little reminder that even though the surface seems serene, there is still hot molten magma flowing under the thin crust of the earths surface.
As you can see it gets deeper and deeper. I usually go a bit crazy and start taking too many photos because the light filters down into the gorge so beautifully.
So to divert your attention away from endless canyon shots, let's discuss geothermal power for a bit. Kenya generates about 30% of its power from geothermal power, and it is all from around this area. For context this is 8th most in the world but highest by percentage used by a particular country. The basic idea is to pump water down close to the magma, let it get superheated, and then pump it out and use the steam created to run a turbine. Apart from the cost of building the thing, it is basically free energy.
It is nice to walk through these canyons while they are dry, but it can also be dangerous because of sudden flash floods. Sometimes it rains elsewhere and the water drains into the gorge. You can be walking under a blue sky with no rain and out of nowhere a flood appears. Several have drowned because of this phenomenon.
Some famous movies have been shot here, because of the dramatic backgrounds. King Solomon's mines and Mountains of the Moon back in the day, and Tomb Raider a bit more recently.
The chamber above is a box canyon - it only has an entry but no exit. They name this area the 'Devil's bedroom'.
In case you are thinking these are tooo many pictures of canyons, please note that I have deleted a significant number to get it down to these ones here.
A couple areas needed some minor rock climbing but generally this is an easy hike and we all had a great time and left tired but happy for our picnic at the top!
We have visited several times but this particular time was a congregation get-together so we had a busload of friends with us. The more the merrier!
One of the highlights of this park is the geological forms. It is quite a small park, only 68 square kilometers (compared to Tsavo East for example - 13,000 square kilometers) but it is packed with interesting land forms. It is right at the bottom of the Great Rift Valley. It is thought that the tectonic plate that Africa sits on is slowly (really really slowly) splitting in two. As the two parts pull apart, these huge rifts are caused.
One of the highlights of Hell's gate park is the Ol Njorwa Gorge. This is a gorge that starts out as a tiny little stream that you can step over. Then it gets deeper and deeper till it comes up to your shoulders.
Eventually it's a few meters deep and you can no longer climb up the edges. It is amazing to see geological forces at work in the same place - on the one hand the extrusions and rock formation caused violently and abruptly by volcanic eruptions and then on the other hand the gradual erosion over hundreds and thousands of years. The earth is one amazing place.
At certain points, little pools form, or waterfalls cascade over you. Some of the water is cold, some is hot, as a little reminder that even though the surface seems serene, there is still hot molten magma flowing under the thin crust of the earths surface.
As you can see it gets deeper and deeper. I usually go a bit crazy and start taking too many photos because the light filters down into the gorge so beautifully.
It is nice to walk through these canyons while they are dry, but it can also be dangerous because of sudden flash floods. Sometimes it rains elsewhere and the water drains into the gorge. You can be walking under a blue sky with no rain and out of nowhere a flood appears. Several have drowned because of this phenomenon.
The chamber above is a box canyon - it only has an entry but no exit. They name this area the 'Devil's bedroom'.
In case you are thinking these are tooo many pictures of canyons, please note that I have deleted a significant number to get it down to these ones here.
A couple areas needed some minor rock climbing but generally this is an easy hike and we all had a great time and left tired but happy for our picnic at the top!
