Escapade at the Naro Moru River

By Millicent Muthoni

If Naro Moru River Lodge is not on your list of places to visit, then it must be because you have not been there. Located 170km away from Nairobi, it takes only two and a half hours drive to get there. The trip to the Naro Moru Lodge is always worth the while.

To get there, we took the Karatina-Nyeri Road to the Marua River Bridge, after which we turned right and drove on past Kiganjo. The lodge is off Naro Moru town before you get to Nanyuki. From the lodge’s signpost, we drove for about a kilometre.

Hillside stepped and landscaped tastefully. Rooms are lined along the top.

To our dismay, we were almost turned back as the lodge was fully booked, this being high season. It was dusk by the time we arrived and the thought of driving back to the town to seek accommodation was not appealling. Luckily for us, the lodge manager, John Lelao, an amiable bundle of energy, found us a pleasant room with a bathtub to boot.

This was not my first time here but I still took a moment to relish the verdure and the freshness of the grounds — smelling the musky ground, touching the thorny cactus, staring at the picture-perfect lawn that stretches like a band along the river, following the paths as they meander through plants and rocks, listening to the water and the birds and enjoying the sound of the softly falling rain.

The 20-acre riparian lodge snakes along Naro Moru River and takes advantage of the river frontage with its elegant landscaping. A belt of evergreen grass with patches of flowers borders the river. Just sitting here infused me with a sense of deep relaxation. The feeling is even better in the mid-morning sun.

Rock Garden

The riot of nature across the river and the rush of the water over rocks is a captivating contrast to the silence of the lodge. The grass is replaced by a scenic rock garden that leads up the steep to the rooms. Water is lavishly used here and fountains gush through the stones.

Naro Moru River Lodge is located at 2,155 metres above sea level and tucked into the side of Mt Kenya. It is famous as a base for climbing Mt Kenya, especially during the high season, which runs from mid-December to March.

We took a tour of the compound the next day walking along the 34 rooms hoisted on the steep site, to the three bed-room self-catering log cabins cottages located some way off the rooms. The cottages have seen better days and show signs of wear and age.

We got the deluxe room which has two beds and no television. Elegantly finished in timber with polished logs marking the balcony, the room was clean and comfortable. I was tempted by the milk-white bathtub and so I ran warm water for a foam bath.

The chimney was the highlight on this chilly evening. Thankfully, the staff lit the fire in the room while we were out for dinner, which kept the room warm at night.

We enjoyed supper in the larger Kirinyaga restaurant, which hugs the heated pool. It had a bland menu and I was disappointed by the fish. The variety of vegetables served were limited.

The Nelion restaurant is smaller but better set and with great food, a fact we discovered the following night. The service here is more personal too. It has a cosy bar full of stories and laughter. After dinner, we had a drink before retiring to bed.

At the Point Lenana bar, a variety of memorabilia was draped, from mountain climbers autographed with the sweat and triumph of hikers. We read out the names on the T-shirts and bandanas and their declarations of "Yes we did it!" and "Nothing is harder!" Most of them are signed by teams from local corporate companies and hikers from the alpine countries like the Netherlands, Austria, Switzerland.

Later that evening, the manager joined us and transformed our session into a story-telling session with entertaining accounts of the veteran hikers who climb the mountain every year and those who never went past day one. Later, Ken Mburu, the mountain operations co-coordinator, also joined us. He lamented that the rain had curtailed hikers’ ambition that day because it was too slippery.

Foot safari

Being his pet subject, Mburu tried to convince us to plan a mountain climbing expedition soon. "We organize a three-day foot safari to Point Lenana," he said. "We will furnish you with experienced guides and porters and offer an array of mountain climbing equipment and regalia."

The rates, he told us, are determined by the size of the group and the number of nights spent on the trek. While an individual hiker pays $290 (Sh22,900) per day (and night), he or she would pay $156 (Sh12,324) if in a twelve–strong team.

Mburu broke down the three-day foot safari for us. "Before taking off, I usually give the hikers a briefing at the lodge. It covers map reading, health, equipment and dressing, diet, weight limit and the weather. We then drive or walk to the Naro Moru gate, after which we walk for three hours to the Meteorological Station where the temperatures are at 10 to15 degrees Centigrade and the altitude is 10,000ft.

"On day two, we walk for six to seven hours to Mackinder’s Camp, which is at freezing temperatures of zero to minus 10 degrees Centigrade. We spend the night at a dorm called Teleki Lodge. At an altitude of 14,000ft, people start to develop altitude sickness, which presents as nausea, breath problems, vomiting, dizziness and, sometimes, mild dementia due to reduction in oxygen. That is when I start to pay specialised attention to everyone because I want to know how they are holding up," he explained.

Stone and ice

The third day, we learnt, begins at 3am. The walk to Point Lenana takes five hours during which time hikers get to enjoy the sunrise while at the peak. At that point, hikers must also wear shades because of the reflective ice, and be wrapped like an Eskimo because the temperatures are very harsh (minus 10 to minus 15 degrees Centigrade). At this peak begins the rock, stone and ice zone, where no animals and plants survive. The return hike covers the whole 25 kms.

We winded up on a very high note (no pun intended) as we walked back to our rooms. In the morning, we woke up in time to catch the last vestiges of Mt Kenya from our balcony. Sadly, we didn’t have much time to enjoy it as duty called. Leaving our luggage behind, we set out for a 150km journey to the Meru National Park.