My Journey to Nguruman Escarpment

Part 2 – Second Series of my journey in South Rift

The drive out of Magadi in the morning was so soothing, relaxing, it’s the kind of romantic drives you take with the one you love, I chose to listen to gospel haha.

We had our breakfast packed and we decided to enjoy this moment by the lake before the sun starts to shoot its hot missiles. The flamingos were few but there were quite a lot of bird species by the shore their tweets created some kind of beautiful soothing orchestra with their incredible tweets. what a wonderful way to start your day, right? Did you know that lake Magadi is the only Kenyan site for a special species, the Chestnut-banded Plover? Now you know!

We were lost in this moment when the sun started to heat up and remembered we still had a long way to get to Nguruman. Our venture beyond Lake Magadi was a white dusty affair best done by four wheel drive, it’s acacia dotted, rugged landscape and occasionally, antelopes and gazelles would cross our paths. It was getting drier and at some point we wondered if we were still on the right path as the “Highway” looked like a track but luckily there were no other tracks so somehow we knew we shall get there. Talk of faith.

This is one journey we kept asking ARE WE THERE YET? Lol the only life we saw were Maasai Cattle and just as we were about to descend the rift from a distance we saw this green gorgeously looking forest kind of a town from a distance and we smiled thinking that this is it! Little did we know we had a few kilometres to get to olkiramatian for a girls only trip you sure can feel in the gaps of what was in our mind. But at least when we got to olkiramatian town there was some life and lots of human activities it didn’t feel remote anymore, it was a bit cooler maybe coz of the vegetation.

Nguruman escarpment as seen from a distance just before we descended the south rift

Our Guide was kind to mention perhaps something we noticed but it didn’t click; the adornments on the maa people in this region was different and he explained they are called white Maasai not because they are different from the other Maa communities it’s simply because they use white more as the base of their beading patterns.

Nguruman escarpment forms the western wall of the Rift Valley, its 50 kms long. It borders kenya and Tanzania. It easy to visit Lake Natron from here, or the neighbouring shompole conservancy and enjoy the Maasai Cultural community in the region. Besides live stock the Residents here are also farmers as the Ewaso Ngiro river provides adequate water supply and the riverine forest makes sure this place is cooler than most part of southern Lift.

When we arrived we were famished and our host had some Mbuzi Choma ready for us, let me just say it wasn’t hunger but it was super delicious and it had no spices added to it just salt we didn’t even remember to caption. Our host is a farmer in Nguruman and also works at Lentorre Luxurious lodge so after the nyama we visited farms in Nguruman and sampled some paws paws.

After sampling the village lifestyle of Nguruman we saved the best for last and headed to Olkiramatian conservancy.

Deep in the heart of the Great Rift Valley, beyond the volcanic lunar landscape surrounding the soda lakes of Magadi and Natron, you will find Olkirimatian Conservancy. It is situated on the elephant migratory corridor between the world famous Maasai Mara and the Amboseli National Park ensuring that the wildlife is both prolific and diverse. As well as a healthy population of these rare and endangered pachyderms the conservancy is also home to all of the large predators. The once threatened population of lions in the area is now one of the healthiest in the country, thanks to the ongoing work of the local research centre which has recently identified over sixty individuals in approximately seven prides spread between the Olkirimatian Conservancy and the neighbouring Shompole Conservancy, together with a growing population of cheetah and numerous leopard. These two protected areas are combined to create a 60 000 acre safe haven for wildlife in the area. Four different leopards have been identified drinking at a nearby lodge’s waterholes, and the area is home to a variety of plains game such as wildebeest, buffalo, zebra, maasai giraffe, eland, grant’s gazelle, impala, hartebeest, gerenuk, waterbuck, and both lesser and greater kudu and Colobus monkeys.

Lentorre Lodge

Lentorre luxurious lodge is set on a spur running off the Nguruman Escarpment beside a natural spring in the heart of the Olkiramatian Conservancy, a community initiative developed by the local Maasai community to protect their wildlife, traditional lifestyle and their heritage. Nestled in this natural amphitheatre, Lentorre provides uninhibited views of Mt Shompole, Ol Donyo Gelai and the active volcano Ol Donyo Lengai. The spring behind the lodge provides a constant source of cool fresh water and sustains a grove of venerable tamarind trees where the Olkiramatian warriors traditionally met as they came of age and elephants continue to gather to feed on ripe tamarind.

Images provided by Lentorre Lodge

There are so many activities one can engage in while in this exclusive lodge and a night game drive at olkiramatian conservancy is just but one of them otherwise a dive in Ewaso ngiro or a night watching stars is equally thrilling. The lodge is designed in a way and located in a place such that when you get there, for someone like me who drove you forget the journey, warm up relax and get back to factory settings

Residents at Lentorre Lodge