Juliet's Kenya Days blog

Letter from Judy to Nanny & Grandad 1 June 1975 –

Our trip to Longonot was a great success; marvellous views over the Rift Valley and the crater itself is almost a sheer drop of many hundred feet and quite circular. We didn’t go up to the top of the cone as we didn’t have time but plan to do it another day. Tony & Graham went part of the way down into the crater to see a hot steam geyser which emits steam continually. We saw two trains on the Uganda – Kenya line caterpillar their way for miles through the Rift Valley – John would have enjoyed it – they still have lovely steam engines though quite a bit of their traffic is diesel. The gradients would make an English railwayman’s hair curl !

Letter from Judy to Nanny & Grandad 7 Oct 1975 –

Last week Graham and I had a free day so went for a walk up Longonot, the volcanic crater in the Rift Valley, with another teacher. It was a glorious morning and we thoroughly enjoyed the climb up to the crater rim and then round the rim to the highest point which had marvellous views all over the Rift Valley and Lake Naivasha which lies just to the north. The rim was a real knife edge with a sheer drop down to the crater floor many hundred feet below; and a more gradual drop on the other side down to the Rift Valley even further below. The crater is about a mile across I suppose and like a lost world – it would have been impossible for us to get down to it so it must be almost totally undisturbed. When we were at the furthest point from the path down to the valley we noticed storms were beginning to develop and before long it was obvious that we were full in the path of one of them. There was nothing we could do but go on as there was absolutely no shelter up there. Soon we were walking in drizzle, then heavy rain and finally hail which was most unpleasant not to say painful especially for the men who did not have hoods on their macs ! The temperature was icy and the hail was lying thickly on the path – only half an hour before we’d been sweltering in the midday sun. Fortunately it passed over quite quickly and by the time we reached the van we were warm and dry again. It certainly made us realise the dangers of exposure at that altitude though and we were thankful that we had had the sense to have adequate food and clothing.

Letter from Graham to the Aunties 8 Oct 1975 –

Last week Judy and I got caught in a hailstorm when we climbed up to the crater of Longonot, an old volcano. Luckily we had waterproof coats because we had half expected a shower. It gave us some added interest to the walk anyway, and it did not last long. Although we had not climbed very far from the bottom of the crater we were, in fact, up at 7 or 8,000 ft.

Letter from Judy to Lisbeth & Peter 9 Oct 1975 –

The rain started up all the steam jets around the bottom edge of the crater – we were sorry the sides are too steep for us to get down and examine them more closely. We saw some interesting plants including giant heather which grew 4 or 5 ft high.