Hiking on Kindoroko

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Up early on a Sunday morning to get down to the village to meet our guide.  Haruni, out knowledgable, friendly, local guide met us at the pottery, along with his daughter, her friend and the gang of loca boys who we had invited to join us, none of whom had been up their local mountain.

We set off on a path out of the village up the valley side.  The path took us through cornfields, past locals' crops and houses and past a lovely waterfall as we went higher up the valley.  Stopping by the waterfall we were treated to not only gurgling, splashing water and birdsong, but also the glorious and joyful singing from the Catholic church perched above the river.  We plodded steadily higher (the path was fairly steep in some places) and left the path at the boundary or Usangi and the neighbouring village (marked by a line of trees) where we headed up to the top of the hill which was scrub, not forest, and therefore open enough to get good views of the surrounding areas.  Sadly the cloud and haze was such that we could not see as far as we had hoped (from previous experience I knew Kili was unlikely even on a clear day!) but we did see Lake Jipo on the Kenyan border and into Tsavo National Park (kenya).  In the other direction was the Maasai Steppe to the south. we lokoed accross to the Peak of Kindoroko (2013m) which was where we were heading, covered in dense forest.

Waterfall, Pare Mountains
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After lunch, we headed into the forest and up towards Kindoroko peak.  We realsied we did not have enough time to get right to the top, but we walked and scrambled through thick vegetation to the top of the adjoining peak, not much lower than the main summit.  The forest was wonderful - tall trees with hangin vines and tree ferns, flowers, rocks and twisted branches covered in mosses and lichen.

We descended the mountain and chose a different route  back to Usangi, via Kirongaya (near to where we are staying).  This took us down past houses, with their inhabitants welcoming our merry band of hikers.  One friendly local who knew our guided, invoted us to sample (and indeed feast upon) some of his crop of passion fruit. Sttraight form the trees in his small plantation they were absolutely delicious! He had terraced the hillside himself, by hand and now had rows upon rows of passion trees and other fruits growing.  Further down we passed a sugar cane mill, where the cane could be crushed and the juice then brewed.

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We eventually arrived home after a long and enjoyable day of hiking in stunning scenery.  It was wonderful to be outdoors for the whole day (and also to avoid rain!) and I would do the same walk again!