Nakuru, Where We Learnt Chapati

Just a pit stop before heading to Naro Moru where we will start our hike to mount Kenya.
Nakuru is the 4th largest city of Kenya. We preferred Nakuru over Nairobi. The roads are way better and we could see more buildings/houses in decent conditions.
We stayed in a airbnb for two nights (30€). Risper, our host, was amazing. We really leaved with her, it was not just a place to crash with nobody to talk. No, we went together to the market, cooked and even went out!
Menengai Crater
What to do in Nakuru? Well it’s known for its lake because of flamingos. BUT, as everyone will tell (and we’ve read about it), they have moved. So now it’s just a lake. Sure there is some wildlife around, but the park is small and the price was not reduced ($60). Because of this we decided not to go.
Instead we spent the day in a “forest” to see the Menengai crater and some caves (6€). Menengai is the largest crater of Kenya (~12 km diameter) and one of the cave is the biggest of Kenya. A superlative day ahead.
Getting there was long because of the sun. We were walking for 1–2 hours under the sun, and the way to the viewpoint is just a road without trees 🥵.
At the viewpoint, you don’t see much because of the size although you have 500 m below your feet. Most concerning is the fact that there are some geothermal wheels destroying the landscape. Luckily, from there we moved to the neighboring caves and found some untouched lands.

As usual, we got asked to be guided.
You will lose yourself in the forest, a guide.
Sure, we just followed the rim of the crater and voila.
The caves? It’s a religious place (they write it on the walls to make sure everyone knows), the atmosphere was making me uncomfortable. Some people are sleeping in the cave, making fire and we heard people screaming there 😨.


Getting back to Nakuru was terrible. It was raining (as every day because of the small rainy season) like cat, dogs, cows and the whole jungle book. And guess what? It’s raining so the taxis and moto-taxis charge more if they dare to move. We waited 2 hours for our taxi who never showed. In the end we walked. And surprise they guy said he was there as soon as the rain stopped 🤬.
Night club
Lucky for us, our night was super. Going out is an experience. We would never have considered to do this by ourselves, and we will not do it again alone. But if you’re lucky to have a local to go with you, do it! Great music, great people, and a totally different way of partying. As we were there, we got invited to the birthday party of the DJ. How cool is that 😆.

Kenyan Food
So far, I did not have a lot to say about the food. Normal chicken, pork or beef and some vegetables, beans. The only “typic” things we have seen are some side dishes: ugali, chapati and mukimo.
Ugali is a kind of paste made out of corn flour. I personally don’t like it. It has no taste basically, but it’s heavy.
Mukimo is a mix of potatoes with different things and served as a purée. It’s fine.
But chapati, I love this haha. It’s a simple galette.
We have been cooking with Risper using charcoal. Sure people have gaz cooker, but they only use it for frying or reheating quickly something. For preparing beans, it’s too long so they use charcoal cookers.


But back to the essential. Here is the recipe for 15 chapati 😋
- 1kg of flour,
- 1 carrot,
- 1 onion,
- 2 tea spoons of salt
- 2 hands of Oil
- Water
- Mix the flour with the carrot, salt and onion. Add water and oil progressively,
- Let the toe rest for an hour,
- Cut the toe in three,
- Flatten the pieces with a wood thing (yes I am a real cook, with real cooking vocabulary),
- Cut the flat disc in five slices,
- Roll the slices and oil them,
- Flatten the rolls,
- Fry twice each galette. Use again some oil for the second frying,
- Eat!!!!



“Forest”
Why did I write it like this earlier? It’s really annoying. In Kenya, from a small hill to a mountain, everything is a National Park, hence you have to pay. A lot because it’s the non resident fee. Sure this forest was just 6€. But it was not a protected area. Right in the middle of the crater there are power plants, you have waste all the way (like in town by the way) and people are building houses and cutting wood there as well 🤔.
You think it’s different in the most important parks, like Hell’s Gate? 👎 Still some waste along the way, and here as well geothermal plants.
Sometimes the animals go because of the release of chemicals, our guide.
It’s really sad to see the nature being destroyed and not protected although we, as tourist, are paying premium prices to visit these places. (I am not even talking about tours who charge ridiculous prices like $100 to do Hell’s Gate — without Park fees). On top of that, when you see tons of guard at the park gate, staying there and waiting for the time to fly, while 5 m away there is trash, it’s quite revolting.
I don’t remember having to pay any fee to visit normal mountains in France, New Zealand, Austria, Australia, oh wait… everywhere. And if there is a fee, it’s because you have a guide. And not just a guy who’s walking you, a real knowledgeable guide explaining you things that you don’t know.
Next stop is mount Kenya. Hopefully with a good weather!

