We made our first trip up country! (FYI up country is anything outside of Nairobi—up, down, sideways, in any direction.) As per a prior post, we did indeed go out to Crescent Island on Lake Naivasha.

Looking out as we drive to Lake Naivasha.

It was an easy two hour drive and a really beautiful ride along the way. Even though it was overcast, we had lovely views of the countryside and of the Great Rift Valley as we drove. Here is a short clip of the view down the valley. It’s not the best, but not horrible given that it’s from my phone looking out the car window while driving.

We parked at the Lake Naivasha Country Club and took a (somewhat overpriced) boat ride across the lake to the island. After our visit to the island we had lunch at the country club. Despite the steep price for the round trip boat ride, I’m glad we picked that country club. It was a safe place to keep the car and lunch was really good. All in, since lunch wasn’t too expensive, it worked out price-wise.

Crescent Island, technically a peninsula, is at the rim of Lake Naivasha, which is a submerged volcanic crater. You can drive to the island, but we thought the boat ride would be more fun. It’s a short ride and you get to ride past hippos and pelicans along the way.

According to our guide, the island was turned into a wildlife sanctuary in the mid-1980s, after they filmed Out of Africa, some of which was filmed on the island. Other than hyena, there are no predators on the island. So, you get to walk with the animals.

Our walk with our guide lasted about an hour. We saw wildebeast, water buck, giraffe, zebra, gazelle, a random horse, an impala, and a dik dik. It was really amazing to be able to walk (almost) right up to the animals! I have never walked right up to a wild animal before.

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In addition to the animals, the island offers gorgeous views from Longonot to Hell’s Gate, to the Mau Escarpment, to Eburu, and the Aberdares. Here’s the view looking toward Hell’s Gate. It’s the flat cliff in the distance. That may be our next up country adventure!

View looking at Hell’s Gate from Crescent Island.