On The Shore Of Bronze Waters

I’m behind on my updates so I haven’t even told stories of my last weekend adventure (barring Friday night’s festivities at the Wagon Wheel and my debut on stage). Saturday morning Ashley and I packed up with 11 other folks from the IU house to head to Lake Baringo for the night. The boys opted to stay home so we were free of them for the weekend. Our destination on Lake Baringo was Island Camp – a camp on an island. Brilliant.

First off, Lake Baringo is one of two freshwater lakes in the Rift Valley. Our drive down into the valley was absolutely gorgeous. The views went on forever, and we could see many waterfalls coming off enormous cliffs in the distance. I have pictures to show, but they don’t do it justice. The drive was short with good roads. So good, that they were still in the process of repaving a portion of it and we barreled through throwing oil and tar all over the vehicle, but the driver didn’t seem to mind.

Once we arrived on the shore of Lake Baringo, we were met with a long, wooden boat that would motor us over to the island. We stepped lightly across the sketchy dock, as it was barely above water, to get to our boat. We were told Baringo is home to crocks and hippos. I didn’t want one of those critters popping up to say hi while I’m stepping over the foot wide hole in the walkway. We safely made it into the brightly colored boat and took off for camp.

Camp was an understatement. This place was a glorious resort. Though the water was murky, they played it up greatly by calling it “bronze waters.” Not quite, but I suppose it works for them. This place was amazing. We stayed in permanent tents built on rocky ledges overlooking the water. Each tent was completely privatized with its own real bathroom and views. The “tent” was basically mesh to keep the skeeters and lizards out, and inside were real beds! We also had a little porch with chairs and a table that they brought us fresh passion fruit juice to sip in the morning at. Ashley and my tent faced east over the water so we literally laid in our respective beds and watched the sunrise over the water. It was absolutely incredible. Pretty romantic too, sure glad I got to share that with Ashley instead of Matt!

The tents were built spiraled up the main hill on the island and crooked little paths lead us up to the tip top where a pool and a bar were located. It was so hot down in the valley with such little breeze that we lounged around the pool all day and swam. We met a wonderful couple with two young children who live in Nairobi and they bought us some drinks. We spent about 4 hours talking with them throughout the day and ended up watching the sunset with them and their children from a lookout point on the island. After sunset we had the most fascinating evening. I felt as though I were in a fairytale. While we were gone, they had transformed the pool area/yard into an outdoor dining room. We had a cookout and ate our dinner under the stars by the light of candles on our table and white Christmas lights hanging in the trees. The (very light) breeze picked up once the sun went down and carried cooler air from off the lake. Because the island is pretty much electricity free, we could see all the stars in the sky. I know I called the Mara a magical place, but this also qualified as a magical night in and of itself.

After dinner we sat around and played darts in the outdoor bar and chatted until late. I had such a great time with the group of people that went and it was so nice to get to know some of them a bit better. It’s always easier to chat lightly when you’re not in the middle of a stressed hospital. After we watched the sunrise from our beds that next morning and sipped our passion fruit juice on our porch, we spent some more time swimming and reading by the pool before we had to pack up. It was there I found a book about the 54 top resorts in the world. As I was flipping through it dreaming up vacations I can go on when I’m rich and famous, I was surprised to find Island Camp near the very beginning! No wonder we felt so spoiled and relaxed! We were at a world renowned vacation spot.

The owner was right there too making sure you were enjoying yourself and hanging out. He is a British guy in his late 50s who up and rented the island from the local people and built Island Camp. There are no walls in Island Camp. I forgot to mention that. Everything is open air and free flowing. Anyways, Perry knew we were from IU house and gave us his special discount for our hard work we do. I didn’t realize until I read in the book just how special that discount was. A regular night at Island Camp is around $350 and he gave it to us for a mere $60 a night. What a nice man!

We ended the weekend by driving home and stopping for some fresh bananas and mangos which were the most delicious fruit I have ever tasted. Aside from the fact I got sick on Monday, it was the most relaxing weekend I could have ever imagined. I hope to make it back someday as that is where serious relaxation needs to happen!