Camping At ZeNgiri During The Rally.
It’s the WRC weekend with every campsite in town fully booked apart from this new place that opened about a year ago. Let’s face it, not everyone enjoys camping. By camping, I mean tent, sleeping bag, hot water bottle, just plain ruffing it. In Kenya, when people say they are going “camping” they mean “glamping”. Just my plain observation of those around me. So, it was such a surprise for me to see people ruffing it for the weekend. But to be honest it was for the Rally weekend. All for the fast cars and dust. It’s what brought me here as well. It’s been 20 years since the rally has been in Kenya and excitement levels are high in the country. Long weekend here we come! Well now it’s year two of the rally in the country but the excitement is still on. People have learnt from the first year and are more prepared.
Anyway, back to this new campsite. It’s 6 pm the sun is setting creating a symphony of colors signaling to both humans and animals that the day has come to an end. We drive to the outcast of the city to the grounds I’ll be camping for the weekend. ZeNgiri Gardens borders the Lake Nakuru National Park on one end. The perfect place to hide away from the world and become one with nature. As we drive towards the campsite, we are greeted by Warthogs grazing along the fence of the National Park. If you are lucky, you’ll find Zebras as well.
The simplicity of the campsite adds to the magic of the sunset and compliments nature. On one end, there is a wooden viewing deck that overlooks the National Park with hay covered by Maasai “Shukas” used as seats and tables. Seating up there with a pair of binoculars give you a free pass to see some of the animals that come and graze or drink water in the water hole that’s close to the campgrounds. If you don’t get to see a Rhino, Hippo or an Elephant while you are seated there, you might want to wait until 3 am and listen to the Lions call out to each other. At 3 AM, packs of Lions move from one territory to the other either in search of food or a place to rest. The call is meant to signal to the Lions in that territory that they are coming. Other times they are just fighting over the territory. This is something I later found out when I asked the night guard. Before the sun completely sets, I pick out my spot and set up my tent. My home for the next 3 days. The great thing about ZeNgiri is that they allow you either set up camp or pick one of their pods which are actually very comfortable and warm.
Like any competent camper, you must carry something to eat and something to keep you warm. However, this place has a knack for making you feel at home. The grounds manager made sure we had enough firewood for the fire pit. The cool thing about this fire pit is in the middle of the camping area so when you are warm and ready to sleep, you can just run into your tent and jump into your sleeping bag. The first-night dinner was prepared for us. But the cooking was done by us. Everyone had a role to play in the making of dinner. It was the owner’s way of welcoming everyone and making everyone feel at home. We all shared a meal around the fire pit and traded stories way into the night. It felt like one big family.
Day one of the WRC rally. I’ve never been to a rally before, but my mum had told me stories of her and her sibling going to watch the rally when they were young. Here is why I love this place, while everyone is scrambling to find out the routes the drivers are going to take, for the newbies like us, the owner already has that information including the best places to watch the rally from. Based on the routes mapped out by our host, there is no point in hurrying up. We all settle down to have breakfast which is again family style, and everyone is talking about the noises at night (Lions roaring). Across the fence, some friendly neighbors (Zebras) who happen to also be having breakfast around that time say hi. There is something serene about having breakfast in nature with wild animals roaming around.
Off to the rally we go. We drive to this section of road that leads us into the track mapped out for the rally drivers. One of the officers in charge of closing off the area shows us a good spot to sit and wait for the cars to pass by. I think we ended up towards the end of one leg because we waited for a long time before the cars came. A few people gave up and drove away, but the officer told us to be patient. So, we waited. And boy did the patience pay off. The moment we saw dust from a distance we knew it was time and we had the best view. There is a thrill you get if you enjoy speed. As the cars approached, the crowds began growing. These are people who’ve been chasing the rally cars from the start and here I am waiting for the cars at the end of the leg. To say I was dangerously close to the tracks is an understatement.
I do like the adrenaline that comes with speed, but I don’t like to overindulge myself.
One day just watching the race was more than enough. For the rest of the weekend, I wanted to enjoy the peace and quiet that comes with being off the grid. ZeNgiri has a pretty good balance of that. The network can be spotty which is good if you don’t want to be bombarded with calls and notifications. Besides the name is fitting for the place. I got to spend time with the owner and learnt about the origin of the place. She wanted to create a place that is Zen but there are also the Warthogs “Ngiri” in Swahili hence ZeNgiri. Best of both worlds if you ask me. The place is calm and peaceful, and you can watch the animals from the viewing deck, and you’ll never miss seeing a “Ngiri”. It was by far my favorite camping trip and long weekend all wrapped into one. I can’t wait to go back again.
Originally published at http://ireenkui.wordpress.com on July 18, 2022.
