The incredible, steep, strikingly dramatic and beautiful Ndoto Mountains!! this time I focus on Upe the second highest peak, which I climbed with some of the family this month!..
The Ndoto Mountains taken from the Lenkiyou range (Matthews).. the great Milgis lugga in front..
The two peaks of the Ndotos.. Alamision and Upe
I have hundreds of pictures of the two peaks of the Ndotos.. I find them mesmerising!
Ndotoi.. this is where the name Ndoto comes from!! Where ever theres an amazing view, or a good gathering spot, you find a game board, or two, even three, as in this case gouged into the rocks!
Upe (left) and Alimission taken from the East.. a small rain shower
Manmanet, Upe and Alamision.. Taken from Lkwe, northern peak of Lenkiyou
Every year, we as a family, try to climb a special mountain or rock to remember Simon..
‘S’ for Simon!.. naturaly formed on some rocks in the Ndotos..
LAST YEAR OUR DESTINATION WAS THE INCREDIBLE ROCK POI….
POI.. the most INCREDIBLE rock jutting out of the East side of the Mountain.. Its unbelievable UP THERE!! From this amazing rock you look across the Kaisut desert towards Marsabit, Huri Hills, Kulal.. AND Simons rocks are in the middle of the arena…
July 2016 on top of POI with the Simons rocks ( Soit ele Salau) in the distance.. (now the ridge back in this picture is named Salau)
Going back.. Down at Soit ele Salau, in 2015.. With the Ndoto line standing proud!.. Poi is the mountain jutting out to the left! Upe in the middle, Alamision our next adventure next along.. and the long ridge is Suruan, where the little premature Elephant NDOTTO was rescued, and is now at DSWT..
The gathering in 2015 on Soit ele Salau.. With the UNmistakable line of the Ndotos in the distance!!
21 airplanes parked in the desert, the occupants came to remember that crazy guy!.. the line of the Ndotos firmly on the sky line!
Its Simons would be birthday 31st July!! so good time to think of him!
This year it was UPE!!!
Thats Upe!!
THE CLIMB!!!
our first camp..
competition to see who can blow up their mattress first!!
breakfast stop in this lovely clearing..
Camp on the ridge below Upe… Looking down on poi ..and Soit ele Salau in the distance
Cold wind but the view was worth every minute..
The next morning the final push!
D4 struggeling up the last few 100 feet!
Carolyn asking ‘somebody’ for help to the top!!
The dogs, SALAU and NDOTO got to the top first.. come on you lot!
D4 on the TOP.. He felt like he was flying!!
A special moment for Peia!
Mama on the top.. With a clear message on her back.. I came to love NOT to fight.. from the elephants..
The gang!.. WE MADE IT… D4, his friend Timmy, me, Carolyn and ‘Modon’ on top of UPE..
On our way down, we noticed the clouds moving in!! Poi slowly disapearing
Poi disapearing into the clouds…
the flowers were JUST amazing!..
Protea
who would like to identify this perfect flower
gladiola
????? who knows what this beautiful succulent is!
ferns and amazing flowers
blow
perfect
off to south Ndoto .. towards Soito Puss then through Manmanet to descend another route
looking back at Upe from Soito Puss
The magical colours of this insect
the the incredible varied forest trees!
The ‘knife’ bridge to cross over into Manmanet forest.. The elephants have to pull their stomachs in to get across, as theres a big rock in the way!, its strait down on both sides 2000 feet to the bottom
At least it would be a soft landing into this forest below!
The trees in Manmanet are amazing!
our camp in the forest
Looking back at Upe from our loo!!
The view down the valley from our camp.. Also a reminder of what is in stall for us tomorrow.. DOWN, DowN down!
A nice surprise, beautiful pool on our descent
A spot of Tarzan swinging!
The whole team that climbed the mountain!
Our next escapade is Alamision… Peia will stand on the top with Pete and any one else that is game!!
Alamision is the next plan!!
These mountains are jewels of this planet, the diversity, the scenery, the plants, the animals and birds, insects, cameleons, frogs etc etc and we were totally mesmerized by its beauty BUT there is much work to do to stop burning.. ( see below ) mostly caused by casual honey gatherers, but some on purpose to just be TOTALLY destructive, ( as was this one.. we even have his name) despite the fact that he and his family need the mountain to survive, some are caused by politics, or job seekers, and a few accidental!!.. How ever they started it has to come to an end as these water towers are vitally important for the pastoral peoples.. SO we have to work extra hard to make sure this STOPS… .. WE HAVE TO CATCH/PUNISH THE PERPETRATORS AND ALWAYS NEED YOUR HELP… This particular fire was terribly destructive sadly and was right up the mountain luckily it stopped at the main tree line on the top..
the sad destruction of fires
a huge unnecessary fire that burnt the whole side of the mountain!
WOW – just wow. What a marvellous way to remember Simon and what a stunningly beautiful place. Lucky people! Thank you so much for sharing the photos.
Truly awesome photos Helen! Thank you for all you do