Olorgesailie and Lake Magadi
Duration: 1 day
Costs: Total cost per person KES 4500 (~$45)
Olorgesailie is an ancient lake basin renowned for the discovery a large accumulation of acheulian hand axes and large mammal faunal remains. The site located in Kajiado country, about 70km from Nairobi along the Magadi road. Olorgesailie has excellent preserved biological and cultural evidence about the evolution of man. Sediments from the site have revealed evidence for humid climate the middle Pleistocene that gave rise to the succession of temporary lakes and swamps that exist in the area then. At the site is a National Museums of Kenya Site museum displaying under a catwalk, the large accumulations of Acheulian hand axes, large animal fossils with an interpretation museum and site boards.
Lake Magadi is a sodium carbonate alkaline lake in Southern Rift Valley of Kenya near the Tanzania. It is mainly fed by hot springs around the edges of the lake with relatively minor additions from the monsoonal rains and is covered by water for only a short period during the year. When this relatively thin layer of water accumulated during the wet season evaporates it exposes a vast pan of trona, hydrated sodium bicarbonate carbonate (Na3 (HCO3)(CO3)·2(H2O). The trona is ‘mined’ and purified by the Magadi Soda Company and the resulting soda ash (sodium carbonate (Na2CO3) is sold for a variety of industrial uses including glass manufacturing, fabric dyeing and paper production. Lake Magadi is an amazing unique and serene destination for nature lovers, bird lovers and adventure camping tourists. Endowed with a wide variety of bird species, the lake’s spectacular geographical landscape to the northern part serves as the main attraction to many visitors in search of pristine camping grounds in vast wilderness. A number of wildlife species can also found around the lake including giraffes, antelopes, ostriches, zebras, wildebeests, hyenas, and a few lion families among others.
Hyrax Hill and Kariandusi Prehistoric Sites and Lake Nakuru National Park, Nakuru County
Duration: 1 day
Costs: Total cost per person KES 10500 (~$105)
Hyrax Hill Prehistoric site is a regional museum of the National Museums of Kenya located in the Rift Valley on the Nairobi - Nakuru highway about 150 kms from Nairobi. The site is on a prominent rocky lava ridge (Hyrax Hill) measuring about 25000m2 and rising to 50m above the surrounding plain, about 4kms from Nakuru town, Nakuru County. The ridge owes its name to numerous rock hyraxes, Procavia capensis, that to date inhabit the area and can be occasionally spotted living in the cracks within the rock. There are several Pastoral Neolithic and Iron Age archaeological sites on the hill. The area also has beach sands indicating that a fresh water lake once extended right to the base of the hill; turning the hill into a peninsular or even an island. The mighty prehistoric lake is believed to have covered the valley from Nakuru to Lake Elementaita about 8,500 years ago. Together with other sites in the region, this site has helped our understanding of the transition from a hunting and gathering way of life to greater dependence on food production, especially pastoral activities in these high grasslands.
Kariandusi archaeological site lies on the eastern side of the Rift Valley, about 120- km North West of Nairobi; and about 2 km to the east of Lake Elementaita (Nakuru – Elementaita) basin which occupies the width of the Rift valley, flanked by Menengai crater on the North and the volcanic pile of Mount Eburu, on the South. The Kariandusi archaeological site is an Acheulian technology site dated to between 700k and 1mya and is amongst the first discoveries of Early Stone Age stone tool industry in situ in East Africa. The Acheulian technology to which this site belongs, is the earliest stone tool technology so far found outside Africa in France, England, Indonesia, Georgia, Spain, China etc., indicating that the hominin makers of these tools were possibly the first hominins to immigrate out of Africa. The site was initially interpreted as a factory site of the Acheulian period due to large number of hand axes found lying on the surface in the Kariandusi River bed. There is also geological evidence at the site to show that in the past, large lakes, sometimes hundreds of meters higher than the present Lake Nakuru and Elementaita occupied this basin.
Lake Nakuru National Park is located in the central Rift Valley, some 156km northwest of Nairobi. The park consists of a wide range of ecological diversity and varied habitats including woodlands, bush lands, grasslands and the lake itself. Lake Nakuru forms part of the Nakuru-Elementaita basin with two shallow alkaline lakes (Nakuru and Elementaita), whose ancient shoreline deposits indicate that they once formed one large deep lake possibly due to wetter climates during the early Holocene. Diatoms characterizations from lake sediments indicate multiple paleohydrological cycles of suborbital timescales. These records are useful in understanding the long-term climate change record of the region and East Africa as a whole. Scenic volcanoes, ridges and escarpments surround the Lake and the park is an ideal place for game drives, hiking, bird watching and picnics.
Nairobi Animal Orphanage - Giraffe Center - David Shedrick Elephant Orphanage
Duration: 1 day
Costs: Total cost per person KES 10000 (~$100)
The Nairobi Animal Orphanage is located in the Nairobi National Park. It serves a treatments and rehabilitation center for wild animals. The Orphanage hosts lions, cheetahs, hyenas, jackals, serval cats, rare sokoke cats, warthogs, leopards, various monkeys, baboons and buffalo. Various birds can also be viewed including parrots, guinea fowls, crowned cranes and ostriches.
Giraffe Centre is a giraffe breeding centre for Rothschild’s Giraffes. Visitors to the center learn about the breeding program and about giraffe biology. Visitors also get the opportunity to hand feed the giraffes and interact with them more and take close-up pictures.
David Shedrick Elephant Orphanage cares for and rehabilitates back into the wild orphaned elephants. Visitors learn about the source of the orphaned elephants and how they got to the centre, how they are cared for, elephant biology, threats to the species, their feeding and possibly how to adopt one.
Mt. Longonot- Hells gate - Olkaria Geothermal Areas
Duration: 1 day
Costs: Total cost per person KES 10000 (~$100)
This geologic field trip provides an opportunity to examine the volcanic, tectonic and sedimentary evolution of the Central Kenya rift in one of its most classic sections. We will hike up Mt. Longonot and examine caldera volcanism, rift segmentation and the role of volcanic versus structural barriers in creating accommodation space; early tectonic evolution, normal faulted blocks and fumarole activity occurring in some sections. Mt Longonot is about 0.4 Ma old, formed of perakaline trachytic pyroclastic rocks and alkali basalt lava flows, with elevation maximum elevation of 2776 m asl.
In Hell’s gate National park, north of Mt. Longonot we will discuss oscillating lake levels, connectivity between different basins; spatial characteristics of sedimentary processes and facies distribution; During the Humid period, lake Naivasha outflow to the south created the Ol Njorowa gorge. You will also observe various types of wildlife as we drive through the park.
A third objective is to visit the geothermal company – KENGEN, Olkaria Geothermal Company, the largest in Africa, producing > 700 MW, hosted within Hells gate National Park where you will have a tour of the power generation process, you will also see the steam producing and reinjection wells.
