Assorted fun on the cheaper side of idyllic Lake Naivasha

It was a grey morning in Nairobi last Sunday, so we took off and gambled on finding the sun at Lake Naivasha. We went via the low road down the escarpment – the road built by Italian prisoners during the Second World War.

The views over the Rift Valley are more dramatic than from the high road – the road to Nakuru.

However, as this is the route the lorries are obliged to take, it’s certainly not a good idea to compete with them on the way back, because the gradients are steep, the queues of vehicles can be long, and overtaking is almost as risky as playing Russian roulette.

As it was, we were very nearly taken out by a lorry overtaking on a blind bend and where there was no run-off. The driver’s only action was to flash his lights. I braked sharply and he swerved past us by a whisker.

Otherwise, we could have been pitched down into the Kedong Valley – which means, so I have been made to understand, “the place of skulls”.

Actually, we were hit later on that day – by a donkey and cart. We were driving along a narrow track in the mistaken belief that it would lead to Hippo Camp. And there was this donkey pulling a cart laden with firewood.

I did what my father used to advise me to do when a road was narrow or icy: “Stop and let them go round you,” he used to say. That was precisely what I did. The cart slewed and an overhanging tree root gouged a groove along the side of the car.

I don’t think, though, that these were the kinds of dangers that the people at Africa Travel Resource had in mind when they were reviewing the Marina Lodge on the south-east corner of the lake.

“Since we do not recommend road trips into this area of Naivasha,” its website says, “we need not worry about whether this lodge is worth considering.”

Oh dear, this is the kind of over-reaction to security issues that the Kenyan tourism industry could do without, isn’t that so?

The Marina Lodge and Campsite was one of the places we were looking for — focusing on some of the cheaper accommodation options in the south-east corner of Lake Naivasha.

It used to be called Burch’s Marina, a very low-key place of bandas, tents and boats by the lake side. Now, it has been re-branded and refurbished as Lake Naivasha Crescent Camp.

It has gone up-market with 20 luxury tents – and a price for residents of Sh15,000 for a double bed and breakfast.

But I wonder... There has been such a mushrooming of lodges — budget, mid-range and expensive — along the Moi South Lake Road. Is there really room for them all?

The new Crescent Camp seemed already rather forlorn. There was just one couple having a coffee on the bar terrace. Maybe, again, Singapore has got it right. The expansion of its tourist industry is a planned one: a new establishment is approved only when research shows that there is demand for it.

Favourite destination

But, tourists aside, Lake Naivasha is, of course, the favourite weekend or day-trip destination for Nairobians. It was with this in mind that we were exploring a few of its lower-priced choices.

From the Crescent Camp we crossed the road to one of the longer established places – the Yellow Green Hotel. No re-furbishing and re-branding here. It has no lake side, but it does have a fairly large garden, and the rows of rooms are softened by flourishing bougainvillea shrubs.

And the rooms, though smallish, are clean, fairly well-appointed, and very reasonable for their price: Sh3,500 for a single, and Sh5,000 for a double, bed and breakfast.

In the main building, the dining room is bright and welcoming, with tables covered with red and white cloths. The waitresses are smart and welcoming, in their black and white uniforms.

Round the corner, there is a nyama choma joint, bar and lounge – that I guess can get quite lively on Friday and Saturday nights.

Back towards Naivasha, there’s the Hippo Camp and Wildlife Sanctuary of the Kenya Wildlife Service. This is set in acacia woodland and it goes down to the eastern shore of the lake.

There are toilets, showers and shelters for picnics. The prices for camping and access to the sanctuary are Sh550 for citizens and Sh850 for residents. You need to bring your own tent, but you can hire mattresses and blankets.

And although these places are in the south-east corner of the lake, they are within easy reach of the Hell’s Gate National Park, the Longonot National Park, the Elsamere Conservation Centre – and Lake Naivasha itself, with its walks, waters and wildlife.

John Fox is Managing Director iDC