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The Elementaita that was

ELEMENTAITA, Kenya, Aug 28 – I’ll call him Xavier; the perfect silver Toyota with handsome shocks that transported three of my pals and I to Elementaita last weekend.

We took the back route from Nairobi and save for a few trucks, the trip was pretty fast and exciting. It was almost as if we were kids again and being told that we could finally go and play with the neighbours kids. That kind of excitement.

The road is almost perfect and no matter how many times I’ve seen it, that escarpment as the road weaves and twists its way towards Mai Mahiu always leaves me breathless. I even told Xavier to pay attention.

We stopped in Naivasha town to buy lollipop and I just thought it was strange that you could get them at La Belle Inn? Do you think they sell lollipop at the Stanley for instance? Or even Buffet Park?

Anyway, the sun was not strutting its stuff this afternoon, and I would advise anyone going there not to imagine that since it’s a holiday it will be hotter than Nairobi!

Lake Elementaita Country Lodge was where we were headed. It’s been around for eight months but I had never ever ever heard of it. I wondered why because this information usually gets to me very quickly.

There is an arch above the gate – beautifully designed with cream walls and grey stone jutting out in a neat rectangle near the bottom. Xavier’s tyre’s cruised on the small gravel stretch leading to the hotel. Interesting; it’s almost all entirely grey. There were dark grey walls (stone) on the four blocks of rooms, which according to the manager, numbered 28.

I didn’t get to the rooms as quickly as I thought. We relaxed by the pool but had to sit a bit far from the water as we shielded ourselves from this terrible wind (don’t forget that sweater/jacket) which burned my skin. Their chicken was ok, the beef wasn’t all that, but the rice and the banana (yes, fruit) after dinner was good.

The wind cut into our bonfire time; the struggle lasted one hour before I resolved to go inside and listen to some Capital FM. I’m not bragging, but the rest of the group joined in plus guests at the hotel and we had ourselves a very long party purely sponsored by DJ Adrian that ended at 3am (for me at least!).

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There was a lovely purple on the duvet that looked just as good if not better in the morning. And the view was amazing. I wondered how extraordinary it would look like with water! We really do need to plant trees…

With a double room going for Sh8,000 I know I am definitely going back there. I hope the management gets more waiters who match the competence displayed by the day-time manager. Then it will all be hunky-dory merely two hours from the busy bustle of Nairobi.

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