CLIMBING MOUNT OLOLOKWE

Life is meant for spectacular adventures. Let your feet wander, your eyes marvel and your soul ignite.

For those who have been following my very inconsistent blog, Mount Ololokwe is not new on these streets. I first saw this table mountain in 2017 on a random road trip to Marsabit. In 2018 I attempted to hike it but bad luck struck and we had to turn back. I promised myself I would go back.

Mt. Ololokwe 2017

I first saw this table mountain in 2017 on a random road trip to Marsabit with my friend. We took a few photos as we drove by and moved on without giving it much thought. Getting to the top of the mountain never really crossed my mind at that time but fast forward to March 2018 my interest in hiking was born…

After my Mt. Longonot summit, I felt confident enough to go for more hikes so my friends and I planned a hiking trip to Mt. Ololokwe. We set out early from Nanyuki but everything about that day was just wrong. We got stuck in a lugga (dry sand river bed) then I started feeling unwell within the first 10 minutes of the hike. I struggled up to the halfway point and then we had to call it off and go back down.

Later that night, we had a puncture, lost our spare wheel and were stuck in the cold up to 3AM the next day before we figured out how to get home… Despite the streak of bad luck and mishaps, I promised myself I would go back to the mountain and hike to the end (I actually wrote ‘hike Mt. Ololokwe to the end’ on my 2019 planner).

In August 2019…I connected with a group of photographers and film makers from Nanyuki who felt that we should do a hike/photography challenge. Since I had been to the mountain before, these amazing guys gave me the honor of planning the trip and to watch it come to fruition was a dream come true.

We got to the base of mountain in time for the most beautiful sunrise. We made our payments, got a guide (sadly not Jackson from 2018) and then we were on our way.

Everyone was in high spirits which kept us motivated on our way up. We would stop occasionally to take in the view, film and take photos…

When we made it to the “summit” I literally felt my body become light and although I was trying to play it cool I was overwhelmed and felt such a huge sense of accomplishment. Standing on that mountain top looking out to miles and miles of empty spaces was pure magic.

We had a mini team building led by the amazingly talented Alex Kibaria of Kibaria travels (check him out for amazing travel deals) then we had a photography challenge led by Gptech photography, Niki Robert’s and Ben-son photogram.

In pursuit of the perfect photo

I thought getting to the summit was the hard part but turns out I was wrong. Going down was tough. I felt like I couldn’t control my body but at least I was in the company of my witty new friend miss Maureen. The stories kept us going all the way to base camp where we were treated to a really delicious meal prepared by Sabache camp.

Side note

I didn’t like our guide for this hike… He came off as rude, acted as if he was bothered by our questions,refused to go at our pace and didn’t take us to the very end of the mountain.

The guide…

Apart from that I had an amazing hiking experience which cannot fully be captured in these photos.

I hope you like them as much as we did.

A group photo at the base of the mountain…

A group photo at the top of the mountain

The view

If you ever want to visit Sabache camp, call Dipa +254726991597… He will organize everything for you…

Thank you for reading…