CW 37: 5 DAYS CHYULU HILLS WALKING SAFARI

Day 1
Depart Nairobi around 0800, for the 3 hour drive down the Mombasa road to Kibwezi. Here we will leave the tarmac, and take a dirt road, (probably an optimistic term for it), for the 30 km to where we start walking to the caves. First though, lunch of cold cuts, salads, bread and cheese, cold beer or soft drink, then an hour walk to the entrance of the caves. Afternoon spent exploring.

Day 2
Explore sections of one of the longest "Lava Tube" caves in the world - Leviathan. These caves, which world-wide, are relatively rare, are thought to have been formed when molten lava, of specific type and viscosity flowed down a slope of a specific angle. The surface layer cooled and solidified, but the lower part, still molten, continued to flow on down. At this point, somewhere up the hillside a collapse of the surface crust occurred through which air enters, and so a tube evacuated itself just below the surface. Afternoon and the evening spent down in the caves looking at some of the fascinating formations found therein - Sink holes, lava ropes, stalagmites and stalactites, benches and of course the secondary, water formed features.

Day 3
Early morning departure by road for the top of the Chyulu Hills. Superb walking country with gently undulating grasslands, interspersed with dense patches of forest. Possibility of viewing herds of eland and other antelope, giraffe, zebra and wildebeest with slightly lesser chance to see elephant, lion and buffalo and the other game that live in the area. Probable views of Kilimanjaro just 50 km away. Night somewhere along the crest. Probably cool and windy with low cloud in the early morning.

Day 4
Full day of walking

Day 5
Early morning game drive or short walk before a late breakfast early lunch . It's then along the crest road and down the western side of the hills for the drive back to Nairobi arriving before nightfall.
Options are of course many and varied and in many cases we can be flexible about the itinerary whilst we are actually on the safari. One may, for instance, wish to spend an extra day caving (or cut out a day), thus spend less time (or longer) walking the Chyulus.