“Work, Travel, Save, Repeat.” ~ Unknown

After following Winnie (Just Rioba for a while) on Twitter, I finally signed up for one of her girl’s hikes. Winnie has a touring company that caters to girls, girls trips and motivates Kenyan and African girls to travel and explore Kenya and Africa and see what the country and continent has to offer.

What You Need: 
Comfortable hiking shoes – $40 – $50.
Sunglasses.
Sunscreen – SP50.
Sunhat.
2 litres of water.
Mask.
Hand sanitiser.
Comfortable pants and a warm long-sleeved top. The normal gym tights work but carry cargo pants in case the weather changes.
Cargo pants – $10.
Rain coat – $7.
An identification card or a passport.
A backpack.
A camera or a phone with a good camera.
Snacks to last the whole day.

We started the day at 6:00 AM with a small stop at the Nakuru view post. We took some pictures, enjoyed the cold breeze and went for a washroom break before proceeding to Sleeping Warrior.

The hill is accessed via a dirt road off the Nairobi – Nakuru highway through Kikopey town. It’s next to Soysambu, Ugali and Saucer Hills and resembles the head of a warrior facing upwards. The plan is to start with Sleeping warrior, descend, walk to the base of Ugali Hills, ascend Ugali hill, descend and head back to Nairobi before the curfew.

It’s my first hike ever and I’m excited. The ascent is an exercise of sorts and includes lunges and holding on to whatever thickets you can find. We have two guards, one to lead us and show us the trail, and another to ensure that no one is left behind. After a brief exercise at the base of Sleeping Warrior, we start the hike. I handle the ascent easily but the tip of the hill looks so far and yet so near.

The descent, however, is like fighting gravity. Most people have a hard time ascending, I, on the other hand, have a hard time descending. Heights, the fear of rolling and the unstable sand soil have me on my fours some time.

Here’s a video that was taken by Monicah before ascending Sleeping Warrior:

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A post shared by Sarah Nderi (@nderisarah)

After what seems like ages, we get to the other side of Sleeping Warrior. There’s a silkworm plantation in development at the base of Sleeping Warrior. We head over to Ugali Hills after a brief interaction with the workers at the plantation.

Friends, I do not ascend Ugali Hills. My knees are tapped out and my body says no. I and some other girls head to the bus. In my defence, Sleeping Warrior is difficult to a moderate hill to hike and I learn that I should have started with Ngong Hills to assimilate myself to hiking.

Nonetheless, it was a fun, new experience and I’ll definitely do it again in future. To join Just Rioba on her girl’s trips, follow her on Twitter or subscribe to her site/newsletter.

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