Cole’s Ultimate View
The cache, a small press-top cylindrical tablet camo-pot, is hidden near the obelisk memorial to Lord Cole erected by his wife at a spectacular viewpoint overlooking the lake.
Lake Elmenteita (aka Elementaita) is a soda lake, in the Great Rift Valley, about 120 km northwest of Nairobi, Kenya. The name is derived from the Masaai word muteita, meaning ‘dusty place’, a reference to the dry and dusty quality of the area, especially between January and March. It is located between Lake Naivasha to the south and Lake Nakuru to the north just west of the main Nairobi-Nakuru highway which runs along the lower slopes of the nearby eastern escarpment of the Rift Valley giving passing motorists a spectacular vista down towards the lake and beyond.
At the southern end of the lake are the Kekopey hot springs, in which Tilapia grahami breed. Very popular for bathing, the local Maasai even claim the spring water can cure AIDS. The reed beds nearby are fishing grounds for night herons and pelicans.
The Lake Elmenteita area saw its first white settlement when Lord Delamere (1879-1931) established Soysambu, a 48,000-acre (190 sq km) ranch, on the western side of the lake. Delamere gave the land on the other side of the lake to his brother-in-law, the Honorable Galbraith Lowry Egerton Cole (1881-1929), part of whose Kekopey Ranch, where he is buried, is preserved today as the Lake Elementaita Lodge.
Soysambu ranch is still occupied by Lord Delamere's descendants, including the controversial Thomas P. G. Cholmondeley who has been instrumental in setting up the Soysambu conservancy. The conservancy covers 2/3 of the shoreline and is home to over 12,000 wild animals.
Lake Elmenteita has been a Ramsar site since 2005 (a wetland of international importance) with over 400 bird species recorded in the Lake Nakuru/Lake Elmenteita basin. Elmenteita especially attracts (sometimes up to a million) visiting Greater and Lesser Flamingoes which feed on the lake's crustacean and insect larvae and on its suspended blue-green algae, respectively. Tilapia were introduced to the lake from Lake Magadi in 1962 and since then the flamingo population has dwindled considerably. The tilapia attract many fish-eating birds that also feed upon the flamingo eggs and chicks. Over a million birds that formerly bred at Elmenteita are now said to have sought refuge at Lake Natron in Tanzania. The lake's shores are grazed by zebra, gazelle, eland and warthog.
The lake is normally very shallow (<1 m deep) and bordered by trona-encrusted mudflats during the dry seasons. Trona is trisodium hydrogendicarbonate dihydrate which is used as the main source of sodium carbonate, and is commercially mined at Lake Magadi south west of Nairobi (see here for more info).
During the late Pleistocene and early Holocene periods, Lake Elmenteita was at times united with and expanded Lake Nakuru, forming a much larger dilute lake. Remnants of the former joined lake are preserved as sediments at various locations around the lake basins, including former shorelines.
Due to prolonged droughts in 2008-9 and again in 2011 when catchment areas dried up (exacerbated by ever increasing human activity in the area) the lake level fell dramatically to such an extent that it became possible to walk across the lake on dry land! (See article here) The numbers of flamingoes also decreased during with loss of their required habitat. The lake level also rises and falls each year depending upon the amount of rain received in the catchment areas during the long and short rainy seasons and the extent and intensity of the dry season. At the time of placing the cache the lake level was at its highest for a long period, such that the hot springs area to the south of the lake was completely covered and it was not possible to drive along the lake shore, thus making possible an attractive circuit around the escarpment where the memorial is located passing the southern end of the lake (see gallery photos).
Elmenteita Badlands is a lava flow area south of the lake, covered in bush and including some spectacularly scenic volcanic peaks.
To Reach the Cache Location:
Turn off the main Nairobi-Nakuru highway at the signed access road for Lake Elementaita Lodge at S 00 27.787 E 036 16.907 and make your way through the security gate to the parking area of the Lodge. At the lodge reception, make arrangements for access (by way of a locked gate) to the Nature Trail +/- Benson Supiupiu, a Maasai naturalist as required. Although the nature trail has been mentioned as costing Kshs 1,000 - this would be for a full 3-hour trail with Benson - which is well worth it if you want to spend time bird-watching. It should be possible to negotiate access (with your vehicle) to the cache area, for a much reduced rate - provided it is without the guide and for a short period.
To Find the Cache:
Head down the track across the grassy plain to the obelisk memorial and after absorbing the wonderful view from Lord Cole’s favourite spot, observe the area immediately to the north along the ridge. You will see a huge cactus about 10m away and another 10m beyond that a small bush beneath/to the side of which the cache is hidden behind a rock in the gap between the large rock and a smaller one.
Note: on arrival at the memorial there may be local herders in the area or you may be approached by local Maasai children simply curious to meet and greet you or maybe also wishing to sell you some of the beautiful pink cactus flowers which are in profusion at certain times of year. You will then need to employ suitable diversionary anti-muggle or stealth tactics in order not to compromise the cache location during retrieval and replacement. Kindly ensure that cache is replaced carefully, correctly and completely hidden from view.
Thanks are due to the Manager of the Lodge for kind permission to place the cache.