Fourteen Falls

On Sunday we all drove about 60km northwest of Nairobi, to a national site called “Fourteen Falls”. It was the first time we’d been out of the city and it was absolutely beautiful! As we continued to drive further from the city, the landscape began to get green and lush. After an hour or so we found ourselves driving on a dirt road, the side of the road spotted with pineapple and corn fields, and streams with little children splashing around in them.
When we arrived at the falls, a handful of young men came up to us, asking us if we needed a tour. At this point we didn’t know what they meant by a tour, but within ten minutes, we understood. After greeting each other, the two men who we chose to be our tour guides began taking off their pants and shoes. We had come prepared to get a little muddy at the falls, but hadn’t prepared for what adventures lay ahead.
We walked down to the edge of the rocky river, that flowed into the falls. One of the guides reached for my hand, and instructed I grab Noxy’s hand and she grab Simon’s hand, forming a line. The other guide instructed my host mom and Tumi make a line of their own behind him.
The next thing we knew we were crossing the rushing river, using each others weight to keep us from slipping. Within just a few minutes, our pants were completely soaking. We were overcome with a strange combination of excitement and fear. In order to avoid getting swept under, we followed the exact steps of the guide for the whole way across the wide river.
When we got across the river, we climbed down a ways in order to get the best view of the falls. They were absolutely magnificent and thanks to our guides who offered to take pictures for us, we have some stunning photos of the falls and even some pictures of some local boys jumping off the falls.
We decided on taking the wooden boat back, instead of trekking through the river again. When we returned to the side our cars was on we took out the food and blankets we had brought for our picnic and invited our friends (tour guides) to join us. They were so grateful for our generosity and we were more than happy to share our food with them, having all noticed how skinny they were. After lunch we packed up and said “farewell” to our newfound friends and the magnificent falls.
It was an amazing place and it was really wonderful to get out of the city and see beautiful rural Kenya. Fourteen falls is one of the most stunning sites I’ve ever seen, so untouched by anything unnatural like bridges or motor boats. Pure and