THE devils mountain,

Kenya is one of the places in the world full of geographical mystery like the great exodus of the beast in Masai Mara game reserve to Serengeti national park every year, the man eaters of Tsavo, the Great Rift Valley and the Menengai crater. Today I would like to talk about the Menengai crater located in the Great Rift Valley. Menengai crater is a massive shield volcano with the biggest calderas in the world.

Menengai is located 10 km (6 miles) from the fourth largest city in Kenya Nakuru. The crater has an elevation of about 2,278 m (7,474 ft.) this crater has had a lot of rumors and hence named as THE DEVILS MOUNTAIN. Menegai name came from the kikuyu word that’s means place of many gods. Most locals had a lot of theories about the place hence I decided to visit.
It was our one year anniversary as adventure club when we decided the place to visit was the M

enengai crater. We prepared for one week but days ended with a flash, the D-day was here we were all prepared to camp and hike. The journey began at 6:00 am from Nairobi to Nakuru. The journey seemed quiet as everyone was busy chatting with girlfriends and pals but on reaching the escarpment of the Great Rift Valley all were fascinated by the view. We started taking pictures of the rift valley and down there all we could see were tiny, shiny roof tops. All I could see were flashes of the cameras as pals took some selfies, guess the social media had traffic jams as pic were uploaded. I could talk more about the moment but that’s not the aim of my writing.

We proceeded to the town where magic happens Nakuru. The town is a major tourist destination as there is the Nakuru national park famous for the flamingos and birds and also the Menengai crater. We proceeded to the crater 10 km from the town. On reaching we came across the Kenya forest guards who explained the process and we paid ksh250 as the entrance fee to the top of the crater. The place was parked with tourists, curio shops and guides. We went to the camping site where we rested and changed. The sunset came and in the skies the clouds formed several shapes as the light faded and darkness encroached taking over.

We were accompanied by other hikers and the locals who would teach us about the place. An elderly man cleared his throat and started telling us about the crater. He began “my name is Mr. Karanja and I have leaved here since 1972 to date and I have seen all. “Tension began and I found myself holding my girlfriend’s hands against mine, that was weird as the story had not begun and was already afraid. Mr. Karanja continued  ...”strange things has happened people have been lost never to be traced, others have been lost and when found they are at a trance, there has been rumors that there is usually drums at night as it’s the ghosts dancing, the smokes during the day are the ghosts cooking and …’’ he gave a big pause and everyone was attentive waiting to hear the next feary thing he had to say. He continued “others believe that the crater is haunted by evil spirit that capture people and animals and hide them in the in the netherworld”. Everyone was scared and as he concluded he advised as to just make our own decision and he left. The camp was filled with tension and people went to their camps not even the camp drama was witnessed all were indoors those who had come for pilgrimage could be heard praying and others drunk to eliminate fear. Nobody wanted to go out of the camps alone even to pee you could hear girls whispering to their boyfriends to take them outside but the boy could go unwillingly.

When the night was still and silence there was a roaring of hyenas and girls screamed, and my girlfriend grabbed me on the waists and I could hear her heart beat against my back. The night seemed long but the dawn had arrived. We prepared for our hikes and as we were walking Mr. Karanja broke the silence by telling us that nobody has ever seen the ghost it’s just the rumors about the place. Everyone was confused and as we finished our hike we got a call that there was an emergency and we had to be back to Nairobi .on our way everyone talked about the previous night, how they were sleepless and scared that was a camp never to forget.