Camping atop the Green Hills of Africa
- L. S. Thomas
- 1 day ago
- 10 min read
“All I wanted to do now was get back to Africa. We had not left it, yet, but when I would wake in the night I would lie, listening, homesick for it already.”
~Ernest Hemingway
After long last, since Hemingway's timeless book infected me, I had the chance to visit the covetous 'Green Hills' myself and spend a night there camping. This is the record of my experience.
Prologue - Conversation with Ranger Alli
Through one of the teachers at my mom's school, I managed to get into contact with a Kenyan Wildlife Service (KWS) Ranger that worked at the National Park, Ranger Alli. This is how our conversation went - at least the interesting parts;
L: "When we get to the park, will there be signs that guide us to the satellite camp? On top of the hill?"
R. Alli: "Yes, there are signs, there is only one road, it will take you."
L: "Has it been raining heavily there?"
R. Alli: "Yes it has, usually in the evenings, early mornings. Now it hasn’t rained, so it's good."
L: "Is there any chance of running into animals there? Have there been any sightings?"
R. Alli: "Yes, big five are here. Lion once or twice. Sometimes leopard."
L: "Ok, will it be ok?"
R. Alli: "Yes, it's ok."
Day 1 - Thursday, May 8th, 2025.
7:00am - Nervous expectation. Driver late. Want to hit the road before traffic builds up on the highway. Everything packed and ready to go. Only staying for one night, parents packed enough food for one week. I told them fasting is also an option, they don’t listen to me. Borrowed a 'rungu' - a wooden stick from one of the askaris (security) at the school gate. The Maasai are known to use a simple wooden stick as protection from the predators on the grasslands. If they can, why can't I? Hopefully it doesn’t come to that. If this is my last blog entry, this is my final message to you, dear reader; love unconditionally.
8:30am - Finally on the road! Driver is a chill guy around my age named Dennis, a true and true Nairobian. He is smart, well educated and knowledgeable - We will get along well. The car is a 2017 Toyota Landcruiser Prado - a 4x4 is a necessity for this trip, and with 3000cc of horsepower, it should do the job. The only mystery now is how he handles the highways of Kenya. As usual we get stuck for half an hour at the underpass. The Khat chewers haven't quite occupied the roads, but all the parents dropping off their kids and returning home are causing the jam. At long last, we are on Mombasa Highway - destination, Makueni.
10:00am - Drive is uneventful so far. Dennis seems to have mastered the art of overtaking. Truck after truck is left behind, forced to inhale our Prado's dust. We talk about our respective lives, mine in Canada, his in Kenya. Fascinatingly, he was part of the June 25th protests that occurred in Nairobi. They garnered international attention as this was the largest scale peaceful protest that has happened in Nairobi, perhaps ever. 'Blood Parliament - BBC Africa Eye Documentary' is an amazing video that details what happened. Protesters set out to peacefully protest, but the governemnt didnt listen, so they set out to occupy the parliament. I asked him if he was aware of the January 6th protests that happened in the States. He said he wasn’t. Even worse was the tragedy of the police opening fire on civilians, resulting in three people being shot dead, and many more injured. Despite the losses, he was hopeful that this was a testament of the power of the people, that when united, can stand against corruption and theft in the government. Thanks to the protest, the sitting president, William Ruto, who is a burglar in presidential clothes, had to revise the annual financial budget, which was the main cause of the protest - as it allocated funds into the pockets of those in power, rather than the citizens of the country. To hear that Dennis was part of the protest, on the ground, giving his heart and soul for the country he loved, at risk of losing that very soul, impressed me greatly. Gen Z really stood up for the country. There is yet hope for our generation.
12:00pm - Finally we reach Makueni, and slaves to our grumbling stomachs, decide to make a stop at the Hunter's Lodge. Hemingway, being an avid hunter himself, would surely have agreed with our choice of restaurant. The Hunter's Lodge is beautiful, with vibrant, fruiting trees dotted around rustic lodges, and a tiny creek running beside it. A shaky, wooden bridge crosses the creek, and entire families of baboons hang on the trees above - waiting for the opportunity to grab some spare food. Lining the walls of the insides, are various wooden carvings of Maasai warriors, skulls of wild animals and for some odd reason, a large metallic Buddha face worked onto a canvas as big as me - I liked this very much. To our great upset, we were told our food would take 45 minutes to prepare - but with nothing else to do, we decided to walk around until it was ready. Finally, a plate of barbeque pork ribs and french-fries (chips as we call them here) was served to us. It was truly worth the wait, as the ribs were sauced in an immaculately tasty sweet and sour sauce, with sukuma (spinach) on the side. As we ate with many slurps and swigs, a small grey cat with black stripes approached me and asked for a bite, meowing his heart out. My heart was torn as it looked like Sasuke (my cat in Canada) when he was just a wee little kitten. With heavy heart I had to shoo him away, the poor thing. With our bellies full, we hit the road again, expecting to reach the National Park Main gate in less than an hour.
12:45pm - Something very interesting happened at this moment, perhaps ten minutes before the main gate. A police on the roadside waved vigorously for us to pull over, in order to 'collect his dues'. Dennis slowed the car until it was just in front of the officer. The officer was on his phone and turned away for a second. At that moment, he stepped on the accelerator, and the car shot away, leaving the police looking like a fool and covered in our dust. Dennis's quick thinking saved us the harassment and perhaps thousands of shillings, especially since I (a muhindi - Indian) was there. I was thoroughly shocked that he had done this at first, but he assured me that the cop wouldn’t chase us because, he isn't stopping us for a valid reason - just to collect bribes. He then proceeded to say a statement that should be spray-painted on every police station in Kenya; 'Police are just criminals in uniform.'
I thought back to the time I was arrested in 2016 and put in a holding cell because of 'walking at night'. This incident, finally, gave me some closure. The police became a running joke for the rest of the trip. Life always finds a way to correct itself. And the great Karmic cycle continues…
1:00pm - We finally arrive at he Chyulu Hills National Park Main Gate. On the way, to my great excitement, we saw many towering baobab trees. We decided we would stop to see them on the way out. At the gate we met with a Ranger Paul. He directed us on how to pay our fees, and sent us on the way to the park headquarters, where all the KWS rangers stay and do administrative work. Here I got to meet Ranger Alli in person. A friendly and ever smiling ranger, he explained to us all the need to knows and sent us on our way. We took his number in case 'anything happened'. I gave him a 'K' (Ksh. 1000) for assurances. Soon after, we were making our way into the National park. My mind was ablaze - we were here, Hemingway had driven these same routes, had walked these same paths, and now I will too. Everything you want out of life comes true, you just have to be brave enough to go after it. The road to the satellite camp, which was about 35km from the park headquarters, put our Prado through the ringer. It was rocky, sandy, steep, smooth all at once. Our car shook violently at times, and with it, our confidence. At any moment I feared it would tip over or blow a tire. After what seemed like an hour of sitting atop a rodeo bull, we made it to the campsite. Finally, I witnessed the Chyulu hills with my own eyes.
Atop the Green Hills of Africa
No superlatives, no adjectives, no words at all can describe the beauty I saw before me. Even pictures don’t half do it justice. The large, looming hills, covered in swards of grass, verdant, rolling in smooth curves that you wouldn’t expect from nature, like a gentle brushstroke by the hands of a master painter, splayed out in front of me. From my vantage point, I could see so far ahead into the horizon, the entire Earth was in my visibility. I stood and stared for at least twenty minutes, noticing the trees dotted around the hills. The verses of a poem I wrote not so long ago about the Nairobi National Park came to me, and I thought perhaps, it was written too soon and for the wrong place.
'An unparalleled beauty before my eyes,
A timeless land before time… "
Truly an unparalleled beauty stood before my eyes, I can confidently say it was one of the most beautiful, serene, green landscapes I have ever seen and probably will ever see. This was the 'prime country' that Hemingway wrote about, that he so loved to visit. Now, I could see why. A boundless happiness overtook me. I was here, in the middle of it. I lifted my rungu to the sky and proclaimed, for the trees and the animals to hear; "Thank you Hemingway!".
We quickly set up camp in case it rained. Two lone tents atop one lone hill amongst several. We then decided to hike to an even higher hill, for an even better view. We followed some car trails that had already proceeded up that hill. The elevation was mighty, and we didn’t want to risk trying our luck with the Prado. Anyway, hiking was better. The hills are coined 'green hills' because of the continuous growth of tall grass across its vast surface. Intermingled with the grass are flowers and reeds of all sorts. And various acacias, sycamores and shrubs dot the landscape. All kinds of animals call these hills home. From the aforementioned Big Five (lion, leopard, rhinoceros, elephant, and African buffalo) to a variety of antelopes, kudu, eland and dik-dik. Unfortunately, they seem to know where humans camp and steer clear - so animals sightings were few and far between. More pleasant was the sound of birdsongs to the ear. Thousands of birds singing their tune, infusing the hills with a vibrant melody. Atop the taller hill the scene was even better, with the rolling hills on our right, and the vast landscape of Kenya to our left. With the clearer skies, we could even see Mt. Kilimanjaro!
Dennis sat down in a clearing of tall grass and looked out into the horizon, I sat the opposite way and looked out onto the hills, both of us pondering life.
6:30pm - I cannot describe the ethereal, unimaginable beauty of those few precious minutes when golden light causes the tall grass around the hills to catch fire. I won't even try. But if heaven is a real place, I imagine it would look like this.
8:00 pm - When we finally retired in our tents for the night, I was equal parts exhausted and elated. I tried to scribble a few things in my notebook, but my hands felt heavy and my heart felt too full to produce anything meaningful. I put my notebook away and replaced it with my kindle. Was there ever a better time to read the reason that brought me here. I skipped over the dialogues and went straight to the descriptions of the 'country', as Hemingway called it. How accurately had he described them! As a writer, Hemingway was known for clean, honest prose, that isn't written to impress or be grandiloquent. He wanted his readers to experience what he experienced, as accurately and well as possible. Any aspiring writer should study his prose, and Green Hills of Africa is a great place to start.
As the night became darker, the winds became stronger and the air became colder. The night was perhaps my least favorite part about the whole trip, as the constant beating of the winds upon our tents made me worried they would fly away at any moment, and us along with them! Luckily, we made it to morning, and Dennis said he heard my snores late in the night, so I must have caught some good sleep. We woke up bright and early to catch the sunrise. I felt however, that the sunset we had witnessed put any other view to shame.
Day 2 - Friday, May 9th, 2025.
This blog is getting long, and my hand tires. I have a novel to write, so I shall cut it short here. The day we left was characterized by losing our way back several times, exploring the Kisula caves (briefly - as it was terrifying to be in there) and stopping to see the magnificent baobab trees. Soon, we were speeding down Mombasa Highway heading back to Nairobi. Dennis's expert driving got us back promptly, and the excursion came to its timely conclusion.
So my dearest reader, if you made it this far into the blog, thank you! I hope you see that this world has places of unimaginable beauty, and I pray you get to see these same hills with your own eyes. If not, wait for my novel to come out, and hope that the Muse gives me the right words to describe them as well and as beautifully as Hemingway did.
Adieu!
L.S. Thomas
Good piece brother