Picturesque Kerio Valley, like God’s own handwriting

By Dedan Okanga

The little known Kerio View Resort perched on one of the highest escarpments of Kerio Valley is one of the most tranquil recreational places in the North Rift, away from the mundane fun and polluted air of any urban centre.

Kerio Valley, one of the landmark features of the Great Rift Valley, descends down 4,000 feet and is located near the towns of Eldoret and Iten about 500km from Nairobi. The Kerio View Resort sits on an undulating piece of land with manicured lawns and flowers running the length of the several cottages and grass thatched sheds that make up its grounds.

The Kerio View Resort.

A paraglider flies over Kerio Valley. Kerio View Resort on the escarpment offers a vantage view of the valley’s features.

The Resort, which is a meticulous woodwork of architecture, is situated on a serene landscape between jutting hills, gorges and escarpments from whose height the entire beauty of Kerio Valley in its vastness is visible and reachable. Around the compound is a thick foliage of creepers and tendrils whose canopies divide the cottages to give the lodgers in each of them absolute privacy. The cool and leafy resort is full of species of trees planted by different dignitaries on their visit.

From its elevated terraces and balconies, a wide layout of marshes and acacia extend down 4,000 feet to meet a patch of green that was once Lake Kapnarok but is now dried up and its 400 species of birds disappeared.

At the crack of dawn, the lodgers are treated to the cooing and chirping of birds that perch comfortably on the louvers of the cottages before retiring to the foliage and the dizzying depths of the green escarpment as the day breaks.

The unconventional design of the facility contrasts with the steel and concrete of big cities while at the same time offering all the fun and comfort that one would demand of a three-star facility. Curio shops of carvings and life-size sculptures that tell of a Kenya with a rich cultural heritage add to the beauty around the place.

When it is not raining as is the case between December and March, the neighbourhood of the resort becomes ideal for picnics and camping. From any of its high points, visitors get a bird’s eye view of Kabarnet town far beyond.

Best in Africa

Rimoi Game Reserve spreads out several metres beneath the balcony of Kerio View Resort and is home to thousands of species of Rift Valley’s splendid flora and fauna. It also boasts a population of 400 elephants, several buffalos, antelopes and dikdiks. All these can only be viewed from the safety of the hotel’s tourist vans.

One of the grass thatched recreational huts outside the Resort.

Some of the cottages at the Kerio View Resort. The resort offers comfort and entertainment for tourists in the scenic valley. Photos: Dedan Okanga

The Reserve was voted one of Africa’s most scenic places for moviemakers and its picturesque valley has continued to attract artistes and advertising firms that come up with some of the award winning commercial adverts. The famous Cheploch Gorge at the border of Keiyo and Baringo Districts that goes 2,000 feet deep and which features in some of East African Breweries adverts is one other landmark of the valley. On certain days, a dense mass of fog from the gorge covers the entire valley.

Sadly, swatches of brown are, however, visible in the wide reserve testifying to the losing battle of conservation as years of deforestation and charcoal burning take their toll on a valley whose beauty has severally been compared to God’s own handwriting.

The spectacular road network and the Kerio River meanders their course along the curves of the escarpment adding to the beauty of the resort. It is along these winding sections of road that residents and tourists find the excitement and thrill of the annual Kenya National Rally Championship series.

On the ragged sections of the mineral-rich valley, bulldozers and graders can be sighted in the distant skyline moving earth as they mine fluorspar, one of the minerals that the region is famed for.

Kerio Valley has also become one of the most favourite wedding sites in the country. It is also the first port of call for politicians and prominent personalities who come to savour the delights of the North Rift. Lovers and old couples seeking to dust off their relationships can cuddle in front of open fire barbecues and enjoy candle lit dinners under the moonlight and a cloudless sky at the partially covered Monkey House and Elnino House.

In the chill of dawn just before the mystical spectacle of the rising sun over the Elgeyo escarpments, lodgers get the opportunity to view the silhouette of Mt Kenya but which gradually fades in the blue horizon as the day breaks.

Paragliding in clear skies

The weather around the valley can be cool and breezy in the mornings and evenings but is often hot and windy for the most part of the afternoons. Visitors are advised to carry clothing suitable for both chilly and hot weather. When the weather is unfavourable for outdoor activities, the place has sufficient recreational huts from where the guests can view the minute life forms deep down in the vast bowl of land that makes up the floor of the valley.

Kerio Valley is a practising zone for athletics and is home to some of the world famous athletes in the country.

It also attracts urban dwellers during vacations who camp in the region for the length of time it would take to shed off excess fat. Because of the topography and altitude of the region, tourists with a keen interest in sports have found the place ideal for bicycle racing, safari rally and paragliding. The windy seasons between January and March have made the region one of the world’s favourite for paragliding.

"This region is conducive for paragliding because the skies are clear and we do not have many aircrafts flying over the valley," says Olaf Feldmann, a paraglider. "Gliders can ascend thousands of feet without a worry."

The sport involves a pilot sitting in a harness suspended by a fabric wing and is effortlessly lifted off the ground by a gush of wind. Paragliding has been a sensation in the valley for the last five years, although it was interrupted last year by the post election skirmishes.

Jean-Paul Fourier, the director of the Resort, says both domestic and foreign tourism has increased owing to a vigorous campaign to open up the western tourism circuit. "The tourists come to see what lies deep in the North Rift away from the beautiful beaches at the Coast, which many are accustomed to," he says.

Daring stunts

Tourists lounging at the breezy gardens sit up for hours watching the team of paragliders take to the skies in pairs where the most experienced tried out daring stunts while others remain airborne for hours.

Besides the valley’s scenic grandeur, the region is also a cultural attraction centre that offers the cultural heritage of the Keiyo and Marakwet who are sub-tribes of the Kalenjin. Cultural tourists get a chance to taste the traditional delicacies of the community including the fine mursik (Kalenjin traditional sour milk), boiled and peppered meat, and the community’s special honey beer.

Not very far from the valley’s escarpments lie the Cherengani Hills that rise over 11,000 feet and provide tourists a romantic scenery of the setting sun. Local elders sacredly regard these hills and it is usually a spectacle to witness a group of Marakwet and Keiyo elders resplendent in ceremonial garbs to pay tribute to the community’s ancestral heroes and legends ahead of the planting season.

Away from the scenic Kerio Valley, visitors get a chance to tour the nearby Iten town, which is famous for being one of the strongest bastions of Kalenjin resistance to the colonial struggle. The town still bears the legacies and disruptions of colonialism. Among such remnants is the Kamaring Stadium, which was opened by the queen mother in 1957. The stadium is, however dilapidated due to years of neglect and vandalism.