Late afternoon, we arrived at Elsa Gate of the dry, dusty, but infinitely peaceful Hell’s Gate National Park. It is a rare Kenyan park made for bicycles and walking. Large carnivores are rare, so we rented bikes (800 KES) and paid a cycling fee (250 KES) and a park entrance fee (28 USD). We took a 32-kilometer loop from the gate around grazing zebras and buffalo to the Gorge and KenGen Geothermal Spa. The 8-kilometer from the gorge to the spa is steep, so we crossed it on motorbike for 500 KES. The park offers dramatic sceneries with its rich ochre soils and savannah grasses squeezed between looming cliffs of rusty columnar basalt.
The gorge (mandatory guide 6000 KES) that runs through the park’s heart is a vast, deep valley hemmed in by sheer, rusty-hued rock walls. Marking its eastern entrance is Fischer’s Tower, a 25m-high volcanic column. The tower was named after Gustav Fischer, a German explorer who reached the gorge in 1882. Commissioned to find a route from Mombasa to Lake Victoria, Fischer was stopped by territorial Maasai, who slaughtered almost his entire party.
Luckily, we decided to visit the KenGen Geothermal Spa (🎟️ 1800 KES) in the late afternoon, and we liked it, but if you want to enjoy it the other day, be ready for another scam in Kenya. The spa is in the middle of the industrial area, placed between geothermal power plants on the park’s edge. The gate to the national park is at the entrance to this industrial area and not behind it. So you still have to pay the national park fee to visit the spa, which is sadly located a few hundred meters behind the “smartly” positioned gate.
Sadly, extensive geothermal excavation is now taking place close to the gorge, prompting visitors’ complaints. The road towards the gorge is tarmacked, and industrial pipes may be visible.
Parking location – Elsa Gate: 0.852239S 36.368957E (🅿️,🚻,💦)