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The Central Highlands

Mt. Kenya - fishing

The Mt. Kenya region is a place of immense yet quiet beauty, home to unique flora and fauna, with the ever-looming presence of Mount Kenya giving it a reverence that obviously led tribes of old to hold it in religious awe. If you want a peaceful relaxing holiday for a couple of nights, this is the place to visit.

The route to Serena Mountain Lodge is different from that to Mt. Kenya Safari Club. A little more than 2 hours from Nairobi is a junction at Chuka market - straight on takes one to Naro Moru, so we turn right onto the road that leads to the Serena Mountain Lodge, our destination. There's a big sign that can't be missed, and the road has been fixed so is smooth tarmac all the way, with clear signs giving distance and direction at every junction. Pay your park fee at the Mount Kenya National Reserve Kihari gate, and drive on to the lodge.

Serena Mountain Lodge

As always with the Serena group, the welcome is warm. So is the towel, considering how cold this region is. The reception area overlooks a watering hole so that guests can begin to enjoy the wildlife immediately.

Once we have settled down and had some lunch we begin the activities. First is a forest walk, for which guests are provided with raincoats and Wellington boats especially now during the rainy season. Vincent is our naturalist guide, and gives an intro to the fauna right next to the lodge as the rain pours. This walk is given because, this being a forest reserve, it is not possible to have game drives here.

This is a very important ecosystem in Kenya, with unique flora and fauna. A lot of the vegetation is used by local communities in herbal medicine, and this is referred to as ethnobotany. Actually this walk provides a lot of information regarding the flora, fauna, culture and history of the region so prepare yourselves for a 3 hour hike into the depths of the forest.

Vincent explaining nature

Cures range from those for stomach aches and acidity to skin conditions and colds. Trees are clearly labeled with their scientific, common and family names.

Regarding animals, certain characteristics are explained as we come across the skulls of elephants and buffaloes. For instance, elephants are non-ruminants, and because they eat so many different types of vegetation their dung ends up looking like Weetabix, the breakfast cereal (ok don't think too much about this, it's probably what you had this morning!).

Experience the cool and silence of Mount Kenya 's primeval forests full of indigenous trees. Just stick to the forest path, at the end of which is a surprise that the lodge has prepared for guests and which I'm tempted not to mention because you should go and find out what it is for yourself!

Trout fishing

From the forest walk, we go trout fishing. As we head to the vehicle we meet a beautiful bushbuck within the grounds who is apparently so used to humans now that she peacefully grazes no matter how close we get. She even brings her newborn babies to the lodge! Shows that it is possible to do away with human-wildlife conflict.

The lodge caters for transport to the fishing grounds in their four-wheel drive trucks as the road is too rough for smaller vehicles. On the way we encounter cows grazing, and if this comes as a surprise to you let me explain the difference between a national park and reserve. Within a reserve, like this one, humans and domestic animals are allowed to exist. A park is strictly for wildlife only.

The weather is chilly as we arrive at the Kabaru hatchery that works in conjunction with the Serena Mountain Lodge. Three ladies work here full time and therefore have plenty of information to give visitors. We begin by throwing a few pellets into the swollen river for the fish within, before visiting the pond with the breeders. There are the males and females that have reached breeding age and are periodically harvested. A net is first expertly dragged across so as to gather the trout to one end, from where they are picked up using a scoop. These are rainbow trout, and the ripe females should have extra swollen bellies that are tender to touch. They are very slippery so this obviously takes practice.

Harvesting fish eggs

Males are different from females in that they have a protruding sharp-ended lower lip as opposed to a rounded one. Since a harvesting had been yesterday, it's taking quite long to find a ready pair; but finally we get a female. The male will be picked from the other pond that holds table size trout, being lured to the surface with pellets.

Back at the hatchery, phase two of the process begins. One of the women jokingly refers to herself as a mid-wife as she wraps the female trout in a towel to make her less slippery, and then squeezes out her eggs. One female can produce upto two thousand eggs at a go. The male is then held over the eggs to fertilize them. A feather is used for mixing as it is gentle on the fragile eggs that have already begun changing colour. Rinse them out with fresh water, then place them on a mesh tray within a tank whose water is at a constant 9 degrees centigrade. The next developmental stage is fingerlings with liquid sacs from which they feed, and later slimmer fingerlings that have to be fed on powdered pellets. From inside they are then transferred outside to larger tanks and fed with increasingly larger-sized pellets for upto one year, after which they will probably appear on your plate.

After that enlightening process its time to fish. The lodge provides fishing rods and kit, a fishing license and the services of an expert. With that you are ready to spend upto four hours at the river trying to catch some trout. Mount Kenya's uniquely clear crystal streams were stocked in 1905 with rainbow and brown trout, and if you're patient enough you may just be a lucky beginner! I wasn't....

The catch may then be taken back to the lodge and served according to your culinary preference.

Night game viewing

Back at the lodge spend your evening watching the animals visit the watering hole, all bathed in the floodlights. And if you don't see your animal(s) of choice, the lodge staff are willing to wake you up once it (they) appear, just write down their names in a book.