Park: Lake View

Our address is 36 Baringo Drive, Lake View Estate. The streets in Lake View are named for the major lakes in Kenya: Magadi, Bogoria, Baringo, Naivasha, Nakuru, Elementeita, and Turkana. There is a small lake in the middle of the neighborhood, but it was originally just a sort of swampy area that was dredged to make a more attractive "lake" when the area was developed. Now the lake and the surrounding lush semi-forest attract many beautiful bird species.

banana trees

Our neighborhood (or "compound" as people in Africa call them) is called Lake View. It is entirely gated and the two access roads are patrolled by guards. The benefit of this is that (among other obvious items) there is very little traffic on the roads making them perfect for young bike riders. There is also just enough distance to cover for me to have a decent run.

the newly repaired trampoline

I found out that the houses in Lake View were built in the late 70's. The property was owned in the early1900's by just a couple of families. One of those families was called Todd and their house is now the Spanish Ambassador's house just up the road from us. It has also been used over the years as a kindergarten and a Mau Mau training facility. In that time the area was mostly forest and bush and there were many animals who roamed the hills including dikdik, duiker, waterbuck, leopard, jackal, hyena and buffalo. The famous pilot and author of "West With the Night", Beryl Markham was mauled by a lion on the property adjacent to the road where the girls are bike riding in the picture below! There is a giant old tree stump on this road that has many gashes in the wood. They girls like to imagine that lions sharpened their claws on the bark of this tree when it was alive and still standing tall.