Lake Jipe

I'm always happy to go on a day trip and these days it feels like we've exhausted our options. But there is ALWAYS more to see and this weekend we decided to try to go to the infrequently visited Lake Jipe. Shallow, narrow and enclosed by dense beds of tall papyrus, Lake Jipe runs for 10km along a natural swamp, nowhere more than 3m deep, on the Kenya border between Kilimanjaro, the main source of its water, and Mkomazi National Park.

It’s an atmospheric body of water, with an awesome setting: the Pare Mountains to the south, Chala crater rising from the flat plain to the east, and, when the clouds clear, Kilimanjaro hulking over the northeast skyline. Lake Jipe is seldom visited, and almost never from the Tanzania side, but it is reasonably accessible, and there’s quite a bit of wildlife around, since part of the northern shore is protected within Kenya’s unfenced Tsavo National Park. The lake itself extends over 28 square km and is teeming with hippopotami and crocodiles, while the papyrus beds harbor several localized  birds,

Due to the infrequency of visitors, information is not very clear on how to reach it but we figured we could do an exploratory trip and see how far we got. After all, the area around the lake was sparsely populated so we figured we wouldn't have any problem asking around.

Overall we were successful in finding the lake though we realized we hadn't left enough time to actually get on the lake. We also underestimed just how thick the reed cover was as we couldn't even see the lake when we were on the supposed shore. We did manage to find some guys that would take us out on a very basic canoe but we didn't have enough time to make it out. Apparently navigating through the reeds takes some time and I certainly don't want to rush the boatmen considering the hippos and crocs!

I think we will return and camp, then head out on the lake in the early morning. It'd probably be wise to bring some umbrellas for the sun, which might appear a bit bourgeois for the locals but I think it might get a bit hot on the lake. Can't wait for the return trip!

Local bee-hives on the way.

Early in the morning on our way there we stopped along a river that drains to the lake.

On the lake shore. Can't see anything over the reeds.

North Pare mountains in the background.

The lake shore, with reeds.

The plains in the east on the road to Jipe.

North Pare Mountains on the way back.