At the end of a long week, when you feel like your body and mind have taken a beating from the daily nine to five grind, close your eyes and imagine yourself in a steaming pool of naturally healing hot waters that soothe your body.
Waters that are enchantingly blue and dreamy. Waters that draw your eyes as a slight breeze caresses your skin and whispers in your ears while you gaze at the lush greenery on gentle domes that rise above you, That is the magic of Olkaria Geothermal Spa, the only natural spa in Africa.
To experience that, you will have to take a trip to Naivasha, which in itself is a stunning visual experience what with the scenic views of the Great Rift Valley, Mt Longonot and an array of beautiful wildlife.
Last weekend, myself and a few happy souls, Hit out our for Naivasha, cool people call it Vasha so am told! Our smooth ride started at Hilton Bata, enroute nature provided a pun in the form of zebras crossing the road. Others were grazing alongside giraffes. We also saw chimpanzees nonchalantly grooming each other, dik diks, warthogs and other game. Generally, it was a great drive down the rift!
We started off with a hike down the hell’s gate into the gorge to the devil’s bedroom. we came in bubbly but by the time we were returning to the car, we were all silent, I guess exhaustion happened. At 1pm thereabout we decided its time for a deep at the natural spa.
You see, the Olkaria Geothermal Spa — the brainchild of Kenya Electricity Generating Company Limited, KenGen— is certainly an alluring invite for anyone looking for a perfect and affordable, yet exclusive getaway. There are various depths or levels(but not more than 1.5M deep so no diving) and one can swim to the deeper end or to the middle where there is a little island, and just sit and enjoy the breathtaking view provided by 3,600 square meters of hot water.
It has been said that the crystalline water has therapeutic benefits. In Japan and Europe, bathing in naturally occurring hot water pools has been a long established tradition among locals who believe that such water has healing powers.
The jury is still out on the extent of the water’s healing powers, but scientists have agreed on some of them.
For one, bathing in naturally heated body of water raises your hydrostatic pressure, which boosts blood circulation.
The water has minerals that are beneficial for the body, such as sodium and silica.
Sodium promotes lymphatic fluid balance, which improves the immune system, while silica helps in rebuilding and regenerating connective tissue, which irons out wrinkles.
It is present in large amounts at birth and decreases as we grow older, making the skin sag, and we are forced to use beauty treatments that contain collagen to restore it.
Silica is one of the largest components in collagen. It is possible to absorb it through lotions and other beauty products, but a dip in the spa offers better treatment than when it is just applied on the skin.
The spa helps in combating mild to moderate acne and bathing in it is certainly better that any beauty regimen.
At the very least, a good, relaxing soak in the spa eases muscle stiffness, relaxes the mind and relieves stress.
Volcanic activity causes hotspots near the surface which heat the water above it.
The spa is fed by a lagoon. The temperature in the lagoon is a blistering 300 degrees centigrade but the water passes through a cooling basin, and before it is pumped through an inlet, its temperature is controlled and maintained at 37 to 40 degrees.
The island in the middle is both for aesthetic purposes and for lighting at night as it has a lamppost.
There is also additional lighting around the spa meaning that clients can use the spa at any time of the day, but lifeguards are available from 6am up to up to 8pm on weekdays and 10pm on weekdays and public holidays. actually a whistle was blown to alert us your time is up. that was 1745HRS! most def afew of us protested, we didnt feel like leaving the waters.
So we had a great meal of mbuzi, kuku of course bit of rice i saw madondo somewhere but never tasted. Kuku was my main focus and drowned it down with a bottle of something cold. I think i have a reason as to why i never to a pic of the food, but hey my stomach got evidence!
Our expected time of depature was 1700HRS we where leaving the spa at 1825HRS dropped and hit the road to Nairobi at exactly 1930HRS.
Watch out for round two!!!!
