Our first-born just turned 3. Instead of throwing a big bash for her, my wife and I decided to celebrate by giving her several first-time experiences. Last week, I took her camping in Lake Baringo.

If you’re looking for a relaxing camping experience, don’t do it with a 3-year old. Where as you’d want to chill at the campsite and read a book, children need to be engaged at all times. You also need to set rules for their safety because hippos and crocodiles know no rules. And as you set the rules, expect them to be broken as they push boundaries and test your memory. It’s part of parenting so let it not tire you.

Watching their eyes widen in excitement after pointing out animals that they’ve previously only seen on TV or a book is an experience you’ll want to have over and over again.

To help teach patience, the Saturday before we left for Baringo, I let Nezereza know that we’d been going camping on Wednesday. Every time we left the house before Wednesday she said we were going camping. I need to come up with a different lesson for days of the week.

Nezereza had a good idea of what camping is, thanks to Peppa Pig. Now it was time for her to experience it first hand.

On the day of departure, we were up at 4.30am. I’d packed the previous night so in a few minutes, we were out of the house and in an Uber headed to our rendezvous with other photographers who were also taking their children for camping. The early departure meant roads and highways were free of normal traffic, reducing the travel time and affording the children time to catch up on sleep lost by the early rise.

Our first stop was Nakuru for breakfast and leg stretches. After that, we headed for Robert’s Camp, Lake Baringo.

Setting up a tent was a great experience for Nezereza. Her predominantly fun side wanted to run away with tent poles but when she listened and obeyed, she had even more fun jumping inside the tent on her camping mat.

After lunch, we had a quick stroll to the shores of Lake Baringo, where she and Jabu threw stones and sticks into the water and baked cakes with the sand on the shore.

A little background about Lake Baringo : just like Lake Nakuru, Bogoria and Elementaita, water levels have risen greatly in the last six years, swallowing trees, roads and buildings that were once lake-front properties.

At the campsite, the birds of Baringo were as brave as they usually are, dancing between and perching on our tents as they pleased. Nezereza had a fun time shooing them off. It was a self-invented game that had her engaged for several minutes.

As the day grew darker, our campfire grew brighter, and flame tongues tasted marshmallows before the little tongues did.

The following day started off well, with a sumptuous breakfast that put the Nakuru one we’d had the previous day to shame. Getting Nezereza to eat was a challenge though; she’d realised she was getting away with more than she usually does when at home, and started demanding for non existent chapos. This is because I’d been going out of my way to make sure she had a great camping experience.

Once I realised this she was taking advantage of papa, I pulled her aside for a talk and she eventually ate what had been plated.

Later in the day, we headed out to Lake Bogoria to see flamingoes that I’d promised Nezereza she’d see.

There were thousands of flamingoes but Nezereza only counted ten 🙂

DJI birds aren’t allowed here though.

We didn’t get to visit the hot springs. We were told it’s Landcruiser territory so we decided to go swim at Lake Bogoria Spa instead.

The following day, we broke camp at around 11am and returned to Nairobi, getting here just after dusk.

I had my first camping experience while in college; I’m happy our daughter has had hers much earlier. She’s not stopped talking about it since, so it was a memorable experience for her.

Looking forward to going camping again, just as she is.