Reviews of Aberdare (From 6 Acclaimed Safari Experts)

Expert

Philip Briggs –

ZA

Visited: Multiple times

Philip is an acclaimed travel writer and author of many guidebooks, including the Bradt guides to Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya and South Africa.

2 people found this review helpful.

Life In The Treetops

Overall rating

4/5

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Bush Vibe:

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Aberdare National Park protects an eponymous mountain range that forms the natural divide between the western footslopes of Mount Kenya and Rift Valley around Lake Naivasha. Running for almost 100km from north to south, the highlands are dominated by a vast plateau that mostly stands above 3,000m and attains a maximum elevation of 4,001m.

Aberdare NP offers two very different types of travel experience. For most people, a visit basically amounts to an overnight stay at one of two so-called ‘tree hotels’ that lie on the massif’s forested eastern footslopes. These upmarket lodges are hide-like constructions where all rooms face a waterhole and all wildlife viewing is done from the hotel. Treetops, the older of these, was founded in 1932 and it attained global fame in 1952 as the place where Princess Elizabeth was staying when she unknowingly became the Queen of England upon the death of her father George VI. Royal connections aside, a newer hotel called The Ark is the better bet for wildlife viewing: buffalo and elephant make an appearance most nights, rhino and leopard are more occasional, and you might also see black-and-white colobus monkey, genet, Harvey’s red duiker and alluring forest birds including Hartlaub’s turaco.

For more adventurous travelers, the upper slopes of Aberdare NP can be explored on an extensive network of good murram roads that ideally require a 4x4 vehicle. A great option is to traverse the park when travelling between Lake Naivasha and more northerly attractions such as the Laikipia Conservancy or Samburu National Reserve. Relatively few people use this route, so it has a strong off-the-beaten-track appeal. It is also very beautiful, climbing through extensive forests and swathes of bamboo to a more sparsely vegetated Afro-alpine moorland dotted with craggy peaks and beautiful waterfalls. This route is more about scenery than wildlife viewing, which is rather hit and miss, but you stand a fair chance of seeing elephant, buffalo and a variety of monkey and antelope species.

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Expert

Alan Murphy –

AU

Visited: June

Alan is a travel writer and author of over 20 Lonely Planet guidebooks, including the guides to Southern Africa and Zambia & Malawi.

2 people found this review helpful.

The Easiest Wildlife Watching in Kenya

Overall rating

4/5

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Bush Vibe:

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The scenery is truly wondrous at this sky-high park, where East Africa’s savannahs are left far behind and temperatures plummet. Instead you’ll find valleys carved between soaring forested peaks, waterfalls, thick bamboo forests and moorlands all shrouded in misty drizzle.

There are only two upmarket lodges situated within the park, both designed for package tourists. But the experience they offer is something special. I stayed at The Ark, a 4-storey lodge perched on a forested bluff where guests peer out of windows, or off balconies, at a floodlit waterhole and surrounding grasslands to view elephant, buffalo, waterbuck, bushbuck, giant forest hog, and, if lucky, black rhino. If that all gets a bit much you can retire to your room where a series of buzzers lets you know when something interesting is outside!

These lodges have a very packaged feel but if you like sipping a glass of red by the open fire while watching elephants play around in mud baths just outside, then this is the experience for you.

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Expert

Ariadne van Zandbergen –

ZA

Visited: Multiple times

Ariadne is a renowned African wildlife photographer whose work is featured in many well-known guidebooks and magazines.

5 people found this review helpful.

Chasing Waterfalls in the Aberdares

Overall rating

4/5

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Aberdare National Park is mostly known for its tree hotels: The Ark and Treetops. I’ve stayed in both and loved both (although the experience they offer is very packaged). You can watch animals coming and going at the waterhole and salt lick in front of the lodge. Rewarding as it is, staying at these iconic lodges very close to the entrance gate doesn’t give you an opportunity to experience the true beauty of the park. On my last visit I stayed at Fishing Lodge, a remote Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) self-catering guesthouse in the moorland zone of the Aberdare Mountains. I saw less wildlife (although I did see some elephants, lots of buffalo, duiker, waterbuck and bushbuck), but the spectacular, otherworldly scenery more than made up for that. It’s worth visiting at least one of the waterfalls at the higher reaches of the Aberdares; most of them are a few hundred meters’ walk from the car park. Unguided visits are allowed, but keep in mind that there are lots of buffalo around. The three-tier Karura Waterfall is the most spectacular, but Chania Falls got my vote as the most beautiful. Birding is as good as can be expected, with some high-altitude specials such as alpine chat and Jackson’s francolin all over the place.

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