Vasily Grebennikov: Kakamega Forest
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Kenya 2002: Aberdare National Park

Aberdare National Park is located 3-4 hours drive north from Nairoby (or abut half day by matatu). The city of Nyeri is normally the place to stop before entering the park with the hotel "New Thingira" to be recommended (KSh 300 for a night; about 4.5 Euro).

The Park covers alpine, bamboo and part of the forest zone on longitudinally oriented Aberdare Mountain Range. This range is located about 30 km west from the Mt. Kenya and in good weather they overlook each other. Unlike Mts. Kenya, Elgon and Kilimanjaro, the Aberdare Mt. Range is not volcanic in origin and resembles in this respect markedly higher Ruwenzori Mountains on the border between Uganda and DRC.

The complication with Aberdares is that hikers are not permitted within the park; unless accompanied by an armed ranger. Also Aberdare is one of the most expensive parks in Kenya with a daily fee for an adult about $27 (plus a fee for a vehicle, which I did not check); student discounts apply. Like a year before, I had a letter from Kenya Wildlife Service and it secured me a free access to the Park and an armed ranger for a week I wanted to spend there. Roads in the park are tarmac and good enough to allow a strong 2WD to make most of it.

Alpine zone looks like a giant flat plateau almost without cliffs (but still having some dramatic waterfalls on edges of this plateau). The altitude of the plateau is about 3200-3400m and this is not high enough to let giant Senecio dominate the landscape, as it is on Mts. Elgon or Kenya. In November I had rains daily (with maximum 46 mm per day; it is a lot), however with a good deal of sun, which in mid-day gets quite strong.

Kenya: Aberdare Mt. Range. Aberdare have flat sub-alpine zone without glaciations.





Kenya: Aberdare Mt. Range. Flat sub-alpine zone accumulated a lot of water, which is visible on sides of the plateau in some very impressive waterfalls. This particular one has three steps (all visible on the pisture) 300, 100 and 420 feet respectively.



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Last updated: January 15, 2007