Rising up from the eastern edge of the Rift Valley like the spine of central Kenya, the verdant Aberdares don’t feel like Kenya at all.
Aberdare National Park comprises a range of lush mountains adorned with forest, ravines, and waterfalls.
For mountain- trekking, it’s a new alternative to the busier trails of nearby Mt Kenya.
The park is renowned for its torrential waterfalls plunging from cloud-shrouded heights to spray-filled ravines. They include the magnificent Karuru falls – The highest waterfalls in Kenya – which drop 300m, the impressive and enchanting Gura falls which torrent from the opposite side of the same Gorge, cascading across the yawning mouth of the Queen’s Cave, and the drop of the Chania falls.
There are two main peaks, Ol Donyo Lesatima (3,999 m) to the north and Kinangop (3, 906 m) to the south, separated by a long ‘saddle’ of land above 3,000 m. The small peak of Kipipiri (3, 349m) flanks the main range to the west, linked to it by a formerly forested valley at around 2,700 m.
The Aberdares, being the second highest ground in Central Kenya, was believed to be God’s abode when He was not on Mount Kenya. It was originally known as Nyandarua, which in Kikuyu means ‘the drying hide’ because its hills resemble the folds of an unstretched hide.
Adventurer and explorer Joseph Thomson named the area Aberdares in 1884 after Lord Aberdare, the then president of the Royal Geographical Society.
The founder of the Scouts Movement, Robert Baden-Powel first visited the area in 1906 and Winston Churchill camped by the Chania Falls in 1907. Theodore Rosevelt passed by the area in 1909.
In 1952, during the state of emergency in the Mau-Mau war against the British, the young Princess Elizabeth was staying at Treetops in the Aberdare National Park accompanied by her husband, HRH Prince Phillip England. On the fourth day after their arrival in Kenya she requested for tea while sighting about 90 elephants, 8 rhinos and a few waterbuck at the waterhole, as recorded by Jim Corbett.
As she descended the Treetops Lodge, news was received that her father King George V had passed on in his sleep making her HRH Queen Elizabeth II. Her presence at Treetops Lodge during that night made her the first British Monarch since the accession of William IV in 1830, to be outside the United Kingdom at the moment of succession.
Queen’s Cave was so named after her visit to one of the many caverns that are found in the hills. It’s now known as Kimathi’s Cave after Field Marshal Dedan Kimathi used it as a hideout from the colonial army that pursued him and his fighters. The war hero operated from here because the cave was virtually invisible from aerial patrols. Waging an 8-year guerrilla war-fare against colonial rule, he left quite a legacy at the cave, establishing a post office that was crucial during the state of emergency in the early fifties.
The 970 km2 Aberdare National park was gazetted in 1950.
Wildlife includes rhino, leopard, colobus monkey and the elusive bongo
Elephants and buffaloes are common in the dense forest but can be easily viewed near the lodges.
Bushbucks, defassa waterbucks, warthogs, giant forest hogs and olive baboons are regulars; while lions, and spotted hyenas top the carnivore list.
Black rhinos are also resident, but sightings are rare, while caracals and melanistic forms of leopards and servals have been recorded.
Bird list of 250 species includes the silvery-cheeked hornbill, crowned eagles and Hartlaub’s turaco. Mountain buzzards soar over the moorlands, and alpine chats perch around picnic sites.
