Destination guide
Everything you need to know about Aberdare National Park.
Why visit the Aberdares
The Aberdare Range is Kenya's third-highest mountain massif and one of the country's most atmospheric protected areas. Rising to 4,001 m at Ol Doinyo Lesatima, the range is a 60 km north-south spine of moss-draped forest, bamboo zones and alpine moorland that catches the rain feeding both the Tana and Athi river systems. The 767 km² national park covers the high country and is utterly different in character from the savanna parks: cool, often wet, dense with mountain forest, and home to a wildlife list dominated by browsers and forest specialists rather than open-plains big cats. For travellers who want to break up a Mara-Samburu circuit with somewhere genuinely different, or for serious wildlife enthusiasts hoping to see bongo or the famously elusive black leopard, the Aberdares is unmissable.
Wildlife in the Aberdares
The headline species is the mountain bongo, a critically endangered forest antelope with chestnut-red coat and white stripes that is now found only in the Aberdares, Mount Kenya and a small sanctuary at Mount Kenya Wildlife Conservancy. Numbers in the wild are estimated at fewer than 100. Other forest specialists include the giant forest hog, bushbuck, suni antelope, and the rare black-fronted duiker. Mountain elephant — smaller and rounder than savanna elephants — move through the forest in family groups. Buffalo are common and dangerous; do not walk in the park without a ranger. Leopard (including the famously rare melanistic 'black' leopard documented by photographer Will Burrard-Lucas in 2019) are present but extremely elusive. Birdlife includes the Hartlaub's turaco, Jackson's francolin, mountain buzzard and the African crowned eagle.
Treetops and The Ark — the historic lodges
The Aberdares is famous for two unique 'tree-top' game-viewing lodges built around floodlit waterholes. Treetops, originally a tree-house hotel, is where Princess Elizabeth was sleeping on the night of 5 February 1952 when her father George VI died — making her the first British monarch to ascend the throne 'in a tree'. The original structure burned in the 1950s and the current building is the second incarnation. The Ark, opened in 1969 a few kilometres away, is the more comfortable modern equivalent: a 60-room boat-shaped lodge over a permanent waterhole with viewing decks at three levels. Both lodges follow the same model — guests are picked up at a base hotel (the Outspan in Nyeri for Treetops, the Aberdare Country Club for The Ark), driven into the park in late afternoon, spend one night with floodlit waterhole viewing, and return the next morning. Treetops has had ownership changes and intermittent closures since 2020; check current status before booking.
Best time to visit
The Aberdares is at its best in the dry seasons — June to October and January to March — when forest tracks are passable and the waterholes concentrate wildlife. The two rainy seasons (April–May and November) bring heavy rain, frequent fog and difficult driving, but also the most dramatic moss-and-mist forest atmosphere. Temperatures are cool year-round; 5–10 °C at night and 15–20 °C during the day at the higher altitudes. Pack a fleece, gloves, a beanie and a waterproof jacket regardless of the season. The Aberdares is a true rainforest: do not assume Kenya warmth.
How to get to the Aberdares
From Nairobi the standard route is 160 km / 3 hours via Thika and Nyeri to the Treetops/Outspan area on the eastern slopes. The Aberdare Country Club near Mweiga is the base for The Ark and another standard pick-up point. The western side of the range is accessed via the Ol Joro Orok road, and the Aberdare Salient (the eastern lowlands of the park) is the area where most game-viewing lodges sit. Most itineraries combine the Aberdares with Mount Kenya (1.5 hours away) and then onward to Samburu, Ol Pejeta or Lewa. A typical inclusion is 1 night at Treetops or The Ark plus 2 nights at Mount Kenya / Ol Pejeta.
Where to stay
The two waterhole lodges — Treetops and The Ark — are the iconic options for a single-night Aberdare stop. Outside the park, the Aberdare Country Club ($180–250 per person, includes The Ark transfer) and the Outspan Hotel in Nyeri ($150–200, includes Treetops transfer) are the standard base hotels. Inside the higher park, Tusk Camp and Sapper Hut are basic KWS bandas that allow self-catering at $40 per person per night. Rhino Watch Safari Lodge in Mweiga offers $200–300 per person rooms with views toward the range. For travellers focused on bongo, the Mount Kenya Wildlife Conservancy at the Mount Kenya Safari Club has a captive-breeding bongo programme that can be visited.
Things to do beyond the waterhole
Day game drives in the Salient give the best chance of elephant, buffalo and bongo sightings. Hike to Karuru Falls — at 273 m the highest waterfall in Kenya — and the smaller Gura Falls. Trout fishing in the Karuru and Chania rivers is a niche but historic Aberdare activity (rod licences from KWS at the gate). For climbers, the summit of Ol Doinyo Lesatima (4,001 m) is a 2-day moderate trek with bamboo, moorland, lobelia forest and panoramic views to Mount Kenya. The Solio Ranch reserve, 30 minutes from the Aberdares, is the world's most successful black rhino breeding programme and a worthwhile half-day add-on.
The black leopard story
In 2019 British wildlife photographer Will Burrard-Lucas, working with the Laikipia Wilderness Camp team, captured the first high-quality photographs of a wild African black leopard in over a century — in Loisaba Conservancy, on the dry plains north-east of the Aberdare Range. The Aberdare forests are believed to host another small population of melanistic leopards, although they are extraordinarily difficult to see. A few specialist photography lodges around the Aberdares run camera-trap and hide programmes targeting black leopard sightings, with success rates measured in nights, not hours. Casual visitors should not expect to see one, but the possibility adds an extra dimension to the forest atmosphere.
Park fees and practical info
The Aberdare National Park is KWS-managed. Non-resident park fees are $52 per adult per day. Both Treetops and The Ark include park fees in their nightly rate. The park has multiple gates — the Treetops Gate near Nyeri, the Ark Gate near Mweiga, and the Mutubio Gate on the western side. Some tracks are 4×4-only, especially in the wet season. Walking in the park is permitted only with an armed ranger ($30 per group). Children under 7 are not permitted at Treetops or The Ark for safety reasons (the lodge structures involve open verandahs over a waterhole that wildlife approach at night). Older children love it.
