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Expert Reviews of Aberdare National Park (6 Reviews)

Aberdare Safaris Aberdare National Park
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3.5000 / 5 3.5 /5
3.1667 / 5 4.1667 / 5 3.3333 / 5 3.5000 / 5

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Aberdare: Forest Kingdom

3 / 5 3 /5
3 / 5 3 / 5 3 / 5 3 / 5

It’s hard not to fall in love with Aberdare, so different is it from any other park in Kenya. It occupies the mountainous green heartland of the country, and offers a wildlife experience all its own. Although you can see wildlife elsewhere in the park, the real Aberdare special is nursing a drink in your lodge while overlooking a waterhole and never quite knowing which animals will turn up to drink. An elephant family? A wary antelope? Even a leopard if you’re lucky. The history here adds further intrigue to the experience – Queen Elizabeth II was here when she found out that her father had died and that she was to become queen, and before that, the Mau Mau made the Aberdares their own as they fought for independence from Great Britain. Overall it’s a special place with just the right mix of wildlife, scenery and a fascinating human backstory.

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Kenya’s Equatorial Misty Mountains and Famous ‘Tree Lodges’

3 / 5 3 /5
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Kenya’s Aberdares feature dramatic peaks, deep valleys, waterfalls cascading down sheer rock faces, and undulating moorlands. On the downside, the weather is generally misty and damp thanks to the altitude (the highest peak, Mount Satima, is 4001 metres), and wildlife in the high moorlands is rarely seen. A more feasible option is staying at one of the two ‘tree lodges’ in the lower-altitude Salient section: Treetops and The Ark. Both offer fairly simple rooms, but they have viewing decks over waterholes and are perhaps better described as ‘hides’ with accommodation. On my stay at The Ark, I was thrilled by the procession of game that emerged from the forest, including a couple of dozen elephants, a large, closely packed herd of buffalo, and several spotted hyena that brazenly darted around the elephants’ legs. The bird tables at the lodge attracted pretty birds like speckled mousebird and resplendent sunbirds, as well as a couple of daring genets. However, criticisms of the
Read more ‘tree lodges’ are that they are usually busy with large tour groups, and when the floodlights are switched on, the waterholes take on rather a theatre-like ‘staged’ ambience. Nevertheless, for a quick overnight safari, they offer an excellent opportunity to see several species almost from the comfort of your room.
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Wildlife Refuge on the Roof of Africa

3 / 5 3 /5
3 / 5 3 / 5 5 / 5 4 / 5
Unlike the rolling savannahs and thorn tree country of lowland Kenya, the Aberdares are a world apart, a sky-high paradise in the clouds, whose dense hagenia forests and deep ravines provide a refuge for all kinds of animals, including some seldom seen elsewhere, such as the elusive bongo. Melanistic serval cats roam the high moorlands above the tree line and the Aberdares are about the only place in the world where you might – just might – see a black leopard. The entire park has been ring-fenced to keep its elephants in and the poachers out. There are only two upmarket lodges, both situated in the northern salient. Treetops Lodge, which was founded in 1932 and reopened in August 2024 after a three-year closure, has the history. It’s Kenya’s oldest lodge and is where Princess Elizabeth (the future Queen Elizabeth II) was staying when her father King George VI died in 1952. But I prefer The Ark, a triple-decker ship of the forest that lies deeper in the salient beside a floodlit
Read more waterhole. Elephant, buffalo, leopard and giant forest hog are regular nocturnal visitors. When daylight comes, head for the high country above the bamboo zone. You could almost imagine yourself to be in Scotland. But then you see a herd of eland and know you are standing on the roof of Africa.
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