Stuart is an award-winning travel journalist covering safari, trekking and conservation in Kenya and Tanzania for the Lonely Planet, Rough Guides, BBC, Bradt Travel Guides, amongst many others. He is the author of Walking With The Maasai, a journey through some of Kenya's lesser-visited Maasai lands.
A world away from the African safari image of savannah grasses and drooling sunsets, the Aberdares consists of two different ecosystems. A high, cold and often bleak moorland and, below that, dense tangled montane jungle.
The wildlife here is a little different and a little harder to spot. But elephants are very common as are big grumpy buffalo. There are also montane species you won’t see anywhere else including bongo antelope, bush pigs and melanistic leopard and serval.
Unusually among Kenyan national parks, you can also get out of the vehicle here and enjoy long, lonely hikes over the moorlands: I have really enjoyed the sensation of trudging across the bleak moorlands in cold afternoon drizzle while always keeping a beady eye out for roaming buffalo.
The park also has some history. In 1952, a young English lady named Elizabeth was staying at the famed Treetops Lodge here (today’s version is actually a reconstruction of the original) when it was announced that her father had died. And so it was, that on a remote Kenyan mountain slope, that young lady became Queen Elizabeth II. Many years later her eldest grandson, and future king, proposed to Kate Middleton in a small wooden fishing cabin in a spot not so far away from where his grandmother became Queen.
At a glance
Destinations
Aberdare National Park
Activity
Safari, Adventure, Hiking & Trekking, Active, Walking, Nature & WildlifeRelated Guides

Safari in Kenya

My single most important tip for Kenya safari first-timers is to avoid the mistake of non-stop game drives. Standard tour operator itineraries shuttle you from park to park with a gruelling schedule of game drives.

Kenya off the beaten track


