Aberdare National Park: moorland, forest and rare wildlife

Aberdare National Park was gazetted in 1950, covers about 766 km² and is managed by the Kenya Wildlife Service.

The Aberdare or Nyandarua mountains are an isolated volcanic range on the eastern edge of the Rift Valley, rising from about 1,800 m to 4,000 m, with forested lower slopes and moorland higher up.

The park's habitats include moorland, bamboo forest, Afro-alpine zones and steep forested ravines.

The ecosystem is one of Kenya's five main "water towers", a catchment for dams that supply Nairobi.

Wildlife includes elephants, black rhinos, leopards, spotted hyenas and buffalo, and there have been sightings of bongo, golden cat and blue duiker.

The mountain bongo, a critically endangered antelope, lives in the Aberdare forests, and more than 300 bird species have been recorded in the wider ecosystem.

The Aberdare cisticola, a bird found only in a small area, lives in the tussock moorland.

Visitors can picnic, fish for trout in the rivers, camp in the moorlands and go bird watching; over 250 bird species have been recorded in the park.

The moorland is high and can be cold and wet, so pack warm, waterproof layers and expect slow driving on park roads after rain.

The table below shows KenyaPlus estimates of driving time, not live traffic data.