5-Day Aberdare Mt Kenya and Ol Pejeta Highland Trio Safari

Your highland trio safari departs Nairobi on the A2 highway heading north through Thika and the tea estates of the central highlands before climbing into the Aberdare foothills. The Aberdare National Park gate opens onto a world of dripping cedar and podocarpus forest where the air is cool and fragrant and the road surface is frequently strewn with elephant dung from the park’s healthy forest elephant population. En route to your treetop lodge, your guide pauses at viewpoints overlooking highland valleys and the dramatic eastern escarpment. As the afternoon light filters through the tree canopy, your treetop lodge comes into view, perched elegantly on stilts above a floodlit salt lick and waterhole. A briefing on the nocturnal wildlife viewing procedure, dinner at the lodge, and the first nighttime wildlife appearances at the waterhole mark the beginning of this extraordinary Aberdare experience.

The treetop lodge experience peaks before dawn as the most spectacular nocturnal visitors often arrive in the small hours. After a night of wildlife watching interrupted only by the lodge’s gentle gong system announcing special sightings, you enjoy breakfast before a full-day exploration of the Aberdare National Park. The morning drive through the montane forest targets the park’s most sought-after species, with the endangered bongo antelope occasionally spotted at salt licks deep in the forest and giant forest hog families foraging along the road edges. The afternoon is dedicated to the Aberdares’ spectacular waterfall circuit: Karuru Falls, one of the highest in Africa at 272 metres, cascades in three thundering stages through the mist-filled forest, while the Gura Falls and accessible Chania Falls provide equally dramatic photography in their dripping rainforest settings. Return to the lodge for an evening of further wildlife watching from the viewing platform.

Departing the Aberdares after breakfast, you drive north and east through Nyeri and Naro Moru into the Mount Kenya region. The drive traverses the productive agricultural zone on the mountain’s lower slopes, passing through small market towns and shamba farms before entering the highland forest zone. A stop at the equator in Nanyuki includes the famous water-swirling experiment that demonstrates the Coriolis effect. Your guide then drives toward the Mount Kenya forest zone, where a guided highland walk reveals the montane ecosystem in depth. Olive baboons forage along the forest boundary, black-and-white colobus monkeys move through the upper canopy, and forest buffalo emerge from the undergrowth onto the open moorland edge at dusk. Check into your mountain lodge or camp with views of Mount Kenya’s glacial peaks catching the last light of the day.

Drive west from the Mount Kenya zone to Ol Pejeta Conservancy, approximately 1 to 2 hours through Nanyuki. Upon arrival, check into your Ol Pejeta lodge and head out on an afternoon game drive through the conservancy’s vast grasslands and acacia woodlands. Ol Pejeta’s wildlife is prolific: large herds of buffalo, elephant, and zebra move across the open plains while the conservancy’s resident lion prides patrol their territories in the late afternoon. The black rhinos are frequently encountered near the salt licks and water points in the early evening, providing excellent sightings against the highland grassland backdrop with Mount Kenya visible on the eastern horizon.

Rise early for a morning game drive through Ol Pejeta before the landmark conservation experiences of the day. The morning drive focuses on Ol Pejeta’s impressive black rhino population, tracking the movements of individuals across the open savannah in the golden early light. After breakfast, you visit the northern white rhino enclosure for the deeply moving encounter with Najin and Fatu, the last two northern white rhinos on Earth, accompanied by a conservation officer who shares their story and the cutting-edge science being employed to save their genetic legacy. The Sweetwaters Chimpanzee Sanctuary visit follows, offering a guided walk along the fence of the riverside chimp habitat where rescued individuals play and socialize in their large naturalistic enclosure. After lunch, you depart Ol Pejeta for the 3-hour drive back to Nairobi, arriving by early evening.