8 Days / 7 Nights Off the Beaten Path Safari Adventure

The Aberdare National Park is one of Kenya's most unusual and rewarding safari destinations — a high-altitude moorland and montane forest park rising above 4,000 metres in the Central Highlands, where the wildlife experience is entirely different from the low-country savannah parks. Rhino, lion, leopard, elephant, buffalo, and the reclusive bongo antelope share the Aberdares' misty forests and open moorlands, while the high-altitude ecosystem feels more Scottish Highlands than East Africa. Your morning in the Aberdares begins at 05:30 with a warm drink before setting off on the moorland tracks in your 4×4. The park's famous waterfall circuits connect a series of spectacular waterfalls — the Karuru Falls drops over 300 metres in a triple cascade visible from the road, and the Gura and Chania waterfalls are equally dramatic. In the early morning, the heath and moorland are often shrouded in mist, giving sightings a primeval, ethereal quality. Buffalo herds move through the bracken fern and giant heather of the upper moorland, and elephant paths wind through the podocarpus forest below. Leopard are common in the forest zone — more visible here than in many savannah parks because the dense vegetation concentrates prey species. The giant forest hog, the world's largest pig, is frequently seen on the moorland tracks, and serval cats hunt in the tussock grass. The iconic black-and-white colobus monkey swings through the forest canopy alongside Sykes' monkey troops.

The afternoon in the Aberdares can be spent at a treetop lodge for overnight wildlife viewing (guests staying at a treetop hide watch animals come to a central waterhole floodlit after dark), or exploring the lower forest zone in the valley bottoms where giant fig trees and podocarpus forest shelter forest elephant and bushbuck. The Aberdares receive significant rainfall, and afternoon showers are common — the forest smells extraordinary after rain, alive with the scent of damp earth and moorland flowers. The waterfalls are most dramatic after rain. If departing the Aberdares for the next destination, the afternoon drive out crosses farmland and smallholder tea estates with beautiful views back toward the highland peaks.

Evening at a treetop hide or forest lodge within the Aberdares, with wildlife coming to the waterhole after dark. The Aberdares at night are alive with giant forest hog, buffalo, rhino, bushbuck, genet and — if fortune favours you — the rare bongo antelope with its chestnut coat and white-striped flanks.