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Aberdare
National Park, Kenya
(Aberdare
National Park covers an area of 767 Square Kilometers
and is located in the Central Highlands of Kenya West
of Mountain Kenya about 180 Kilometers from Nairobi)
 Aberdare
National Park Kenya |
Aberdare
National Park
Aberdare
National Park; Aberdare National Park
covers an area of 767 square Kilometers and is
located in the Central Highlands of Kenya west
of mountain Kenya and about 180 kilometers from
Nairobi. The Aberdare National Park was created
in 1950 to protect the forested slopes and moors
of the Aberdare Mountains.
The
Park covers altitudes from about 7,000 feet to
14,000 feet above sea level. The Aberdare National
Park covers an area of 766 square kilometers and
forms part of Aberdare Mountain Range. There are
wide range of landscapes – mountain peaks
with rise of 14,000 above sea level, v-shaped
valleys intersected by streams, rivers and waterfalls.
At lower altitudes moorland, bamboo forests and
rainforests.
Aberdare
National Park is famous for its Tree-House Hotels
- Treetops
and Fairmont
Ark Lodge. With walkways and accommodation
raised into the forest canopy, you can watch animals
from a unique vantage point. Positioned by waterhole's
and natural salt licks, animals provide constant
entertainment and seem undisturbed by the stream
of curious visitors, some of whom stay up all
night to catch sightings of shy animals by floodlight.
There is even a viewing hide dug below ground
with windows level with the waterhole, where elephants
fee come within inches of your face.
Aberdare
National Park Safari into the treetop lodges is
quite unique as all the rooms have a bell system
to wake you up for particularly good sightings,
whereupon you can go to the viewing decks or just
peer out of your window. For example a leopard
may warrant two rings, while a hyena might only
get one ring. Elephants dominate the waterhole's
and salt licks and when the lions and hyenas want
a drink they have to contend with elephants seeing
them off at great speed. Leopards are shy and
are best seen under the night-time floodlight.
Aberdare
National Park game drives or walks through the
forest may reveal some of the monkeys for whom
this is ideal habitat, and some of the many birds
found here. At about 10,000 feet (3,048m), the
bamboo thickets are the favorite haunt of the
bongo, a rare and elusive forest antelope.
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Fairmont
Ark Tree Hotel in The Aberdare National Park |
 Aberdare
Animal Salt lick & Watering Hole in
The
Aberdare
National Park |
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Aberdare
National Park Wildlife
Animals
easily observed in the Aberdare National Park include
the lion, leopard, baboon, black and white Colobus,
and sykes monkey. Rarer sightings include those of the
Golden Cat and the Bongo - an elusive forest antelope
that lives in the bamboo forest. Animals like the eland
and spotted and melanistic serval cats can be found
higher up in the moorlands. The Aberdare National Park
also contains the second largest population of the Black
Rhino, unique to Kenya. Visitors can also indulge in
walking, picnics, trout fishing in the rivers and camping
in the moorlands. Even the bird viewing is rewarding,
with over 250 species of birds in the Park, including
the Jackson's Francolin, sparrow hawk, goshawk, eagle,
sunbird and plover. Completing the lovely picture is
the belief of the traditional Kikuyu that the Aberdare
Mountain Range, where this park is located, is one of
the homes of Ngai, or God.
Aberdare
National Park Seasons
Daytime temperatures
are pleasant year round but it gets colder day and night
during the dry winter months.
Rainy Season: April - June - hot and
wet (long rains), November - December - warm and wet
(short rains).
Dry Season: January - March - hot and
dry, July - October - cool and dry with very cold nights.
Aberdare
National Park Highlights
*
Treetop accommodation, The Fairmont Tree Hotel or the
Treetops Lodge
* Viewing animals from various balconies of your tree
hotel
* Night and day game viewing at waterhole's and salt
lick
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Spectacular rainforest and montane forest scenery
* Close up Elephants
* Lion and leopard
Aberdare
National Park Facts
*
Altitude is from 7,000 to 14,000 feet (2,133-4,267metres)
* Aberdare
National Park area is 296miles² (767km²)
* The altitude makes this an unlikely area for malaria
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