Mount Kenya

Schedule flight from Wilson to kilaguni ( 3 flights / day  : 9:15 am till 9;50 am – 10:20 am till 11:00 am  – 1:00 pm till 1:40 pm )

Mt. Kenya National Park is located to the east of the Great Rift Valley, about 175km North-East of Nairobi.  The ecosystem lies in Central and Eastern provinces of Kenya.  At 5,199m the mountain is the second highest peak in Africa. Mt. Kenya is an important water tower in the country. It provides water for about 50% of the country’s population and produces 70% of Kenya’s hydroelectric power.

UNESCO inscribed Mount Kenya as a World Heritage Site.  Its described as one of the most impressive landscapes in Eastern Africa with its rugged glacier-clad summits, Afro-alpine moorlands and diverse forests that illustrate outstanding ecological processes.

ACCESS

• Roads: 175 Kms from Nairobi, the park can be reached on Nanyuki-Isiolo road via Sirimon Track or Nyeri-Nanyuki road near Naro Moru. The park is also reachable via Chogoria on the Embu – Meru road, about 150km north of Nairobi.
• Airstrips: The closest commercial airstrip to the park is at Nanyuki

SIZE / LOCATION

• 2800 sq.km
• East of the Rift Valley. Mt. Kenya lies about 140 km North, North-East of Nairobi with its Northern flanks across the Equator

MAJOR ATTRACTIONS

• Pristine wilderness, lakes, tarns, glaciers and peaks of great beauty, geological variety, forest, mineral springs, rare and endangered species of animals, High altitude adapted plains game, Unique montane and alpine vegetation with 11 species of endemic plants.

WILDLIFE

• Include Elephants, tree hyrax, white tailed mongoose, suni, black fronted duiker, mole rat, bushbucks, water buck and Elands. Animas rarely seen include leopard, bongo, giant forest hog and rhino.

BIRDS

• Over 130 bird species have been recorded.

ACTIVITY OPTIONS

• Game viewing
• Camping
• Mountain Climbing
• Cave Exploration

WHAT TO TAKE WITH YOU

• Drinking water, picnic items and camping equipment if you intend to stay overnight, walking boots, warm clothing, training shoes, socks, sandals and gaiters. Also useful are: binoculars, camera, hat, sunscreen, sunglasses and guidebooks.

Castle Forest Lodge  (view website)

Castle Forest Lodge is located deep in the thick forest on the slopes to the south of Mount Kenya.
It is set in a natural surrounding of rainforest, fresh water rivers with falls, a fabulous view of the valley on one side of the lodge, and the impressive peaks of Mount Kenya on the other.

Positive reviews on this Lodge :

I was enjoying my stay at the lodge, a very peaceful and quite place. Suddenly a group of app 50 young people arrived out of the forest apparently after a walk. They invaded the restaurant area which is a service to the hotel guests. The staff did their utmost to provide good service but the group simply was too large. This resulted in a situation where my family and some other guests, who were enjoying the afternoon tea, left the restaurant as it was converted into a snack bar by this group. We complained to the owner and she POLITELY asked the group to leave the facility as they were not guests to the hotel. The review of LeShikoM2014 is very inappropriate, unfair and totally unacceptable.

It was quite honestly much better than I expected. We had come for camping and so I cannot comment about the rooms. The camp site is what you would expect from any camp site. Hot showers, clean toilets and a small shelter where you can cook.
The place has a very nice homely restaurant and bar. I’d you choose to sit outside you have a spectacular view of the Mt. Kenya Forest and on a good day an even more spectacular sunset.

The bar has a decent selection as well. The menu is not so elaborate but you will definitely find something you like. The food is amazing. Even more than amazing. This area can get cold so may end up having tons of their not so bad coffee.

The place is quite near from Nairobi and good road (just a bit winding from the gate). we stayed at bungalow (2 , sitting room and balcony) and it was cozy and had a good hot shower.
It is a simple place but we had a nice quiet time. The meals and snack were also good. I hope to come back again soon.

This is an awesome place to visit who enjoys nature & peace. We have enjoyed a lot there. The accommodation & the services are very nice and worthy enough for what we pay. the food was good. The cottages were awesome and entire place is safe and secured by the pet dogs of the owner.

Negative reviews on this Lodge :

I visited this lodge with my wife, daughter, brother and sister in law. While a scenic location, any visitor should be aware of the risks. Our family was repeatedly approached by lodge staff as well as the lodge owner to take a guided walk in the surrounding forest to the lodge. We were also assured that the guided walks were safe for our young child. We were attacked by a female elephant protecting her calf a short distance from the lodge, and my wife and child were gored by the elephant and died immediately. The “trained” guide immediately fled the scene, and returned later to eventually lead us out of the forest with our baby who died along the way.

we went to the lodge restaurant for some refreshment.They did not have tea to serve us and when some people ordered beers, the Dutch lady owner came yelling for all of us to get out because we were “making her other guests uncomfortable and yet we had not paid an entrance fee to be served at the restaurant” We insisted we were paying and she said she was not interested in money from people like us since she had real clients!!