Central Highlands
The ‘Green City in the Sun’ is an attractive city with wide tree-lined streets and spacious parkland suburbs. Its pleasant nature together with judicious investment in facilities such as the Kenyatta Conference Centre have made Nairobi an important centre for international business and conference activities. However, despite the capital’s appearance, urban crime is on the increase and visitors are advised to take precautions such as avoiding certain areas, or walking anywhere at night (travellers are advised against walking alone through Uhuru Park at any time). There is a full range of shopping opportunities, from purpose-built American-style malls to African markets, and a variety of restaurants and nightclubs. There are open-air swimming pools at the Boulevard, Jacaranda and Serena hotels – non-residents may pay to swim.
Other places of interest in or near Nairobi include the Bomas of Kenya, a short distance outside the city centre, where displays of traditional dancing are put on for visitors; the Kenya National Museum with its particularly good ethnographic and archaeological exhibits (this is where many of the earliest human remains, discovered by the Leakeys at Olduvai, Koobi Fora and other well-known prehistoric sites, are displayed); and the Snake Park, opposite the museum, which houses snakes indigenous to East Africa and a few from other parts of the world. Adjacent to Snake Park is a collection of traditional mud and thatch huts and granaries containing tools characteristic of different tribes. In the suburb of Karen, the Karen Blixen Museum occupies the farmhouse made famous by the author’s book, Out of Africa.
Although it is just 8km (5 miles) from Nairobi city centre, Nairobi National Park still seems a savage and lonely place during the week (carloads of city-dwellers invade at the weekend). It was Kenya’s first national park and today still looks much as it did in the early photographs – wild, undulating pasture dotted with every kind of East African plain-dwelling animal except elephants. At the gates to the park is the Animal Orphanage where young, sick and wounded animals are cared for. Also near here, the Langata Giraffe Centre offers the enchanting opportunity of hand-feeding the resident Rothschild giraffes.
North of Nairobi, the road climbs steadily through the suburb of Thika and rich agricultural lands, offering excellent views of the Great Rift Valley. The eastern wall of the Rift is made up by the Aberdare Mountains, while further east still looms the vast bulk of Mount Kenya. Between the two are several attractive small towns such as Nyeri; Nyahururu, home of the Thomson’s Falls; Muranga’a, whose cathedral tells the story of the Mau Mau rebellions in a series of colourful murals; Nanyuki and Naro Moru, both acting as starting points for those wishing to climb the mountain.
The park is set amidst a densely wooded mountain range rising to over 4000m (13,000ft), adjacent to Mount Kenya. It is possible to see elephants, rhinos, dik-dik, leopards, lions and monkeys as well as rare forest antelopes such as the bongo. However, the thick vegetation and misty alpine climate hides most wildlife from the inexpert observer, the exceptions being giant forest pigs, baboons and buffaloes, which often sleep or feed beside the many dirt tracks. Most visitors prefer to watch for animals from the comfort of the park’s two lodges, ‘Treetops’ and ‘Ark’, both built on platforms overlooking clearings which are floodlit at night. On the higher slopes, giant alpine plants sprout from an almost perpetual fog. There are many waterfalls, the greatest being Guru Falls, which drops over 300m (1000ft). The western face of the mountain range is the sheer Mau Escarpment, which falls dramatically to the floor of the Great Rift Valley.
Conical Mount Kenya, an extinct volcano, is the second-highest mountain in Africa, at 4986m (16,358ft) above sea level. The national park covers 600 sq km (230 sq miles) of forest and bare rock straddling the equator, all above 1800m (6000ft). The mountain may be climbed without special equipment, but it is advisable to take time so as to avoid altitude sickness. The ascent is very beautiful with the vegetation ranging from farmland to thick forest, bamboo forest, open moorland, giant alpine vegetation, sheer rock and finally, at the summit, year-round snow fields. The lower slopes are one of the last haunts of the black leopard and the black and white colobus monkey. Climbers should be accompanied by a guide. Porters are also available and there are huts to stay in along the way. Plenty of warm clothes are required as well as one’s own food supplies. A Rockclimber’s Guide to Mount Kenya and Mount Kilimanjaro can be bought from the Mountain Club of Kenya, PO Box 45741, Nairobi (tel: (20) 602 330; e-mail: MCKenya@iname.com; website: www.mck.or.ke).
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