Mt Longonot National Park is located 90km from Nairobi city on the floor of the Great Rift Valley. The mt Longonot national park is a popular park for hiking and mountain climbing that takes less than 3-4hrs to climb/hike up and down. It is one of the best adventure day trips from Nairobi. Longonot national park is easy to get to and has the best sightseeing opportunities and one can look inside the mountain crater.
HELL’S GATE NATTIONAL PARK
Named for the intense geothermal activity within its boundaries, the Hell’s Gate National Park is a remarkable quarter of the Great Rift Valley. Spectacular scenery including the towering cliffs, water-gouged gorges, stark rock towers, scrub clad volcanoes and belching plumes of geothermal steam make it one of the most atmospheric Parks in Africa. Hell’s Gate is an ideal venue for a day trip from Nairobi where, in addition to the bio-diversity that includes raptors, visitors can enjoy mountain biking, rock climbing and a natural spa.
Hell’s gate inside the gorge
DAY 1
6:00am:- Nairobi- Great African Rift Valley
Depart Nairobi for Mt Longonot National Park going through the Kikuyu lush green highlands and then on the eastern escarpment of the rift valley system.
6:30am: – Great Rift Valley View Point
You will make a scheduled stop at the view point on the side of the escarpment to enjoy the view of the Rift valley floor from a birds eye view. The rift valley system was formed 5 million years ago and the rift runs from the red sea through Ethiopia and Kenya and Tanzania. The rift valley is an active volcanic area and has some of the most interesting features including more than 8 lakes, dormant ALake Bogoria geysers.
You can actually see the volcanic Mt Suswa and Mt Longonot from this high place with their evergreen craters and the undulating green rift valley floor. The view from here is just amazing. Make sure to take as many photos from here as you can.
7:00am: – Mt Longonot National Park
Drop into the rift valley and arrive at the Mt Longonot national park for your Hike up to the crater. The hike requires medium physical fitness and you will climb through the gulleys that dot the sides of this mountain. You can make some rest stops at the designated places on the trek. You will get to the rim of the crater and look into the awesome crater below. If you have the strength for it, you can go round the rim of the crater.
12:00pm: – Mt. Longonot –Lake Naivasha
Descend from the Longonot mountain for the base at the park headquarters. Relax for some while and take on the drive to Lake Naivasha.
1:00pm: – Lunch at Marina Camp
Arrive at Marina camp and enjoy a sumptuous lunch at their restaurant by the lakeside while watching the lakes beauty and the birds flying by.
2:30pm: – Boat Ride in Lake Naivasha
Go on an hour boat ride in this wonderful rift valley lake. The boat ride will take you to see the hundreds of birds in this lake including the diving African fish eagle which dives in the water to catch fish without ever missing. You will also go to the hippo pool and see the hippos as they swim and bleat inside the water while opening their mouths to over 180 degrees.
4:00pm: – Lake Naivasha –Astorian Grand Hotel .
Depart Lake Naivasha and drive to Astorian Grand (https://astorianhotels.com/) Hotel to relax and overnight stay.
Dinner will be served at the hotel.
DAY 2
Day tour to Naivasha
Have breakfast and start to get ready to leave the hotel at 8 am for Hell’s gate with picnic lunch.
Arrive at the gate of hells gate at around 8:30 am. Start of the biking tour at hells gate for 2 hours
11am – Visit the gorges inside the park. Gorges are small thin depressions of land mass where you can walk underneath. Some areas have formed caves where you can walk through. This will take 1 hour.
1pm – Finish the tours and bring the bikes back at the gate.
1pm – Have picnic lunch.
2pm –. End of all activities start of drive back to Nairobi.
Arrive by 4pm
End of tour
COST :
470 USD for 1 person.
340 USD per person for 2-3 people
270 USD per person for 4-15 people
Inclusions
Transport
Accommodation at hotel Astorian Grand hotel
Meals as per itinerary ( 2 lunches, 1 dinner and 1 Breakfast)
