OL-DONYO SABUK NATIONAL PARK

It is dubbed the ultimate panoramic experience/ the mountain of the buffalo. The National Park is a rugged, hump-backed outcrop of ancient rock jutting high above the Athi plains and hazily visible from Nairobi. Ol Donyo Sabuk is a densely forested mountain known to the local Kikuyu as 'the mountain of the buffalo', and to the Masai as the 'Big Mountain'. Just one road leads to the summit, which offers magnificent 360' panoramas over the river Athi, the pineapple fields of Thika and the snow capped peaks of both Mount Kilimanjaro(africa highest mountain) and Mount Kenya( africa's second highest mountain). Within easy reach of Nairobi, the lush vegetation and cool air of this compact and scenic National Park make for an ideal day trip or a camping weekend.

The park is essentially compromised of the mountain's slopes and ravines and is entirely forested except for a small area at the top. Within the halo of primal forest at the summit you may also find some of the giant plants more commonly associated with Afro-alpine zones of Mount Kenya and Mount Elgon) particularly giant lobella). The park's one road leads directly to the summit (4WDrequired all year round), a flat open glade marked by a large survey beacon. The summit is the focus of the park and offers breathtaking views, especially in December and January when the air is particularly clear

Walking to the summit has been long prohibited for security reasons. The 9 km walk from the main gate(where 2 WD vehicles may be left) to the summit is now possible as long as you take an armed KWS ranger along with you. The walk to the summit will take you around 3 hours. KWS rangers must be booked through the warden and a small fee paid for their services9 it is for your own good). Along the road to the summit lies the grave of Sir William Northup McMillan, a wealthy American farmer whose intended place on the mountain had to be abandoned when the clutches of vehicles accompanying his hearse burned out on the steep slope. His wife also rest at his side and so does the maid and the family dog. 9 which is unusual to the say the list).
As its name suggests, buffalo are the dominant animals in the park( the saltlick below the summit often attracts them), bushbuck are also easily spotted. Leopard and porcupine are also in reidence, but prove more difficult to spot in the thick bush.there is also an abundance of forest birds within the park. Easily spotted specied include: white browed sparrow weaver, grey headed sparrow, grey tit, augar buzzard, purple breasted sunbird, superb starling, bateluer, great sparrow hawk, African Hawk Eagle, mourning dove, African Pied wagtail, ring-necked dove, bronxe sunbird and much more.

Ol' Donyo Sabuk is remnant of Africa's oldest erosion surface, generally regarded as late Jurassic. A residual hump of metamorphic rock, the mountain is surrounded by the monotonous lava plateau of the Athi Plains, which formed around the mountain when lava( molten rock) escaped from fissures in the earth's crust, gradually filling the valleys and smoothing the contours of the original landscape. The fourteen Falls while en-route to the park is also an attraction.