Mt Longonot National Park

Got to visit another one of Kenya’s beautiful national parks this past weekend. This time around it was Mount Longonot, famous for the forested crater that crowns its peak 2,776 meters above sea level.  The climb itself wasn’t all that challenging taking about an hour and a half to get to the crater. Anybody with good knees and lungs can make it to the top, though I definitely recommend taking it slow to avoid elevation sickness (as my boyfriend can attest), wearing some good hiking shoes and packing plenty of water! And for those of you who share my melanin-deficiency (aka, pale-skinned mzungu syndrome), a tube of strong sun block is the way to go. J

As for the view from the top – it is absolutely gorgeous. The crater is filled with a thick forest which is surely filled with extraordinary wildlife. The area is supposedly blessed with a large variety of birdlife, especially birds of prey. I don’t believe you are allowed to enter the crater itself as it is quite steep and treacherous, but perhaps if you were a trained mountaineer you could get permission from the KWF? There IS the option to walk the perimeter of the crater however, a journey which I estimate would take about 3 - 4 hours. There is a higher peak on Mt Longonot which I am itching to challenge (gotta find somebody willing to join me first though) as the view from the top on a cloudless day would be absolutely amazing!