Elephant Hill Hike

Located on the slopes of the Aberdare ranges is this summit hiking trail. The hike starts at the main gate and leads through the forest before we get to the official starting point, 3.3km from the gate. Once there, we’ll start ascending, and we’ll soon be at the Bamboo Gate.

The ascent up the Bamboo Trail is wet and muddy; thereafter we’ll be at the point known as Desperado and start the ascent to The Tail, which is very rocky and very steep. Once at the tail, the Elephant Hill summit is around 1 km from there. The ascent is fair, with a few steep slopes and a few rocks. Once at the summit, we’ll break for a few minutes, take some photos and a few light snacks, and then we’ll start the descent.

Hike researched in March 2024 and written by Peter Warui (Follow Peter on Instagram )

It takes about 2 hours, 30 minutes, or so to get to the starting point. The distance to the starting point is about 91 km. We’ll depart the city at 5am so that we can get more time to complete the hike

The last part leading to gate is a rough road and may be uncomfortable

We’ll use Waiyaki Way, followed by highway A104 up to Flyover, then Thika Gatura road to Njabini and finally the starting point of the hike

1. Hiking level – difficult. Total hiking distance is 20 km. Factors contributing to difficult hiking experience include the long distance, high altitude, large elevation change, cold unpredictable weather and low atmospheric oxygen near the top

2. Main attractions – Elephant hill summit, undulating valleys, high altitude vegetation, views

3. Type of hike – mountain hike

4. Atmospheric conditions – tends to be cold, foggy, wet or cloudy.

5. Slipping hazard – minimal except where there are pools that have collected

6. Steepness – total elevation change is 1,076 over 10 km and there are several steep segments at the rocky sections

7. Hiking path condition – narrow single file trails in most sections with wet ground conditions in places

8. Water usage – high – recommend a minimum of 3 litres depending on weather

9. Route visibility – the trail is generally visible except for a few places where the paths can split

10. Biodiversity – numerous species trees and few sightings of monkeys

All photos taken by Peter Warui (Follow Peter on Instagram )

The following are more scenes visible from the summit and from the climb up

• Good hiking boots and hiking stick
• Gloves, rain poncho, warm jacket and thick socks
• Water – at least 2.5 litres
• Snacks and lunch – since we expect to finish at the latest by 6pm, we recommend you bring snacks and lunch to eat while relaxing at scenic locations along the route