About Mount Longonot
Mount Longonot is a stratovolcano located southeast of Lake Naivasha in the Great Rift Valley of Kenya, Africa. It is thought to have last erupted in the 1860s. Its name is derived from the Maasai word Oloonong’ot, meaning “mountains of many spurs” or “steep ridges”. Mount Longonot is protected by Kenya Wildlife Service as part of Mount Longonot National Park. A 3.1 km trail runs from the park entrance up to the crater rim, and continues in a 7.2 km loop encircling the crater. The whole tour (gate-around the rim-gate) of 13.5 km takes about 4–5 hours allowing for necessary rest breaks – parts of the trail are heavily eroded and very steep. The gate elevation is around 2150 m and the peak at 2780 m but following the jagged rim involves substantially more than the 630 m vertical difference.
About Hell’s Gate National Park
Hell’s Gate National Park lies south of Lake Naivasha in Kenya, north west of Nairobi. Hell’s Gate National Park is named after a narrow break in the cliffs, once a tributary of a prehistoric lake that fed early humans in the Rift Valley. It was established in 1984. A small national park, it is known for its wide variety of wildlife and for its scenery.[2] This includes the Fischer’s Tower and Central Tower columns and Hell’s Gate Gorge. The national park is also home to three geothermal power stations at Olkaria. The park is equipped with three basic campsites and includes a Maasai Cultural Center, providing education about the Maasai tribe’s culture and traditions. There is a wide variety of wildlife in the national park, though many are few in number. Examples of little seen wildlife include lions, leopards, and cheetahs. However, the park has historically been an important home for the rare lammergeyer vultures. There are over 103 species of birds in the park, including vultures, Verreaux’s eagles, augur buzzard, and swifts. Hyraxes, African buffalo, zebra, eland, hartebeest, Thomson’s gazelle, hyena, and baboons are also common. The park is also home to serval and small numbers of klipspringer antelope and Chanler’s mountain reedbuck
About Menengai Crater
Menengai Crater is a massive shield volcano with one of the biggest calderas in the world, in the Great Rift Valley, Kenya. It is the largest volcano caldera in Kenya and the second largest volcano caldera in Africa. Volcanic formed rich loam soils enrich the adjacent farmland arounds its flanks. The crater is on the floor of the Rift Valley. The volcano formed about 200,000 years ago and the prominent 12 x 8 km caldera formed about 8000 years ago. The caldera floor is covered with numerous post caldera lava flows. The Menengai volcano is considered one of the best-preserved Krakatau-style calderas in the world. Menengai has very little sediment in the caldera which is a thick mass of lava boulders and inaccessible ridges. Volcanic activity continues and a current project under the GDC is at an advanced stage towards geothermal power generation.
Trip Description
Nairobi-Longonot-Hells Gate-Nakuru Menengai
Day-01
Leave Nairobi for Lake Naivasha at 7.30 am to longonot national park for 4hrs walk via the Great Rift Valley view point, after 4hrs walk a short transfer to Lake Naivasha hotel for lunch. After lunch a 1 hour boat ride in Lake Naivasha, here we have a chance to see wild animals like hippos, water buck, wild beast, zebra impala, and others wild animals in a small island.
Day-02
After breakfast leave the hotel to hell’s gate national park where we will start our day with 4hrs bike ride around hell’s national park. Then to Crater Lake for 2hrs walk, then transfer back to the same Lake Naivasha hotel for dinner and overnight.
Day-03
After breakfast leave the hotel to one of flower farm before proceed to Lake Nakuru National park for lunch. After lunch game drive inside Nakuru park, dinner and overnight at the same hotel.
Day-04
After breakfast, walk to Menengai crater for two hours then proceed to Limuru Tea factory for lunch. After lunch, visit one of the factories then proceed to Nairobi.
