Regarded as one of Kenya’s top parks to visit for both first-time and avid safari-goers, the Aberdare National Park is a fairly small national park located in Kenya’s cool central highlands along the Great Rift Valley. Aberdare National Park boasts two unique landscapes; a moorland plateau and areas of dense rainforest and lush mountainous regions of valleys, rivers, waterfalls, and forests. The Aberdare National Park offers a totally different safari experience to the better-known, open savannah parks of Kenya. When you visit the Aberdare on safari, you’ll not only enjoy unique and spectacular scenery, you’ll also experience excellent game viewing.
Naturally, wildlife viewing is one of the primary reasons to plan an African safari adventure. Aberdare National Park boasts a vast diversity and robust population of wildlife. Avid wildlife enthusiasts will have the pleasure of seeing every member of the renowned African Big 5, elephants, lion, leopard, buffalo, and rhino in their natural habitat, with sightings of elephant and buffalo almost guaranteed. Aberdare National Park also has the second largest black rhino population.
Aberdare National Park is home to all of the Big Five, but this is a little misleading: it is not a typical Big Five destination and seeing all five species is exceptionally rare. Sightings of elephant and buffalo are almost guaranteed. Black rhino are sometimes spotted at one of the tree hotels’ floodlit waterholes at night. Lion and leopard (including the melanistic leopard, a black variant) are very rarely seen. Bushbuck and defassa waterbuck are very common. In addition to the Big 5, Aberdare National Park is home to a distinct variety of remarkable and extremely rare wildlife species and forest-dwelling game. Some of the rare species you may be lucky enough to see include, the black serval, the black leopard, the black-and-white Colobus monkey, skyes monkey, golden cat, giant forest hog, the nocturnal greater galago, Harvey’s red duiker, and the eastern bongo, the country’s most elusive antelope that lives in the bamboo forests.
White Rhino at the Aberdares National ParkUndoubtedly one of the top reasons why you should visit Aberdare National Park in Kenya is its prolific birdlife and bird watching opportunities. The moorlands and forests of Aberdare National Park are home to over 290 species of birds. Some of the less common bird species avid birders can look forward to spotting at Aberdare include, the rare scarlet-tufted malachite sunbird, Hartlaub’s turaco, Red necked Spurfowls, and the Aberdare cisticola, which is entirely endemic to the region. The forests and moorlands of Aberdare National Park are a birder’s paradise, with nearly 300 species recorded. Among the interesting visitors at the bird-feeding platforms is the striking Hartlaub’s turaco. Other birding highlights include the endemic (and therefore unique) Aberdare cisticola, which is found at higher altitudes. Several interesting sunbirds, including the rare scarlet-tufted malachite sunbird, can be found on the mountain peaks. As many of these remarkable bird species can be found at higher altitudes like mountain peaks, be sure to pack some powerful binoculars for a satisfying bird watching experience.
Birds at the Aberdares National Park
