4-Day Aberdares & Ol Pejeta Safari

7:00 am — Pick-up from your Nairobi hotel. Drive north on Thika Superhighway (A2) through the farmlands of Murang'a and tea plantations around Karatina. Continue to Nyeri at the foot of the Aberdare Ranges, then turn west into the montane forest. Arrive at the park gate by 10:30 am. Check in at your treelodge perched above a floodlit waterhole. Lunch at the lodge while watching bushbuck and warthogs at the forest edge. 2:30 pm — Afternoon game drive through bamboo and hagenia forest zones. The Aberdares' misty trails harbour black rhino, giant forest hog, and the extremely rare bongo antelope. Listen for the crowned eagle's cry above the canopy. Return by 6:00 pm for the night waterhole vigil — elephants, buffaloes, and even leopards visit under the floodlights.

6:00 am — Dawn game drive through the salient area. The highland air is crisp as your guide navigates muddy tracks beneath towering camphor and cedar trees. Drive to Karuru Falls (273 m) — Kenya's tallest waterfall — cascading in three tiers down a forested cliff. Continue to Chania Falls set within dense tropical vegetation. Keep watch for black leopard — the Aberdares are one of the few places where melanistic leopards have been photographed. 9:30 am — Return for breakfast. Midday leisure on the viewing deck — superb birding with Hartlaub's turaco, Jackson's francolin, and mountain buzzards. 3:00 pm — Afternoon drive to the moorlands zone above 3,000 m (weather permitting) with giant lobelias and tussock grass. Return for dinner and the nightly waterhole watch.

6:30 am — Final morning forest drive. Giant forest hogs root through the undergrowth while black-and-white colobus monkeys swing through the canopy. 8:30 am — Breakfast and check out. 9:30 am — Drive east through Nyeri to Nanyuki and west to Ol Pejeta Conservancy. A short, scenic transfer (~1.5 hrs) with Mt Kenya dominating the skyline. Arrive by 11:30 am. Check in and lunch at camp. 2:30 pm — Afternoon open-vehicle game drive. Visit Najin and Fatu — the last two northern white rhinos — and the Endangered Species Enclosure for black rhino sightings. 4:30 pm — Sweetwaters Chimpanzee Sanctuary visit. Return to camp by 6:30 pm. Optional night game drive ($50 pp) to spot aardvark, bush baby, and bat-eared fox.

6:00 am — Sunrise game drive through Ol Pejeta's savannah. Mt Kenya's peaks glow pink in the dawn as waterbuck, eland, and Jackson's hartebeest graze the open grasslands. Visit the Morani Information Centre. 8:30 am — Full breakfast and check out. 9:30 am — Depart south through Nanyuki, past the equator crossing, through Sagana and onto Thika Superhighway. Packed lunch provided. Arrive in Nairobi by approximately 1:30 pm. Drop-off at your Nairobi hotel or Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA).