If you love hiking or any other physical activities in nature there is no shortage of choices in Kenya, one of those choices is Mt. Longonot which my sister and I decided to check out for hiking. Longonot is a stratovolcano meaning it's built up of layers of lava and ash, the name Longonot is derived from the Maasai (local tribe) word oolonong'ot which means steep ridges or mountain of many spurs. It is located 90 Km (56 miles) from Nairobi the capital city so you can easily make it a day trip which is what we did, it was about a two hour drive for us each way.
Entrance fee to the park where you can start your hike up the mountain is Ksh 250 (about $2) for residents and $15 for non residents, I know! nonresidents are charged quite a bit in comparison, to visit attractions within Kenya. When we arrived to the park we didn't have any specific plans, we just wanted to hike as far as we possibly could and make it back to Nairobi in the evening. There was an option to get a guide but we decided to do it on our own, the guide was offering various levels of intensity related to hiking so for anyone thinking of visiting, just know you have options no matter the level of physical fitness or endurance. For reference, the trail from the park entrance to the crater rim of Longonot is about 3.1 kms (2 miles) which is not bad at all and the loop around the rim is 7.2 Kms (4 miles). The challenging part is of course some of the steep parts of the climb up the mountain but I think it's doable.
The hike was lot's of fun and along the way we spotted gazelle's gracefully grazing without a care in the world and we got to enjoy some of the most beautiful scenery. The sun was a bit hot so I would suggest to anyone thinking of visiting the park to start hiking very early in the morning before the sun is at it's hottest. A good hat and sunscreen are also recommended! we ended up hiking for a couple of hours before calling it a day, we unfortunately din't get to the rim even though it appeared so close but hopefully next time I will be able to when I am less pressed for time.
That's it folks! I am loving these physical adventures in Kenya as they are giving me quite the workout in addition to providing some of the most beautiful natural scenery imaginable! I am so glad I got to check out Longonot so I can cross that off my list and move on to the next adventure, watch out for the next update.
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