Travel Blog Pt2: hiking in Aberdare

The journey from Amboseli to Aberdare was about 9 hours. This exhausting car journey was prolonged due to a car breaking down. At the time we reached the famous Treetop Hotel, it was about 3:30 in the afternoon.

Extremely heavy fog covered the area, making visibility considerably low. Humid air accompanied by temporary drizzle, Aberdare seemed like heaven at some point because it was so misty. This foggy weather may be caused by its high altitude and thick plantation. The former causes consistently low temperatures in the area, making water vapor rise from the bottom of the mountains to the top. While the latter provides the source for the rich water vapor in the area.

 

After we settled down in the hotel, we followed a kind Masai guide on a 1-hour hiking journey around the area. The guide passionately introduced us to the different kinds of plants we encountered during the journey, including fig plants, which, according to him, are food for baboons in the national park.

We also found feathers scattered on the ground. Our guide picked them up and smelled them. He identified that this bird was eaten by an eagle. Again, I felt the strong connection of the Masai people to nature. Their familiarity with nature is extremely incredible.

 

Then, our guide taught us a popular Kiswahili song in Kenya, named Jambo Bwana. Its lyrics goes:

Jambo ( hello)

Jambo Bwana(ladies and gents)

Habari gani? ( how are you)

Mzuri sana ( very well)

Wageni, (guests)

mwakaribishwa ( welcome)

Kenya yetu (our Kenya)

hakuna matata ( no worries)

We continued our journey. To our astonishment, we accidentally encountered a buffalo. Buffaloes are very offensive and dangerous animals, so when we saw the buffalo 20 meters away, we were so nervous that we could not move or talk. The guide warned us to be quiet and not to irritate the buffalo. Although we kept absolute silence, it still approached us, making noise to express its dissatisfaction. It stopped at a position about 8 meters away from us, staring at us.

 

The confrontation lasted for about 3 minutes. Then, our guide waved the long wooden stick in his hand, making noise and throwing things in random directions. The buffalo seemed to be shocked by the scene and left.

The Treetop Hotel is right inside the National Park, so animals approach the hotel at random times. The staff members of the hotel give out an animal signal or warning when animals approach. One signal means the appearance of hyenas, two signals means the appearance of leopards, three signals means the appearance of rhinoceros, and four signals means the appearance of elephants.

At 11 pm that night, four signals were given out to the residents of the hotel. Two elephants appeared in the pond near the hotel, drinking water. We rushed to the top of the hotel to take a picture of them.

 

Tomorrow, we will be heading to Mount Kenya for bird spotting and hiking.