Mt. Longonot Day Hike
Hiking to the top of the Great Rift Valley will give you the chance to experience the freedom and awesome wilderness of East Africa, and still be home in time for dinner. Mt Longonot is just less than 2780m (9100ft) above sea level with a tree-filled interior and a lonesome steam vent to the northeast. A climb up Mount Longonot is an ideal day trip from either Nairobi or Naivasha.
The trip departs Nairobi at 8am and the journey takes approximately 1 and a half hours. Your start the ascent at 2150m and, like all good uphill hikes, it will lull you into a false sense of security with a slow gentle rise to the first hill. This gives you a chance to get your lungs and limbs freed up for the second section which, in our opinion, is most awesome. At the end of each section there is a rest point where you can prepare yourself for the next part of your journey.
Despite setting off early to avoid the heat of the sun, by the time you reach the end of the second section you will have surely generated your own heat.This hike is not an easy hike but is achievable by people of reasonably good fitness. Once you have finished the second section, you are on the rim of the crater. There is another respite of slightly less demanding terrain, before making the final climb on the fourth section. This again is a demanding section, though not as demanding as the second. As you heave yourself over the rim of the crater you are rewarded with the awesome sight of Naivasha and the Great Rift Valley and a feeling that it was all worthwhile.
NB: Before making this climb you will need to acclimatise at 6000 feet. A ranger accompanies you on the hike as your guide. As there are wild animals in the area, he is armed. The whole trek is only about 8–9 km long but very steep, so much so that the round trip from park gate to the Longonot Peak and back again takes around 5 hours of hiking.