Hiking Mount Longonot

Ladies and gentlemen, here's to keeping fit all year round. Mt. Longonot or Ololongonot is located 60Km from Nairobi and it;s an inactive volcano in the rift valley region. It sits at about 2700m above sea level. The terrain ranges from beginner friendly to moderate as the slopes get really steep.

We left Nairobi at about 6.00 am for the roughly 2 hr drive to the park gate, stopping over at the scenic Rift Valley view point for some sight-seeing and photography. We got to the gate and had an ice breaker activity to get to know each other just before the hike.

As always, the hike starts with everyone in high spirits swearing to conquer both the figurative and literal mountains in their lives but this usually changes within minutes of increasing altitudes.

If you are an OG reader of this blog, which hey, you should be, then you remember our Mt. Satima hike. Now, you cover longer distance when hiking Satima but Mt. Longonot is steeper. In fact going up Longonot takes just 3.1km to the crater rim, 7.2km round the rim and a further 3.1km back down, but the steepness coupled with the lava canyons makes it feel more like rock climbing rather than hiking.

Fortunately for us it was a rather cold day, which by the way has become my favorite hiking weather. We started the trek nice and easy, with it looking like a normal walk until breaths started getting heavier and it became significantly harder to keep chatting. You gotta save all your energy for the climb buddy. 

Mt. Longonot is also popular for school going children and their zeal and energy will make you question your entire life. These kids can climb. Don't even try to go at their pace or you won't last too long. It took us about 30 minutes to get to the first resting point and a further 30 minutes to get to the crater rim.

The views from the crater point are quite breathtaking. We got to see the stunning Lake Naivasha, a plethora of vegetation and lots of rocks which a friend insisted on giving us Geography lessons about.

The trek round the crater rim took us about 2 hours and this path is even steeper and slippery. It's also very thin and there's a risk of falling over to the crater floor. Yikes! You will definitely need good hiking boots with proper grip. Also as this trek is very steep, a hiking stick will come in handy. I learnt this the hard way. You can hire the hiking sticks at Kshs 50 at the gate or buy at Kshs 100.

The trek back down is rather easy and does not take as much energy, maybe it's the thought that you are going back because it's always in the mind. Be careful not to trip though because climbing back down steep slopes requires good tactic to prevent yourself from tipping over. At this point it was getting sunny and hot and we were glad we had started earlier. we met lots of hikers going up in that heat and it looked like a sunburn festival. Please start the trek earlier and your skin will thank you. After a tedious but exciting hike, we got to enjoy some late lunch and refreshments at the numerous restaurants at the gate.

Hiking mount Longonot is more of a fitness adventure and I would recommend any beginner/ first time hiker to start here. Note that you do not need a guide for this hike. A big thank you to Elyzzar Tours for organizing this trip at an affordable rate of Kshs 1000 which caters for transport to and fro the CBD, park entry fees and a liter of water. Check them out at Elyzzar Tours on all platforms for more adventure packages.

Until next climb, keep it locked here!