Guides ·Day trips

Getting there: the A104 and the escarpment

Naivasha is 90 kilometres from Nairobi on the A104 Nairobi–Nakuru highway, which climbs out of the city through Kikuyu and Limuru, then drops spectacularly down the Rift Valley escarpment above Mai Mahiu. The viewpoints on the descent, with their curio stalls and the little Italian-built Mai Mahiu chapel from 1942 below, are the reason to leave early. Driving takes 90 minutes to two hours with clear roads and closer to three at Friday afternoon peak, when the whole city heads upcountry. Fuel for a return run costs roughly KSh2,500 in a small car.

Without a car, matatus to Naivasha leave from the Cross Road and River Road stages in the Nairobi CBD from 6am, cost KSh300 to KSh500 and take about two hours, dropping you at Naivasha town's Moi South Lake Road junction. Long-distance coaches on the Nakuru and Kisumu routes also stop there. A private car with driver for the day is KSh10,000 to KSh15,000 and worth it, because the sights are spread along 20 kilometres of South Lake Road and matatus on that stretch are slow and infrequent. Kenya Railways also runs a Nairobi–Kisumu service that calls at Naivasha; confirm days at Nairobi Central Station.

Hell's Gate: cycling between the cliffs

Hell's Gate National Park sits two kilometres off South Lake Road and is the most physical thing you can do near Nairobi in a day. Non-resident adult entry is about KSh3,400, and vehicles pay roughly KSh300. Inside, a flat gravel track runs eight kilometres between red cliffs past Fischer's Tower, a 25-metre volcanic plug that climbers use, with zebra, warthog, Thomson's gazelle and buffalo grazing beside the road. Bikes hire at the Elsa Gate for around KSh1,000 for the day, which turns the drive into a proper Rift Valley morning.

The gorge is the payoff. Park at Ol Njorowa and take one of the community guides waiting at the trailhead, KSh1,500 to KSh3,000 for a group, for the descent into a narrow sandstone slot with hot springs seeping from the walls and the Devil's Bedroom side chamber. It involves scrambling and one short ladder section; wear real shoes and skip it entirely if the sky is grey upstream, because flash flooding here has killed people. Allow three hours for the park including the gorge and be out by early afternoon.

The lake: hippos, fish eagles and Crescent Island

Lake Naivasha is a shallow freshwater lake, unusual in a valley of soda lakes, ringed by papyrus and drowned fever trees. Boat trips leave from the jetties at Fisherman's Camp, Camp Carnelley's and Sopa Lodge; the going rate is KSh4,000 to KSh6,000 per boat for an hour, seating up to six, plus a small lake user fee. You will see pods of hippo, pelicans, cormorants and the fish eagles that the boatmen call in for a photograph. Wear a life jacket and take the boatman's advice about distance from hippos seriously.

Combine the boat with Crescent Island, a private wildlife sanctuary on a peninsula off Moi South Lake Road with no predators, which means you walk among giraffe, zebra, wildebeest and waterbuck on foot. Non-resident entry is around KSh4,000 and the loop takes 90 minutes. Elsamere, the former home of Joy and George Adamson on the south shore, charges about KSh1,500 which includes a short film, the museum rooms and afternoon tea on the lawn with colobus monkeys in the trees. It is the calmest hour on the lake.

Mount Longonot as the alternative plan

If you would rather climb than cycle, Mount Longonot National Park is on the way, signposted off the A104 at Longonot town, 60 kilometres from Nairobi. Non-resident entry is about KSh3,400. The trail climbs 1.5 hours of loose volcanic scree to the crater rim at roughly 2,600 metres, where a forested caldera drops away below you and the Rift Valley floor stretches to Suswa. The full rim circuit adds two to three hours of steep, exposed up-and-down to the 2,776-metre summit; most day trippers do the rim viewpoint and turn back.

Start by 7.30am. There is no shade, water is not sold at the gate reliably, and the afternoon wind on the rim is fierce. Take two litres per person, a hat and sunscreen, and expect to be filthy from the ash. A KWS ranger escort is available and useful in the dry season when the grass is high. Longonot plus a lakeside lunch at Camp Carnelley's, where a wood-fired pizza runs about KSh1,300, is a complete day trip on its own without adding Hell's Gate.

Where to eat and where to swim

Lunch on South Lake Road is straightforward. Camp Carnelley's is the long-standing backpacker institution with pizzas around KSh1,300, a lawn to the water and a fire in the evening. Fisherman's Camp next door does grilled tilapia and chips for about KSh1,200. For a smarter table, Lake Naivasha Country Club serves a buffet lunch near KSh3,500 under its old colonial-era trees, and Enashipai Resort on Moi South Lake Road has a day-visitor package with pool and spa access from roughly KSh4,000.

For a swimming pool with a view, Sopa Lodge and Sawela Lodge both sell day passes in the KSh2,000 to KSh4,000 range. Do not swim in the lake itself: hippos and bilharzia make it a bad idea regardless of what you see anyone else doing. If you decide to stay the night, rooms at Fisherman's Camp start near KSh4,500 for a banda, Country Club doubles run about KSh12,000, and Enashipai or Sopa sit at KSh20,000 to KSh30,000 with dinner included.

Timing, seasons and what a day costs

Leave Nairobi by 6.30am. That gets you down the escarpment before the trucks build up, into Hell's Gate at 9am and onto the lake by 1pm, back in the city for 6pm. If you only have one stop in you, choose Hell's Gate for landscape or a boat trip plus Crescent Island for wildlife on foot. Trying to do the gorge, the boat, Crescent Island and Longonot in one day is how people end up eating petrol-station samosas on the A104 at 9pm.

January to March is hot, dry and clear, with dust on the Longonot trail. The long rains from late March through May turn the gorge dangerous and the tracks slick, but the valley is green and the birdlife peaks. June to October is the reliable window: cool mornings, firm ground, good visibility. Budget roughly KSh12,000 per person for a comfortable day with a shared car, both park entries, a boat and lunch, or about KSh6,000 doing it by matatu with one park and one meal.

Frequently asked questions

What people ask before they set off on this one.

Rooms worth pairing with this guide.

Naivasha M P Hotel

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Naivasha Forest Breeze Gardens

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Naivasha Qaribu Inn Boutique Hotel Nairobi

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