Guides ·Day trips

The superhighway and the pineapple belt

Thika is 45 kilometres northeast of Nairobi on the A2, the eight-lane Thika Superhighway completed in 2012, which turned what used to be a two-hour crawl into a 45 to 75 minute drive. Past Ruiru and Juja the roadside opens into the Del Monte pineapple estates, thousands of hectares of low blue-green rows that supply much of the world's canned pineapple. Roadside stalls at Juja and Kalimoni sell whole fruit at KSh50 to KSh150 depending on season, and it is the best pineapple you will eat anywhere.

Matatus to Thika run constantly from the Koja and Ronald Ngala stages in the Nairobi CBD on route 237, cost KSh100 to KSh150 and take under an hour off-peak. Kenya Railways also operates a Nairobi–Thika commuter service from Nairobi Central Station for around KSh100 with a handful of departures; check the current timetable at the station because the schedule serves commuters, not day trippers. A private car with driver for the day is KSh7,000 to KSh10,000, which makes sense if you want Ol Donyo Sabuk as well.

Fourteen Falls

Fourteen Falls sits on the Athi River near Kilimambogo, about 20 kilometres east of Thika town, and is a 27-metre-wide curtain of water dropping in a spread of channels that multiply after rain. Entry is around KSh500 for visitors, collected at the gate, with parking extra. In full flow after the long rains it is genuinely impressive; in a dry February it reduces to a few strands over black rock. The water is polluted from upstream industry, so this is a look-and-photograph stop, not a swim.

Local guides at the gate will walk you down to the base and across the rocks for KSh500 to KSh1,000, which is worth taking because the wet rock is slippery and the paths are unmarked. Expect persistent offers of boat rides to the far side and canoe crossings; the boats are unregulated and the current below the falls is strong, so decline. Allow an hour. There are kiosks selling sodas and roast maize but no proper restaurant, so plan lunch elsewhere.

Ol Donyo Sabuk National Park

Two kilometres from Fourteen Falls, Ol Donyo Sabuk National Park protects a single forested mountain, Kilimambogo, rising to 2,146 metres from the plains. Non-resident entry is about KSh2,900 with roughly KSh300 for a vehicle, and the gates run 6am to 6pm. A nine-kilometre track spirals to the summit, drivable in a four-wheel drive or walkable in two to three hours with a KWS ranger escort, which is compulsory because buffalo live in the thickets along the road. Rangers charge a modest fee.

The summit view takes in the Athi plains, Mount Kenya to the north on a clear morning and the Fourteen Falls area below. Halfway up, the graves of Sir William Northrup Macmillan and his wife sit in a small clearing; Macmillan, who owned the estate, was reportedly too heavy to carry to the summit he wanted to be buried on. Birdlife on the mountain is excellent and colobus monkeys are common. Go early: cloud usually closes over the summit by 11am.

Chania Falls and the Blue Post

In Thika town itself, the Blue Post Hotel on the old Nairobi road has stood since 1908 and owes its existence to two waterfalls in its grounds: Chania Falls on one side and Thika Falls on the other. Day entry to the grounds is a few hundred shillings, and you walk down steps to viewing platforms in dense riverine forest with monkeys overhead. It is one of those places that is somehow both a tourist attraction and a local Sunday lunch spot, and it works better than that sounds.

Have lunch there — grilled tilapia, chicken and chips or nyama choma at KSh700 to KSh1,500 — or head into town for cheaper. Thika's Kenyatta Highway has canteens serving ugali, sukuma wiki and stew for KSh250 to KSh400, and the market sells pineapple, avocado and macadamia at prices that will annoy you when you get back to a Nairobi supermarket. If you want a room, the Blue Post has doubles around KSh6,000 and the Rivers Hotel near town runs about KSh5,000.

Building the day

The efficient order is Ol Donyo Sabuk first, at the 6am gate opening while the summit is clear, then Fourteen Falls at mid-morning when the light is on the water, then lunch at the Blue Post in Thika, then home. That is a 5.30am departure from Nairobi and a 4pm return, comfortably ahead of the evening superhighway traffic. Doing it in reverse means climbing in cloud and driving back into the worst of the Thika Road rush.

Without a car you can matatu to Thika for KSh150 and then to Kilimambogo for another KSh100, but the last stretch to the park gate and the falls needs a boda-boda at KSh200 to KSh300 each way, and the ranger escort up the mountain has to be arranged at the gate. That works, but it is a long day. A shared car with a driver is the sane option for two or more people at KSh7,000 to KSh10,000 split between you.

Seasons, costs and cautions

Fourteen Falls is at its best in the weeks after the long rains, from late April through June, and again in November and December after the short rains. In a dry January it is thin. Ol Donyo Sabuk is the opposite: the summit track gets slippery and the walk unpleasant in heavy rain, and clear Mount Kenya views are most likely on cool, dry mornings in July and August. Pick your priority and time accordingly.

A day for two people with a private car costs roughly KSh18,000 to KSh22,000 including the car, two non-resident park entries at about KSh2,900 each, the falls entry, guides and lunch. By matatu and boda-boda it is KSh5,500 to KSh7,000 per person including park entry. Do not swim in the Athi River at any point, do not accept boat rides at the falls, and keep valuables out of sight at the falls car park, which sees opportunistic theft on busy weekends.

Frequently asked questions

What people ask before they set off on this one.

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