Accomodation in and around Kenya's National Parks and -Reserves:

Aberdare National Park

The Ark Hotel

The Fairmont Ark Tree Lodge Hotel is set in the Aberdare National Park and is a unique tree lodge that overlooks a floodlit waterhole and a saltlick which attracts a host of wildlife. The Fairmont Ark Tree Hotel/Lodge is 16 Kilometers from the Mweiga airfield and about an hour's drive from Nyeri Airstrip. Tucked away at the heart of one of Kenya’s greatest national parks, this intriguing tree lodge is an ark of discovery, from the drawbridge entrance to a choice of terraces overlooking the floodlit Yasabara waterhole. The rustic environment offers a charming retreat for overnight visitors eager to view the local wildlife at close range.

The hotel offers 60 cabin style rooms, thereof 6 singles, 37 twins, 8 doubles and 9 triples. All rooms have private bathrooms with shower; all are comfortably furnished and enjoy a view of the forest waterhole. The cabins are fitted with buzzers to announce the arrival of one of the 'Big Five' at the waterhole.

The main dining room and bar are located on the “C” Level, and have a glass wall with a view of the forest. The menu incorporates fresh local produce into Kenyan and European menu items. Breakfast, lunch and dinner are served table d’hote style. Tea and Coffee are available 24 hours. The Ark has several open and glassed-in levels from which guests can observe animals at the watering hole. There is also a ground level hide where you'll literally come face to face with animals.

Treetops Hotel

The famous Treetops Hotel in Aberdare started life in a very humble way. In 1932, its first visitors gingerly climbed the wild fig tree supporting the two-room tree house. By 1952, Treetops had expanded. Now a four-room construction. Treetops welcomed a young English girl, its most famous visitor. This young English girl climbed the tree as a princess one afternoon, to descend the following morning as Queen Elizabeth II, her father, King George VI, had died during the night. By now, Treetops reputation had spread far and wide; for the globetrotter, the rich, the famous, and the fashionable, no visit to Africa Kenya was regarded complete without experiencing the Treetops adventure. Treetops is sited in the heart of the forest of the Aberdare National Park and overlooks two waterholes as well as the magnificent snowy peaks of Mount Kenya (this breath taking view is visible on clear mornings).

For the safety and comfort of several observation lounges, guests can photograph at close quarters the territorial charge of short sighted rhino, a protective elephant matriarch chaperoning her calf, the graceful bounding of a bushbuck doe. A family of leopards, have on few occasions, made a meal of warthogs to the fascinated horror of Treetops dinners. For those guests who value their sleep as much as the nocturnal entertainment, everyone is allocated a comfortable bed in either a single or twin room with plentiful shared bathroom facilities, or on request, suites with its own bathroom.

If you wish to do your Kenya safari game viewing experience the 'nocturnal way', the professional safari guide can wake you up each time one of the big five visits the tree house (There is an optional buzzer in every room that alerts the guests if something special were to show up at night)! Make sure you do not miss out your African safari experience of a lifetime.

The lodge rises straight out of the ground on stilts. It has 4 decks and a rooftop-viewing platform. There are 50 twin bed rooms, which are neat and cozy and are designed like cabins on board a ship. Dinner is imaginatively served at tables with bench seating. Coffee and liqueurs are served in the comfortable lounge, which features picture windows and trees growing through the building. The bar is open every night till midnight.

Treetops has open balconies for viewing and photography; two photographic hides at ground level at either end of the lodge allow really close shots of unsuspecting animals.