Area: 68.25 km²
Established: 1984
Location: Hell’s gate National Park, Kenya.
How to get there: Hell’s Gate is located 100km/62 mi northwest of Nairobi and 18km/11mi west of Naivasha. As there is no facility for accommodation in the park, most people visit as a day trip from Lake Naivasha. Naivasha is easily reached by car via a tar road from Nairobi comfortably.
What to do there: Hiking, bicycling, motorcycling and even camping is encouraged within the park.
Hell’s Gate National Park is situated at the south of Lake Naivasha in Kenya, north west of Nairobi. Hell’s Gate National Park is named after a narrow break in the cliffs, once a branch of an ancient lake which usually fed early humans in the Rift Valley. It was established in 1984. A small national park, it is well known for its wide variety of wildlife and for its scenery. It also includes the Fischer’s Tower and Central Tower columns and Hell’s Gate Gorge. This national park is also home of five geothermal power stations at Olkaria. The park is equipped with three basic but major campsites and includes a Maasai Cultural Center, providing education about the Maasai tribe’s culture and traditions.
Hell’s Gate National Park covers an area of 68.25 Km2 (26 sq mi), relatively small by African standard areas. The park lies at 1,900 metres (6,200 ft) above sea level. It is within Nakuru County, near Lake Naivasha and approximately 90 kilometres (56 mi) from Nairobi. The park is situated 14 kilometres (9 mi) after the turnoff from the old Nairobi-Naivasha highway.
Olkaria and Hobley’s, two extinct volcanoes located in the park, can be seen as well as obsidian forms from the cool molten lava.
There are over 103 species of birds in the park, including vultures, Verreaux’s eagles, augur buzzard, and swifts. Hyraxes, African buffalo, zebra, eland, hartebeest, Thomson’s gazelle, hyena, and baboons are also common. The park is also home for serval and small numbers of klipspringer antelope and Chanler’s mountain reedbuck.
