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Ngong Hills

Just 20km southwest of Nairobi centre, this small range of four peaks combines great hill walking with breathtaking views into the Rift Valley.

This walk offers visitors a contrast of the green and fertile rural hills with the skyscrapers of Nairobi city in the background, and the vast plains of the Rift Valley. On a very clear day you can even see Mt Kenya and possibly Mt Kilimanjaro.

The word ‘ngong’ means knuckles - and from a distance the ridges of the hills do resemble knuckles of a hand. Legend has it that a giant god stumbled while digging the Rift Valley and the imprint of his fist left the four peaks of the ridge - other believe that he fell after tripping over Mt Kilimanjaro and this is a handful of dirt that he clutched.

Home to many white farmers, these lush, green hills were made famous by Karen Blixen in Out of Africa, who wrote about her farm on the slopes.

The Ngong Hills extend around 15km north to south and have an average elevation of around 2350 metres. There is a mix of woodland, farmland, think grasses and wildflowers. You are unlikely to come across large game while trekking, although you may see antelopes, zebra, giraffe, bushbuck and buffaloes. There are a large variety of bird species resident to the hills. When trekking the hills you must have a ranger. For the Danish this must surely be one of those must visit places seeing Karen blixen used to come here often.

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