Karuru Falls

Karuru falls off the edge of the Aberdare moorland in three stages, the first around a hundred and seventeen metres, the whole sequence totalling roughly two hundred and seventy metres, which makes it the highest waterfall in Kenya. The setting is the reason it is not better known: it lies inside the national park on the high plateau, reached by rough tracks across the moor, and cloud sits on the escarpment so often that many visitors arrive to find the fall completely invisible in mist. When it clears, a viewpoint looks across the gorge at the drop with the forest below and the moorland behind. Gura falls, across the same valley and claimed by some to be higher, faces it. Getting there needs a park vehicle and the tracks are frequently impassable in the wet.

Highlights

• The three-stage drop - the fall stepping down about 270 metres in total.
• The viewpoint - a lookout across the gorge from the moorland side.
• Gura falls opposite - the rival fall on the far side of the valley.
• Moorland approach - tussock grass and giant lobelias on the drive in.

When to go

The dry windows, January to March and June to October, when tracks are passable; even then mornings are best before cloud builds. Flow is strongest after the rains, but those are exactly the months when the tracks fail. Cloud cover is the deciding factor.

What to expect

Mist hides the falls a great deal of the time and there is no way to predict it; many visits come away with nothing. The tracks are rough and 4x4 with clearance is essential. It is cold and wet on the moor. There are no facilities at the viewpoint.

Nearby

The Aberdare moorland and its tree hotels are in the same park; Nyeri lies east.