Mount Longonot offers an easy short-day hike. A day trip from the surroundings can be arranged to climb Mount Longonot. Hiking and walking safaris in Kenya
Overview.
Mount Longonot is a stratovolcano located southeast of Lake Naivasha in the Great Rift Valley of Kenya, Africa. Thought to have last erupted in the 1860s. Longonot is derived from the Maasai word oloonong’ot, meaning “mountains of many spurs” or “steep ridges”. Kenya Wildlife Service protects the mountain as part of Mount Longonot National Park. A 3.1km trail runs from the park entrance up to the crater rim. 7.2 km loop encircling the crater’s rim. A full trip (gate-around the rim-gate) of 13.5km takes about 4–5 hours allowing for necessary rest breaks. The trail consists of parts that are heavily eroded and very steep. The gate lies at 2,150m asl while the peak Ngamia is at 2,780m asl. The jagged rim involves substantially more than the 630m vertical difference.
The crater
The crater’s floor has a forest cover of small trees. The crater has small steam vents spaced around the walls of the crater. The mountain is home to various species of wildlife, notably zebra and giraffe and buffaloes (droppings on the rim) and hartebeest. The elusive cat, the leopard has also been reported although they are extremely difficult to spot. Mount Longonot is 60 kilometres northwest of Nairobi and may be reached by a tarmac road from Nairobi at about an hour’s time. The nearby town is also named Longonot. The Longonot satellite earth station is located south of the mountain.