This tiny park covers little more than 20 sq km and is built around the summit and slopes of Ol Donyo Sabuk (2146m), known by the Kikuyu as Kilimambongo (Buffalo Mountain). The name fits, as buffaloes are one of the few animals that you may actually encounter here, aside from primates such as baboons, colobus monkeys and Sykes' monkeys in the montane forest that covers all but the hill's summit.
Because of the death-by-buffalo threat, it's only possible to explore on foot if accompanied by a ranger (per half-/full day KSh2000/4000). We found its signature 9km hike (three or four hours) to the summit on a dirt road to be disappointing and the views, while impressive, are slowly getting obscured by mobile-phone towers. More interesting was the weird Afro-alpine fauna that crowns the summit you’d otherwise have to climb Mt Kenya to see.
