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From the main A2 road to the Meteorological Station , where the driveable earth road ends, is a 26-kilometre haul; even from the youth hostel it's at least a five-hour walk. Naro Moru River Lodge will taxi you up here - for an extortionate price - or you may be lucky and get a lift, but a completely free ride would be a miracle. Some 9km from the youth hostel, you come to the airstrip, the park gate and HQ , and usually three or four gigantic buffalo chewing the cud on the lawn. Entry is the usual $10 national parks fee if you're going in for the day. Porters pay the residents' rate, and student card holders pay half-price. Don't overestimate; there are no refunds. From the gate, you leave the conifer plantations and occasional shambas behind as the road twists and climbs through shaggy forest into a zone of colossal bamboo . Look out for elephant and particularly buffalo if you walk this stretch, though you'll more often see their droppings and footprints. If you find buffalo on the path, you're supposed to lob stones at them - and they're supposed to move out of the way. Much safer is the tried and trusted retreat-steadily-without-taking-your-eyes-off-them-until-they've-gone approach: more people are killed by buffalo than by any other wild animal in Kenya. The final 3km to the Met Station are a series of steep hairpins usually driveable only in a 4WD (and often not at all when wet). You start to get some magnificent views out over the plains from up here, while right under your nose you may find a three-horned chameleon , stalking cautiously through the foliage like a miniature dinosaur. The high forest is its favourite habitat. Black panthers - the melanistic form of the leopard found at high altitudes - can also be seen in this habitat, and the latest local denizen was a lion, who walked into a tent at the Met Station and made off with a duvet jacket. With an early start, it's quite possible to reach Mackinder's (4200m) in one day, but unless you're already acclimatized, you'll probably feel well below par by the time you get there. It's far better to take it easy and get used to the Met  © 2003 by Rough Guides Ltd. as trustee for its Authors. Published by Rough Guides. All rights reserved. Rough Guides name is a trademark of Rough Guides Ltd. Buy the book here!
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Station 's 3050-metre altitude; perhaps stroll a little higher or, if you have a tent, climb an hour or so up to the tree line and camp there. Ready-erected tents can be rented at the Met Station if you can't afford the bandas (though, after the lion incident there was no camping for some months). The mountain's weather is another good reason to stop here. After midday, it often gets foul, and the infamous vertical bog is no fun at all in heavy drizzle and twenty-metre visibility.
Your Tips For Naro Moru route
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