The Hell’s Gate National Park is spectacularly lying in the Nakuru County in Kenya. The Hell’s Gate Game Park is situated between Lake Naivasha and the Longonot and Suswa Volcanoes. Lying deep into the Great Rift Valley, Hell’s Gate is at an altitudinal range of 2187 to 1560 meters.
Hell’s Gate was officially established in 1984 and currently covers the land area of 68 sq. km. The park features ashes that resulted from the eruption of the Longonot Volcano about 100 years back. It is most popular for its geothermal station, stunning cliffs, lower gorges, water-gouged gorges, scrub clad volcanoes, and plumes of geothermal steam.
Hell’s Gate Park takes its name from the spectacular Ol Jorowa Gorge, a scenic feature that extends across the heart of the park. The gorge formed due to the overflow of Lake Naivasha between lower and middle Cambrian times.
The useful geomorphological and biological resources of interest in the Hell’s Gate include Ol Jorowa Gorge, Fischer’s tower, Obsidian caves, and Central towers.
Vegetation cover in the park. Hell’s Gate National Park is famous for its 2 broad physiognomic types including plains and high-ground vegetation types. This protected area is dominated by grasslands, especially the red oat grass and whistling thorn bush. Around the high ground, there exist the dense Leleshwa. The whistling thorn woodland is the most dominant acacia species and serves as the main food source for the giraffes. The Leleshwa woodland offers incredible cover and habitat to most of other faunal species in the park.
The red stinkwood and the East African sandalwood are vulnerable species and form part of the unique vegetation in Hell’s Gate National Park. The East African sandalwood is a shrub/small tree often spotted in most of the African and Asian plus other parts of Europe.
Wildlife species
Hell’s Gate National Park supports diversity of wildlife. Top wildlife species to explore on Kenya wildlife tour in Hell’s Gate Park include buffaloes, hartebeest, giraffes, gazelles, lions, leopards, elands, and cheetahs. The park also protects other species of wild animals including the rock hyrax, klipspringers often spotted around the rocky regions of the park.
Bird species
A total of about 103 species of birds exist in the Hell’s Gate Park. They include the Verreaux’s eagle, Rupell’s griffon, Hooded vultures, Lammergeyer, Egyptian vultures, white-backed vultures, Grey-crested helmet-shrike, secretary bird, Schawlow’s wheatear, Northern anteater chat, Augur buzzard, and many others.
What to do in Hell’s Gate National Park
The spectacular Hell’s Gate National Park features a myriad of unique experiences for nature lovers to appreciate. They include game viewing, birding, cycling, camping, and more.
Birding
Hell’s Gate National Park is an enriching bird-watching destination. A guided birding excursion offers you a chance to spot diversity of birds including mottled swift, Augur buzzard, Northern anteater, Common fiscal, Rupell’s vultures, secretary bird, Egyptian vulture, yellow bishop, Nyanza swift, Bearded vultures, Eastern imperial eagle, and Golden winged sunbird. Additional birds to identify during the bird watching excursion include red winged starling, verreaux’s eagle, yellow-rumped seedeaters, and Jackson’s widowbird, etc.
Explore the hot springs
Visitors can embark on a guided hike to some of the spectacular hot springs. At the hot springs, expect to appreciate the incredible views of the small waterfalls in the gorge.
Game viewing
Hell’s Gate National Park supports diversity of wild animals which make it a remarkable game viewing destination. Among the numerous wildlife to expect to encounter in this protected area include lions, cheetahs, leopards, zebras, Maasai giraffes, Defassa waterbucks, elands, buffaloes, olive baboons, and elands.
Camping
Camping at Hell’s Gate can be done at the available sites. The key areas to visit for camping expeditions include Ol Dubai, Naiburta, and Endachata. The campsites come with toilets, showers, and picnic shelters.
Cycling
Cycling offers a unique opportunity for tourists to explore the scenic Hell’s Gate Park. On cycling tours, visitors navigate through the Gorge route to the park ranger post or station. As you enjoy your ride, there are some wild animals to encounter and not to forget the breathtaking natural landscape in the surrounding.
Rock climbing
Visitors can also be part of the rewarding rock climbing adventure on Kenya safari in this protected area. The Fischer’s tower is without doubt the most spectacular spot to consider for your enriching rock climbing experiences. The Fischer’s tower is set 25 meters high and comes with great views of the landscape and diverse wildlife in the park.
Hiking
Guided hikes can be enjoyed on Ol Basta –the second rock tower located at the extreme southern end of the gorge. Hikers can enjoy about 2 hours on a guided hike through the water-eroded walls.
Cultural experiences
Cultural safari at Hell’s Gate Park is perfectly done in the nearby local community of the Maasai. At the Maasai community, visitors get to interact with the Maasai people and also learn more about their distinct cultures and traditions.
The best time to visit Hell’s Gate
The ideal time to travel to explore Kenya’s Hell’s Gate National Park is around the dry season. The dry season runs from June to September. The dry season records very low rainfall or even completely no rains with the ground kept drier making it easier to navigate around the park on a guided game viewing excursion.
June to October are the best months of the year to enjoy game tours in Hell’s Gate National Park. Heavy rains are recorded from March to May –such months can be avoided as they interfere most of the experiences.
Where to stay at the Hell’s Gate Park
Hell’s Gate National Park has multiple accommodation options in its surrounding areas including budget, midrange, and luxury. The park itself doesn’t have self-catering lodges except camping options including the public campsites like Naiburta, Ol Dubai, and special campsites like Endachata.
Getting there
By road, tourists can reach Hell’s Gate National Park on the A104 uplands route from Nairobi to Naivasha and then connect to the Moi South Lake route which takes you to Lake Naivasha. The Elsa gate is just 25 km off from the Moi South Lake road junction. You may also take a flight from Wilson Airport to Naivasha Airstrip where you can connect up to the Hell’s Gate National Park.
