Mt. Longonot

So the whole group signed up to climb Mt. Longonot and we had the mindset we were simply going for a day hike in the Rift Valley..

Info about Longonot:

Mount Longonot is a dormant stratovolcano located southeast of Lake Naivasha in the Great Rift Valley of Kenya, Africa. It is thought to have last erupted in the 1860s. Its name is derived from the Masai word oloonong'ot, meaning "mountains of many spurs" or "steep ridges".

Mount Longonot is protected by the Kenya Wildlife Service as part of Mount Longonot National Park. A trail runs from the park entrance up to the crater rim, and continues in a loop encircling the crater. The whole tour is only about 8–9 km long but very steep, so that the round trip of park gate - Longonot Peak - park gate takes around 5 hrs hiking. The gate is around 2150 m asl and the peak at 2780 m asl but following the jagged rim involves substantially more than the 630 m vertical difference.

A forest of small trees covers the crater floor, and small steam vents are found 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. Leopards have also been reported but are extremely difficult to spot.

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The hike was pretty hard but it was the first day of great weather we have had all semester. Plus it was great to do such a challenging hike with sixteen other people. This was definitely the most challenging thing I have ever done. The sights were unbelievable and I was unable to capture how gorgeous the landscape was or how steep the hills were.