The Ark Lodge Aberdare National Park

The Ark Lodge is an iconic property uniquely designed to resemble Noah’s Ark. Nestled within the verdant forest, the lodge overlooks the floodlit Yasabara waterhole and salt lick, which draws a staggering diversity of wildlife, most notably large herds of elephants.

The concept of The Ark is that the animals come right to you. The lodge comprises three decks featuring numerous open-air balconies, glassed-off lounges, and four primary viewing areas designed to maximize wildlife encounters. One of its standout features is the ground-level photographic hide, a bunker-like structure with glassless windows that allows discerning photographers to safely observe and capture images of animals just a few feet away.

While the rustic, immersive forest atmosphere provides an unparalleled experience, it is worth noting that some travelers find the ambiance slightly outdated and the rooms basic. However, the cozy charm, incredibly close animal encounters, and friendly staff continue to make it a highly unique and beloved destination.

Location & Accessibility

The Ark Lodge is located in the central highlands of Kenya, situated east of the Great Rift Valley within the Aberdare National Park. Because of its unique setup and location, no private vehicles are allowed directly at the lodge. Instead, the nearby Aberdare Country Club serves as a staging post, where guests check in, enjoy lunch, and are subsequently transferred to The Ark by a dedicated lodge bus.

By Road

✓ From Nakuru: The lodge is about 55 miles from Nakuru town, offering a straightforward cross-country drive
✓ From Nanyuki: The Ark is easily accessible from Nanyuki Town, which is located roughly 2 hours away by road
✓ From Nairobi: The lodge is located approximately 197 kilometers north of the capital city. The drive takes roughly 3.5 to 4 hours to reach the Aberdare Country Club base

By Air

✓ Mweiga Airfield: For a faster alternative, travelers can take a 50-minute scheduled or charter flight from Nairobi directly to the nearby Mweiga airfield. The airfield is located just 16 kilometers from the lodge, allowing for a very quick and seamless transfer to the camp
✓ Nanyuki Airstrip: Flights can also be routed from Nairobi’s Wilson Airport to the Nanyuki airstrip, which takes about 1 hour. From the airstrip, it is a 1-hour drive to the Aberdare Country Club. After lunch, guests are transferred by bus on a 45-minute drive directly into the park to reach The Ark

Accommodation Options

The Ark offers a total of 60 en-suite rooms, appropriately referred to as “cabins” to complement the lodge’s Noah’s Ark theme. These cabins are distributed across three distinct decks (Decks A, B, and C). To encourage optimal game viewing and maintain the peaceful forest atmosphere, silence is requested throughout the room corridors.

General Cabin Amenities & Lodge Policies

✓ Accessibility & Services: All rooms have 24-hour electricity. Laundry services are handled off-site at the Aberdare Country Club, and the lodge provides disabled access for guests who require it
✓ En-suite Facilities: Every cabin features a private, en-suite bathroom equipped with a shower, basin, and toilet. Complimentary toiletries, fresh fruit, bottled water, and toweling gowns are provided
✓ Luggage Policy: Due to the compact nature of the ship-style cabins and narrow corridors, only a lightweight overnight bag and camera equipment are permitted on board. Excess luggage is safely stored overnight at the sister property, the Aberdare Country Club
✓ The Nocturnal Game Alarm: To ensure you never miss a rare sighting while resting, every cabin is fitted with a buzzer system. The resident night guard will ring your room to announce arrivals at the floodlit waterhole: One ring – Elephant, Two rings – Rhino, Three rings – Leopard, Four rings – Unusual sightings (like the Giant Forest Hog). Note: You can turn this buzzer off if you prefer an uninterrupted night’s sleep

Detailed Room Breakdown

The cabins are smartly designed with an East African safari-style theme, and all provide excellent views of the Aberdare landscape and the surrounding wilderness.

Classic Single Cabins (6 Units)

✓ Bedding: 1 single-size bed
✓ Occupancy: Maximum of 1 to 2 guests
✓ Features: En-suite bathroom, East African safari decor, and views of the Aberdare landscape

Classic King Cabins (13 Units)

✓ Bedding: 1 King-size bed
✓ Occupancy: Maximum of 2 guests
✓ Features: En-suite bathroom, East African safari decor, and views of the Aberdare landscape

Classic Queen Cabins (6 Units)

✓ Bedding: 1 Queen-size bed
✓ Occupancy: Maximum of 2 guests
✓ Features: En-suite bathroom, East African safari decor, and views of the Aberdare landscape

Classic Twin Cabins (21 Units)

✓ Bedding: 2 single-size beds
✓ Occupancy: Maximum of 2 guests
✓ Features: En-suite bathroom, East African safari decor, and views of the Aberdare landscape

Classic Family Cabins (14 Units)

✓ Bedding: 3 single beds (or a combination of 1 king and 1 single bed)
✓ Occupancy: Maximum of 3 guests
✓ Features: Designed to comfortably accommodate families, featuring an en-suite bathroom, East African safari decor, and views of the Aberdare landscape

Facilities & Dining

The Ark is meticulously designed to maximize wildlife viewing without guests ever needing to leave the lodge. The layout, amenities, and communal spaces ensure an unforgettable, comfortable, and highly immersive safari experience.

Lodge Facilities

✓ Gift Shop: Located on Deck D, the shop is well-stocked with souvenirs, Ark-branded memorabilia, books, and basic toiletries
✓ The Ship’s Library: A comfortable, well-stocked reading area containing books on local flora, fauna, the history of the Aberdare National Park, and the fascinating history of the region itself
✓ Additional Services: The lodge provides forex facilities, on-call medical services, and interactive presentations given by the resident naturalist/host before dinner to answer any questions about the local fauna

Viewing Decks & Vantage Points

The lodge features four main viewing areas, ensuring there is plenty of room for every guest to freely observe and photograph the animals unhurried:

✓ Deck A Lounge: A cozy, glassed-off viewing lounge that directly overlooks the floodlit Yasabara waterhole
✓ Deck B Balcony: An open-air balcony situated just above the salt lick. This is the main deck where the evening spotlights are aimed from, offering sweeping, unobstructed views of the wildlife below
✓ Deck C Enclave: A designated non-smoking, glassed-off lounge providing a warm and relaxed environment to observe the waterhole
✓ Deck D (The Bunker): The crown jewel of The Ark for photographers. This ground-level, non-smoking photo hide is a circular, pillbox-style bunker with glassless viewing holes. It allows guests to sit mere feet away from massive herds of elephants in complete safety, providing stunning eye-level photography opportunities

Additional Viewpoints: The lodge also features a raised-timbered catwalk and a dedicated bird-feeding platform where daily afternoon feedings occur at 5:00 PM

Dining & Bars

✓ Lunch Logistics: By default, lunch is served at the sister property, the Aberdare Country Club, before guests transfer to The Ark at 2:30 PM. However, advance requests can be made to have lunch organized directly at The Ark
✓ The Main Dining Room: Featuring warm wooden walls and ceilings, the central dining room is furnished with communal tables that serve excellent traditional safari buffet selections or set menus for breakfast and dinner. The ingredients are incredibly fresh, using organic vegetables, spices, and fruits sourced daily from the Aberdare Country Club gardens and local villages
✓ The Bar & Lounge: A charmingly rustic, well-stocked bar offers a variety of fine wines, liqueurs, and beverages to enjoy while watching the animals. The main lounge is anchored by a large stone fireplace, famously displaying a mounted rhino head, a relic of a historic battle between a rhino and an elephant at the waterhole. Hot drinks are available throughout the entire night for guests staying up to watch the wildlife, and tea and coffee are served every afternoon at 4:00 PM

Activities & Experiences

Situated at altitudes ranging from 7,000 to 14,000 feet above sea level, the Aberdare National Park has been a beloved destination for outdoor and wildlife enthusiasts since the 1950s. While The Ark is famous for its incredible in-lodge wildlife viewing, there is a wealth of active adventures to experience in the surrounding landscape.

Game Drives & Excursions

✓ Trout Fishing: For angling enthusiasts, trout fishing can be arranged in the clear, chilly moorland streams, with the River Chania being the premier spot
✓ Moorland Exploration & Waterfalls: Take a guided excursion up into the high-altitude moorlands to view the spectacular, cascading waterfalls of the Magura, Karuru, and Chania rivers
✓ Aberdare National Park Game Drives: Embark on half- or full-day safari drives through the dense forest and elevated moorlands of the park. Keep an eye out for elephants, leopards, buffalo, spotted hyenas, and rare forest species such as the giant forest hog and the elusive bongo
✓ Birdwatching: The Aberdare forest is an absolute paradise for birders, with over 250 recorded species. You can enjoy birdwatching on an organized nature walk or right from the lodge’s decks. Keep a special watch for the vibrant Sunbird family, including the Tacazze, Golden-winged, double-collared, and the striking emerald-green Malachite Sunbird.

Suggested Activity Itineraries

For guests staying multiple nights, The Ark suggests the following schedules to maximize your Aberdare National Park experience:

2-Day Stay: Focus on a full-day game drive through the serenity of the forests and the elevated moorlands of Aberdare National Park. Search for a plethora of animal activity and capture the perfect highland landscape photograph
3-Day Stay: Add an active mountain hike or a guided nature walk through the lush vegetation to visit the magnificent waterfalls, topped off with a relaxing afternoon of trout fishing in the park’s alpine rivers
4-Day Stay: Dedicate a day to deeper park exploration with an extended guided trek across the windswept moorlands or a specialized bird-watching safari through the bamboo zone, fully immersing yourself in the misty, dramatic atmosphere of the Aberdare highlands

Hotel Highlights

✓ Unique Architecture: Modeled after Noah’s Ark, offering a rustic, immersive forest setting
✓ Photographic Bunker: A ground-level, glassless hide for safe, up-close animal photography
✓ Night Game Alarm: In-room buzzers alert you to rare nocturnal animal sightings while you rest
✓ Rich Biodiversity: Spot elephants, leopards, rhinos, and over 250 bird species right from the lodge decks
✓ 24/7 Wildlife Viewing: Overlooks the floodlit Yasabara waterhole and salt lick for continuous game viewing

Non-Resident Accommodation Rates Per Night Includes;

Notes

* Game Package rates available on request
* Children under the age of 3 years stay for free
* One Child sharing with one adult shall be charged an adult sharing rate
* Festive season and Public Holiday supplement of 50 US Dollars per person per night applies

This tree lodge is uniquely shaped to resemble the actual Ark, designed with decks from which numerous balconies and lounges provide superb vantage points for viewing the animals visiting the salt lick and waterhole.  There are 4 decks; Deck A Deck B, Deck C, and Deck D.

The Ark has three decks from which numerous balconies and lounges provide a superb location for wildlife to be seen. So that you don’t miss any animal sightings, the night guard will buzz your room when special animals come to the waterhole. The Ark has four viewing areas for observing the ever-present animal activity.

There is also a ground-level bunker – the perfect hideout for the discerning photographer. This is a circular pillbox-like structure, and it is from this vantage point that pictures of animals on the salt lick only yards away may be taken through the view holes in complete safety.

Ark Tree Lodge Hotel rooms are in Deck A, Deck B, and Deck C. There are 6 single rooms, 37 twin rooms, 10 double rooms, and 7 triple rooms.  Each room is self-contained with an en-suite shower and bathroom. There is a buzzer in every room to alert guests to the presence of animals of special interest visiting the water hole at night.

There is an onsite restaurant that serves only dinner and breakfast, Lunch is served at the Aberdare Country Club. However, on advance request, the same can be organized at The Ark.

The food is very fresh with organic vegetables and spices picked from the Aberdare Country Club gardens accompanied by fruit brought in daily from the village. The Ark Cellar offers a wide collection of fine wines. 

The Ark Lodge Aberdare National Park activities include; wildlife watching, game drives, mountain climbing, nature walks, fishing trips, bird watching, and visiting the Moorlands. In this intimate recess, one can almost, but not quite, pat the animals, hear their sounds, and smell the aroma of the night.

This is a magical corner, where there is close contact with the essence that tells of an unexplored Africa, and where, very often, the visitor may enjoy in the solitary state the beauty of it all.

All cabins at the Ark Tree Lodge have a private bathroom with a shower and are comfortably furnished to enjoy views of the forest or waterhole. Accommodation at The Ark consists of 60 en-suite rooms.

Room layout:

* 9 triple-bedded state cabins
* 37 twin-bedded state cabins
* 6 single-bedded state cabins
* 8 double-bedded state cabins
* 1 courier (single bedded room, not en-suite)

* Dinner, bed, and breakfast are served ‘on board’ The Ark in the main dining room. Located on one of the viewing decks is a bar and lounge which remains open all night for tea and coffee. Other Facilities include:

* Gift Shop
* Medical services
* Bureau de change
* Access for disabled persons
* Laundry at Aberdare Country Club
* Lunch boxes from Aberdare Country Club
* Radio and mobile phone contact with the Aberdare Country Club

* Ark Tree Lodge is one of the few stilted tree-top type lodges where all you have to do is sit and wait for the animals to come to you. The Yasabara waterhole and salt-lick are frequented by great numbers of animals such as elephants, rhinos, Buffalo, Lion, Leopard, and Bushbuck, as well as other rare creatures such as the Suni, and Genet Cat.
* Dinner and Breakfast are served ‘on board’ in the main dining room. Located on one of the viewing decks are a lounge and a bar that remains open all night for tea and coffee.

The Ark Lodge Aberdare National Park Layout

* ‘A’ DECK Lounge – The ‘A’ Deck has a glassed-off viewing lounge, overlooking the waterhole. Settees enable you to view the game in comfort. Decorated in warm earth tones, the lounge affords guests a modicum of privacy in their viewing experience. Capacity is 10 seated.

* ‘B’ DECK Balcony – The ‘B’ Deck has an open balcony just above the salt lick and waterhole, where the spotlights are aimed. As it is open, it is exposed to a bracing chill and the view is breathtaking. Enjoy viewing the uninterrupted horizon and below you a vista of wildlife at close range. Capacity is 60 people standing.

* ‘C’ DECK Enclave – Just ahead of the main lounge, there is another glassed-off lounge, a designated non-smoking area, which affords a spectacular view of the waterhole. Four o’clock tea is served here. The capacity is 30 people.

* BALCONY – The open-air balcony off the side of the lounge provides guests with an angled view of the waterhole and the small clearing before the advent of the dense forest, one of the routes used by the game on their way to the waterhole. Chairs line the balustrade. The capacity is 25 people, seated.

* ‘D’ DECK (Photographic Hide) – There is a non-smoking ‘bunker’ at ground level through a door leading from a front lounge, from which animals can be seen at close range. As it has an open window guests are placed eye to eye with the game, and photographs taken from here are startling in quality. The capacity is 8 people.

* Glass Enclave – Another glassed-off, the non-smoking lounge is located here. Based on the ground floor level, this viewing area gives guests a life-sized experience of the game. The capacity is 20 people seated.

* The Catwalk – The catwalk is a useful place to observe both animals and birds and is a pleasant place to walk. Birds are fed here every evening at 17:00 hours. Guests are not allowed beyond the gate.

Mobile: + 254-721-242-711
WhatsApp: +254-721-242-711
Reservations: +254 718-179-967
Email: [email protected]
Website: https://africanspicesafaris.com