Treetops Hotel was a hotel in Aberdare National Park in Kenya ten miles (16 km) from the township of Nyeri, 1,966 metres (6,450 ft) above sea level on the Aberdare Range and in sight of Mount Kenya. First opened in November 1932 by Eric Sherbrooke Walker, it was built into the tops of the trees of Aberdare National Park as a treehouse, offering the guests a close view of the local wildlife. The idea was to provide a machan experience in relative safety and comfort. From the original modest two-room tree house built into the top of a tree, it grew into a 35-room hotel. The original structure was replaced by a larger structure, also in the tree, but additionally supported on legs; this was burnt down by the Kenya Land and Freedom Army (KLFA) during the 1954 Mau Mau Uprising. The hotel was rebuilt near the same waterhole and became fashionable for wealthy clientele. It included an observation lounges and ground-level photographic hides from which guests could observe the local wildlife at the nearby waterholes. The hotel closed in October 2021.
Treetops Hotel (2006)
The view of the waterholes from Treetops, 1935
The first structure, photographed in 1935
Treetops in 1935
Nyeri is a town situated in the Central Highlands of Kenya. It is the county headquarters of Nyeri County. The town was the central administrative headquarters of the country's former Central Province. Following the dissolution of the former provinces by Kenya's new constitution on 26 August 2010, the city is situated about 150 km north of Kenya's capital Nairobi, in the country's densely populated and fertile Central Highlands, lying between the eastern base of the Aberdare (Nyandarua) Range, which forms part of the eastern end of the Great Rift Valley, and the western slopes of Mount Kenya.
A street in the centre of Nyeri
Dedan Kimathi University of Technology
Nairobi-Nyeri highway
Peacock at Outspan Hotel, Nyeri