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How about a Christmas in the bush?

Activities in Kereita Forest. For the bravest, Kereita has the longest ziplines in East Africa.

What is in a forest? Trees of course. But in Kereita, the southern tip of the mighty Aberdares, the forest is made up more than trees.

Since 2017, a small clearance in this forest has been the centre of adventure, drawing Nairobians to its core like moths to the fire.  For the bravest, Kereita has the longest ziplines in East Africa.

Add the paintballs, archery, foot-golf, mountain-biking, horse-riding, nature walks and your adventure repertoire is complete.

The small clearance that allows you to gaze into Mount Kenya on clear days is aptly called The Forest.

I knew little about The Forest until a few weeks ago when I got a call from Ayub, a man whose love for the outdoors oozes out of his veins.

Ayub and his three children – Sonia,18; Triumph, 13; and Theo, 10, – are masters of the wild who spend almost every weekend scouring the countryside in search of adventure.

“Have you been to The Forest in Kereita?” he asked me on phone. I had heard of Kereita and the grip it has on nature lovers, but I could not tell how I had skirted the adventure hotspot so close to home.

And so, on the following Saturday, I joined the Ayubs to explore what he termed as one of Kenya’s hidden gems. I was initially skeptical and for good reasons.

How many times have you heard of ‘hidden gems’ only to ‘discover’ more of the usual overhyped getaways? Would the forest live up to its reputation?

We drove along the Southern bypass and turned left into Dagoretti Road just before Kikuyu town to avoid the ongoing road works on the main Nairobi-Limuru highway. Dagoretti Road has little traffic, is in excellent condition, and provides perfect vistas, especially the ‘humps’ on Ngong Hills.

A sign just before Kimende shopping centre directed us to an underpass that led deep into the Aberdares. The air got colder as we climbed the narrow road, past the Kenya Forest Service barrier and into a rough road that led to the forest.

A small group flexed their muscles near the parking lot. Another clapped noisily, perhaps to boost their energy levels for the activities ahead. Then the screams. Terrified men and women taking to the zipline for the first time. They were above the forest canopy, hidden from the rest of us. That fate awaited us.

“Let us start off with a small walk down the river,” said one of the attendants. Through the mists of the Aberdares, we walked down a steep slope that led to a waterfall. The knees almost gave out, but we trudged on.

All the while, Sonia regaled me with tales of their adventures, of roasting maize for a whole night in a Pokot homestead while waiting for water levels in a flooded river to subside. She talked of the family ‘discovering’ Mount Mtelo, Ololokwe, and the Table Mountain (in Kenya, not South Africa) like the explorers of old.

I was obviously the underdog here and realised how unprepared I was for the hike. My canvas shoes were letting in too much water for my comfort. But I chose to suffer in silence. Had I not dared the Aberdares?

 The hike back to the reception area and the starting point for ziplining was equally an arduous task. The results of a sedentary lifestyle betrayed any pretense of agility as I tried to keep up with the versatile Ayubs, panting and heaving like an old, diesel truck burning the last embers of fuel.

But if the hike was a test of my physical stamina, the six zip lines were the real test of my mental alertness. I had zip lined before but the sheer length of the first line, half a kilometre long, put my nerves on a knife’s edge.

Activities in Kereita Forest. For the bravest, Kereita has the longest ziplines in East Africa.

One by one, we lined up, like sheep to the slaughter. The assurance that the lines are built with the European safety standards was a welcome relief. Nothing, we were told could go wrong. Nothing has ever gone wrong here.

Sam harnessed each ‘victim’ with the ease of a veteran. The other Sam (yes two ‘Sams’ work on the lines) got on the opposite end ready to receive the gang. With high levels of adrenalin, we cast our fears aside, trusting that the harnesses will carry each one’s weight safely to the other side. Flying 2.2 kilometres above the forest canopy is exhilarating. The splendour of Kereita spread underneath. Nothing could beat the feeling of being higher than the Colobus monkeys of Kereita.

All monkey business dispensed with, it was time for a bite at the Adventure Centre’s main restaurant. A hefty hamburger and fries comprised a menu that could sit in any high-end city establishment. Here I got to meet Nigel Wilson Brown, the chief executive of African Forest Lodges, the company that runs Kereita Forest in partnership with government conservation agencies such as Kenya Wildlife Service and Kenya Forest Service.

The affable man has had an adventurous life. From a 10-year stint with Procter & Gamble that included handling sales in England, a training manager in the UK, a recruitment manager in Europe, and setting up shop in Russia and subsidiaries across the former Soviet Union when the walls of communism came down.

Nigel left the world of business, got ordained and served in the Anglican Church in London, then as Chaplain of one of the oldest private schools in the UK, King’s Bruton, founded in 1519.

He later moved to Kenya for a brief spell as bursar at Pembroke House School from where he answered the call of nature, taking up his current role at The Forest. “This is where I’ve enjoyed the most wonderful and positively challenging 18 months,” he says. Who can doubt him?

Nigel is currently spearheading the construction of a 30-unit lodge near Thaba Waterfalls on the Gatamaiyo River, five kilometres from the adventure centre. “This will be a perfect haven of peace in which to escape from Nairobi and spend the night in a lush indigenous forest in the company of elephants and monkeys,” says Nigel.

We wrapped up the day by trying our archery skills under the tutelage of Nene, the local ‘Robin Hood.’ Suffice it to say that a number of my arrows could have landed in Kimende! Again, Sonia beat the group, even bursting a balloon a dozen metres away with a single shot. Triumph, his name notwithstanding, tried, and lost.  He had shot his father in paintballing (or is it painballing?) and wanted to keep things low.

And that is The Forest, one of Kenya Tourism Board’s Signature Experiences where you feed your soul with adventure and your body on delicious treats. In the words of Avicii, “there’s an endless road to rediscover.” That road may as well take you to The Forest.