The setting for Ernest Hemingway’s Green Hills of Africa, The Chyulu Hills are one of the world’s youngest mountain ranges. The newest peak, Shetani, is only 500 years old. The verdant green of the hills in the rainy season belies their origins: the 100-km-long ridge is actually a series of lava flows, craters and cinder cones, with some cones still active – Shetani and Chaimu erupted in 1856. The Kisula Caves complex, with some of the world’s longest and deepest lava-tube caves (including the 11.5 km Upper Leviathan Cave), draws cavers, geologists and volcanologists from around the globe to the Chyulu Hills National Park.

The Chyulus divide the plains of Amboseli and Tsavo and the Masai and Kamba peoples, and the hills contain sites sacred to both communities. Chyulu Hills National Park is close to the popular big-game draw cards of the Tsavo and Amboseli national parks, but here you will find an unspoilt wilderness away from the crowds, with fantastic views of Mount Kilimanjaro.