Murang’a County is one of the counties of Kenya’s former Central Province. Its largest town and capital is Murang’a, which was referred to as Fort Hall during the colonial era. The county is inhabited mainly by and is considered the birthplace of the Gikuyu, the largest ethnic group in Kenya.

As you explore the town, soak up the panoramic views of the rolling Kikuyu farmlands that stretch to the west of Muranga. The region was settled in the 17th century by missionaries who were forced from the coast by Portuguese colonists, with the remains of a British administrative post at Fort Smith still visible today.

North-west of Muranga sprawls Aberdare National Park, a high-altitude protected area that encompasses 4,000-metre-high mountain peaks, bamboo forests and wild moorland. It’s inhabited by a diversity of big-game species that include elephants, lions and leopards, as well as eastern black rhinoceros, olive baboons and black and white colobus monkeys.