www.allafrica.com Built during the colonial times this is one of Kenya's oldest hotels. The Cape Chestnuts are in full bloom. There is lilac everywhere, even though the toll of the drought lays its carpets of savannah grasses in sun-bleached gold. In 1883, when the intrepid Joseph Thomson camped on the flanks of the mountain ranges at 9000 feet, he woke up to see rich pastures outside his tent and the frost of a bitter cold morning. It was here that he saw for the first time the red-hot poker growing in a nearby marsh. It was a species unknown to science and thereafter named after him, Kniphofia thomsonii.

The colours and the cool of the morning air enchants the visitor to walk its gardens. The Aberdare Country Club is one of the first set of modern hotels built in colonial Kenya. It's a handsome abode of solid grey stone and red tile roofs of a by-gone era set amidst spacious lawns and open scenarios of a changing landscape from forested hill slopes to cultivated parcels of farms.

There have been many changes on this water tower of Kenya's landscape. "My mother and the ladies around here used to plant their crops early enough because come March 15, the rains would come," comments Peter Mwangi, our driver guide from the club. "And if the rains were late, they would be late by only a few hours." The light of the morning has cast a light blue tone on the range of mountains. Strolling through the gardens, I stumble upon the tombstone of an old resident of the area lying at the bottom of the garden. I startle a mother warthog who sends a calling grunt to her two little piglets.

I cross over to the golf course where nobody is playing save for a tall giraffe by the green. It's a reticulated giraffe and before I've got the camera out, it has walked away in that leisurely gait. I could happily spend the day out in the garden waiting for the sun to warm the swimming pool or climb Kamatongu on whose flanks the country club sits. I have to forgo all this to sit in class but that's not a problem either because the class is full of interesting people involved in conservation. With the class over by early evening we have time to explore new vistas.

God's mountain is clear as it sits across the vale from where the mighty elephants criss-crossed the Aberdares to Mount Kenya and back again following the grass routs on an ancient migration route. Today, the mighty herbivores of Africa face new challenges every time a fence cuts across their path. In order to minimise the human-wildlife conflict around the Aberdares and for the animals' own safety, three quarters of the national park has been fenced to keep the elephants in.

This, in itself, brings its own set of wildlife management issues which can only be resolved with time, reliable monitoring, data, and good governance. We're getting to know the wild residents of the club. The red duiker with its rounded hump likes to stay by the bushes; the red bushbuck is not at all shy and likes to wander around closer to the club settling for the night in front of the flower bed by the room. The warthogs have no problem running here and there, mowing the grass to the roots while the dazzling peacocks brazenly wait for the tea time snacks from the patrons.

Daniel Waraga, the manager, suggests a night game drive in the wildlife sanctuary to which we all say yes to. Besides, the group from the previous night saw the elusive leopard by the golf course. "It's a good cat," remarks Daniel, talking of it as if it's a house pet. "Once, walking across the lawn, it followed me for a distance." But with any wildlife, it's best not to disturb them. We drive to the top of Kamatongu to see a 360 degree panorama of the landscape with Mount Kenya clear and the evening sky full of patterned clouds and colours from the setting sun.

Our colleague from Sudan, Ishrag Dirar, is full of exclamations of the sky. "Our sky is always just blue" she exclaims and with every animal she sees, even for the ugly ones as she calls the warthogs, it's great to have someone appreciating the scenarios so much. The chill of the night creeps in. The dark sky is full of constellations and eyes catch the bright headlights.

We drive into the 1300 acre-sanctuary established by the club with some of the animals like the handsome reticulated giraffe brought in from the Ol Pejeta ranch. A herd rests in a grass by the forest. A pair of common waterbucks wander away. We see the impalas, elands, a hyena limping away but not our spotted sphinx. "You have to come back for that," says Daniel back at the club.

The night game drive has built an enormous appetite so we settle into the dining room guarded from the chill by a welcome fire. Every meal is a feast as colleagues discuss the day's events and outside the tree hyraxes send shrill cries into the night. Fact File The Aberdare Country Club is charming to stay at for families, golfers and the corporate world. There are conference rooms, a business centre, tennis courts, a swimming pool and horse riding. There is a lot to do here like nature walks and game drives in the sanctuary.

Even if you are staying at the Aberdare Country club, take time to visit the national park or spend a night at the Ark. The Aberdare national park was gazetted in 1950. The country club is in Mweiga outside the park. Ol Doinyo Lesatima, the highest peak of the mountain range at 14,000ft. and the jagged outline of the Kinangop, the next highest peak at 13,960ft are some of the highlights of the national park.

There are more than 23 rivers which originate from the Aberdares including the Tana, Kenya's longest river. The Aberdares is the only park in Kenya with so many waterfalls. It is said that without the Aberdares, there would be no Nairobi. Eighty per cent of Nairobi's water comes from these ranges.