Mount Kenya National Park, Kenya

Altitude: 11,000 to 17,058 feet above sea level.

Area: 715 square kilometers.

Airstrips: Naro Moro and Nanyuki (20 Kilometers).

Opened: December 1949

Activities: Mountaineering, Nature walks, game and bird viewing.

Map

At 5,199 meters high, Mt. Kenya is Africa’s second highest mountain. It offers easy or challenging ascents with superb scenic beauty.

To the Kikuyu tribes-people it is the home of the Supreme Being; Ngai, a name also used by the Kamba and Masai tribes. In traditional prayers and sacrifices, Ngai is addressed by the Kikuyu as Mwene Nyaga “The possessor of brightness”. The name comes from Kere Nyaga, the Kikuyu name for Mt. Kenya, meaning the mountain of brightness – Ngai’s official home.

Part of the mountain’s fascination is the variation in flora and fauna as the altitude changes. The lower slopes are covered with dry upland forest, the true montane forest begins at 2,000 meters is mainly cedar and podo. At 2,500 meters begins a dense belt of bamboo forest, which merges, into the upper forest of smaller trees, interspersed with glades. In this area trees are festooned with high altitude moss.

These forest belts are home to many different animals and plants with at least 11 unique species. Game to view includes; Black and White Colobus monkey, Sykes monkey, bushbuck, buffalo, elephant and lower down olive baboon, waterbuck, black rhino, black fronted Duikers, leopard, giant forest hog, genet cat, bush pig and hyena. Most elusive is the Bongo, a rare type of forest antelope, whose beautiful hide was used to make Bongo drums.

The high altitude heath at the top (3000-3500m) is generally open, dotted with shrubs like Sage, Protea and helicrysum. Above 3,500 meters is moorland and with little game other than high altitude zebra and eland, common in the northern moorland.

There is one lodge inside the park, Mountain Lodge, which works on the same principles and ideas as the Ark and Treetops, in the next-door mountain range, the Aberdares. There are 7 mountain huts and a base hotel for climbers.

Ol’ Donyo Sabuk National Park covers 20 square kilometers surrounding a mountain of the same name. The mountain rises to 8,000 ft. above sea level and is particularly attractive for hikers and families wanting some freedom and exercise out of the constraints of vehicles. Visitors are recommended to approach via the spectacular Fourteen Falls on the Chania River.

The Park’s attractions are its beauty and views of both Mt. Kenya and Kilimanjaro (from the same point!). There is game including; baboon, colobus, bushbuck, impala, duiker and abundant birdlife for ornithologists.

The solitary mountain rears up to 2,145 meters from an otherwise flat area. The steep ascent, if done by vehicle, requires four-wheel-drive.

Also in this area is Mwea National Reserve opened in January 1976 and covering an area of 68 square kilometers. The main feature is the meeting of the Tana and Thiba rivers within the reserve and the Masinga and Kaburu hydroelectric dams.

Elephant are plentiful in this reserve. Other game includes; buffalo, impala, hippo, baboon, vervet and sykes monkey, warthog, bushbuck, Heartebeest, lesser Kudu, jackal and crocodile. There is no hotel accommodation in these reserves but they can be visited as a comfortable day excursion from Nairobi or en route from Nairobi to Mt. Kenya.