The tallest of all the mountains in Kenya, Mount Kenya is a towering volcanic peak. It is also the second-optimum mountain in all of Africa, 2nd only to nearby Tanzania’s renowned Mount Kilimanjaro.
The mountain is recognised to be all-around a few and a half million decades outdated and at one particular time stood at an even larger peak above sea level than its current 5,199 meters. What we see today, an unusual silhouette of jagged crests, is the extraordinary stays of what the mountain in fact applied to be through prehistoric instances.
A lot of men and women justifiably desire about climbing this mountain, which is found in the appropriately named Mount Kenya National Park.and its distinction of slopes and lofty summits only include to its wonderment. Climbing Mt Kenya is like entering two different worlds at the exact same time…
Grassland addresses its base to the north and west. South and east is additional grass, together with minimal trees. A dense forest of cedar and yellowood addresses the slopes, followed by bamboo and heathers up better. But lifestyle exists even bigger still, with unusual mosses and lichens identified to develop only on this mountain and a number of many others in East Africa surviving in the vicinity of the leading. You may well even see the “water-holding cabbage” or the “ostrich plume plant.”
Mount Kenya is an equatorial mountain but its peak is coated with snow. Joseph Thomson, a young Scottish traveler, unveiled this phenomenon to the western planet, but few individuals thought him at to start with. Right after all, it was tricky to believe that a snow-capped mountain could perhaps exist in Kenya’s tropical warmth. Some persons even considered Thomson was hallucinating from altitude sickness.
As the decades handed, other persons ascended the slopes of Mt. Kenya and uncovered the same matter, and we all know the real truth now. Area Kikuyu and Masai tribes have lengthy lived and worked amid the forests and grasslands of the mountains in Kenya, escalating crops and searching activity. In truth, Mount Kenya’s 3 highest peaks – Batian, Nelion and Lenana – are named immediately after essential leaders in the Masai tribe’s earlier.
Climbers have four main routes to choose from: the Naro Moru path is the quickest ascent but it is also by much the steepest the Burguret trail is thought of a single of the toughest climbs with much forest trekking the Sirimon path is identified for giving character fans the option to see monkeys, lizards, antelopes and other wildlife and the picturesque Chogoria trail offers the most lovely landscapes.
Unless you are an knowledgeable mountain climber while, will not try out to climb the Nelion and Batian peaks. Consider the less complicated Stage Lenana summit instead. It is equally wonderful but does not existing the hardships of the other two summits, which are really steep and have a least of a quality IV climb.
But if you’d like to test those two harder peaks, you really should join the Mountain Club of Kenya ahead of attempting to conquer them. The information that club’s mountaineers can give you may perhaps be essential to your health and safety. Even the simpler Lenana will need calves of steel and powerful willpower, but with some prior coaching, it is relatively accessible to men and women of all health degrees. It will not disappoint you, even while it is a little bit a lot easier.
You ought to look at the extreme weather conditions and the results of the significant altitude that you’ll come across, primarily when you achieve 4000 meters and higher. You can expect freezing temperatures, harsh winds, slim air, day-to-day rain or snow, and mists all all around you.
Belief me, you will have to have to prepare very well to withstand the mountain’s rigorous circumstances. Never underestimate the need to have to use unique machines these kinds of as an ice axe and crampons. The very best months to tackle the mountains in Kenya are February and August.
Really don’t be put off by the likelihood of bad weather or altitude sickness. The feeling of victory and accomplishment that you will expertise will remain in your heart for a extremely lengthy time right after you depart Mt Kenya. Will not be deterred by the price tag, both, for the reason that you will quickly forget it when you understand that conquering Mount Kenya is among the the most exhilarating encounters you could ever have.