1. Mount Kenya - Up High at God's MountainMount Kenya is Africa's
second
highest mountain, after Kilimanjaro. It is estimated to be 2.5 million
years old, and Kilimanjaro at 750,00 years of age is really an
upstart.
Time has really taken its toll, and the peak is thought to have dropped
from 6,500 m those millions of years ago to 5,199 m today. The
mountain
is an extinct volcano, whose plug forms what is today the peak area.
The crater was long ago, done to death, by nature's untiring
erosion
agents.
Mount
Kenya is an awe-inspiring spectacle that dominates the central
Kenyan
highlands. It is perhaps understandable that the Kikuyu people who
reside on its lower slopes thought it fit for Gods' abode. And
it
inspires people in strange ways. In 1943, Felice Benuzzi, an Italian
prisoner of war held at Nanyuki at the base of the mountain, and
two
companions, escaped and attempted to scale the summit. With just a few
handmade climbing tools, he managed reach Point Lenana, the
mountain's
third highest peak.
But Benuzzi was at least an accomplished
mountaineer. In 1988, the Mount Kenya Rescue Team discovered
and
retrieved an elder of the Meru people way up at the chilly heights of
Peak Nelion (5,188 m). Only experts, with proper equipment and
guides
reach Nelion. He appeared unaware of the feat he had accomplished and
was perturbed by the fuss his rescuers raised. He explained his
mission
was "going to God". He was kitted in a manner you will not see
recommended in any guide book- in a single blanket and open
sandals.
The animals do weird things too: a few years ago, the frozen bodies of
a leopard and colobus monkey were discovered at
Nelion.
Located 180 km to the north of Nairobi, Mount
Kenya is a good
Kenya tour destination especially for
lovers of adventures. The mountain falls
within Mount Kenya National Park. The park is made up of a protected
area above 3,200 m altitude, together
with two small salients reaching
to 2,450 m along the Naro Moru and Sirimon trails. It was set up in
1949 and covers an area of 715 sq km. It is
further surrounded by the
Mount Kenya National Reserve, which extends over 2,075 sq km. The park
has the distinction of being simultaneously a World
Heritage Site and
an International Biosphere Reserve
The mountain is made up of
three main zones: the rocky peak region, the afro-alpine
moorland with
its scattering of giant vegetation, and the extensive lower slopes
covered in mountain forest and bamboo. The astonishing
ecological
diversity is one of the attractions of this giant. The ecological
processes that have brought about the afro-alpine flora in
particular
intrigue scientists. There are 81 species of plants here that are found
nowhere else in the world.
In the lower forest zone, there
is
plenty of wildlife including buffalo, elephant, sykes monkey and
bushbuck. The animals are however generally difficult to see. Further
up, the
animals are even scarcer though hyena, leopard, buffalo and
civet cats have been sighted. The only animal you are likely to see in
the upper alpine
zones is the rock hyrax. Though it is the size of a
domestic cat, it resembles a rat more. The seemingly humble rock hyrax
has some powerful relatives
in the animal kingdom and it counts the
elephant as its biological kin.
The mountain attracts over
30,000 enthusiasts every year. Point Lenana
(4,985 m), the so-called
trekkers peak, can be reached by any reasonably fit and suitably
prepared person. The summit has the twin peaks of Batian
(5,199 m) and
Nelion (5,188 m), and is accessible to only those with technical
mountaineering and rock climbing experience. This mountain is not
an
easy one to conquer and each year not more than 100 climbers make it to
the twin summit peaks. Mount Kenya is in fact considered to be
more
technically challenging than the higher Kilimanjaro (5,894 m). But
those who make it to the top experience some of Africa's finest rock
and
ice climbing.
The mountain has very many fans and especially
fascinates technical climbers. The author and mountaineer, Rick
Ridgeway - author
of the Seven Summits, declares that of all the
worlds' mountains this is his favourite. Halford Mackinder planned and
led the first expedition on
record to reach the summit in 1899. But if
the Meru elder mentioned above is anything to go by, the locals must
have long ago been to the mountaintop.
The Mackinder trip was a great
success and his party discovered many species of animal and plant life
then unknown in Europe. A new species of eagle
owl, for example, was
first recorded by this expedition and subsequently named after
Mackinder.
