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1. Mount Kenya -
Up High at God's Mountain
Mount 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.
Mount Kenya is located 180 km to the north
of Nairobi. 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.
Page 2 Article on Mount Kenya
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